Associação de emissões vocais de macacos-prego (Cebus apella, Primate, Cebidae) a contextos comportamentais em cativeiro

Abstract

The vocalization is an important form of communication in primates, because the majority of the species lives in dense forests, what makes difficult visual communication at a distance. The Cebus apella species presents a rich vocal repertoire contextualized to diverse behaviors, as feeding, foraging, predators avoidance, contact, copulation, and others. Aiming to elaborate a vocalization data base of sixteen Cebus apella captive subjects, we collected, at the Experimental School for Primates biotery of Federal University of Pará, vocalizations emitted in natural occurrences (agonism, contact) and in designed experiments (individual meal and alarm). The vocalizations were recorded, edited, and the sonograms were made and analysed. At least ten distinct vocal emissions, grouped in different contexts (feeding, alarm, agonism and contact) and the behaviors without vocalizations were mapped. Our data confirmed that Cebus apella species, own an extensive vocal repertoire, with different calls associated to particular behaviors, exhibit sexual differences in calls and sound unity combinations, in agreement with indications of the cerebral plasticity and the social complexity of the species.