In animal communication, an alarm signal is an antipredator adaptation in the form of signals emitted by social animals in response to danger. Many primates and birds have elaborate alarm calls for warning conspecifics of approaching predators. For example, the alarm call of the blackbird is a familiar sound in many gardens. Other animals, like fish and insects, may use non-auditory signals, such as chemical messages. Visual signs such as the white tail flashes of many deer have been suggested as alarm signals; they are less likely to be received by conspecifics, so have tended to be treated as a signal to the predator instead.
Different calls may be used for predators on the ground or from the air. Often, the animals can tell which member of the group is making the call, so that they can disregard those of little reliability.Biology Letters. Titi monkey call sequences vary with predator location and type
Evidently, alarm signals promote survival by allowing the receivers of the alarm to escape from the source of peril; this can evolve by kin selection, assuming the receivers are related to the signaller. However, alarm calls can increase individual fitness, for example by informing the predator it has been detected.
Alarm calls are often high-frequency sounds because these sounds are harder to localize.
Selective advantage
This cost/benefit tradeoff of alarm calling behaviour has sparked many interest debates among evolutionary biologists seeking to explain the occurrence of such apparently "self-sacrificing" behaviour. The central question is this: "If the ultimate purpose of any animal behaviour is to maximize the chances that an organism's own genes are passed on, with maximum fruitfulness, to future generations, why would an individual deliberately risk destroying itself (their entire genome) for the sake of saving others (other genomes)?".
Altruism Some scientists have used the evidence of alarm-calling behaviour to challenge the theory that "evolution works only/primarily at the level of the gene and of the gene's 'interest' in passing itself along to future generations." If alarm-calling is truly an example of altruism, then human understanding of natural selection becomes more complicated than simply "survival of the fittest gene".
Other researchers, generally those who support the selfish gene theory, question the authenticity of this "altruistic" behaviour. For instance, it has been observed that vervets sometimes emit calls in the presence of a predator, and sometimes do not. Studies show that these vervets may call more often when they are surrounded by their own offspring and by other relatives who share many of their genes. Other researchers have shown that some forms of alarm calling, for example, "aerial predator whistles" produced by Belding's ground squirrels, do not increase the chances that a caller will get eaten by a predator; the alarm call is advantageous to both caller and recipient by frightening and warding off the predator.
Predator-directed signaling Another theory suggests that alarm signals function to attract further predators, which fight over the prey organism, giving it a better chance of escape. Others still suggest they are a deterrent to predators, communicating the prey's alertness to the predator. One such case is the western swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), which gives conspicuous visual tail flicks (see also aposematism, handicap principle and stotting).
Further research Considerable research effort continues to be directed toward the purpose and ramifications of alarm-calling behaviour, because, to the extent that this research has the ability to comment on the occurrence or non-occurrence of altruistic behaviour, these findings can be applied to the understanding of altruism in human behaviour.
Monkeys with alarm calls
Vervet monkeys Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus Pygerythus) are some of the most studied monkeys when it comes to vocalization and alarm calls within the nonhuman primates. They are most known for making alarm calls in the presence of their most common predators (leopards, eagles, and snakes). Alarm calls of the vervet monkey are considered arbitrary in relation to the predator that they signify, in the sense that while the calls may be distinct to the threat that the monkeys are perceiving, the calls do not mimic the actual sounds of the predatorit is like yelling "Danger!" when seeing an angry dog rather than making barking sounds. This type of alarm calls is seen as the earliest example of symbolic communication (the relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary and purely conventional) in nonhuman primates.
However, there is much debate on whether the vervet monkeys alarm calls are actual "words" in the sense of purposely manipulating sounds to communicate specific meaning or are unintentional sounds that are made when interacting with an outside stimulus. Like small children who cannot communicate words effectively make random noises when being played with or are stimulated by something in their immediate environment. As children grow and begin learning how to communicate, the noises they make are very broad in relation to their environment. They begin to recognize the things in their environment but there more things than known words or noises so a certain sound may reference multiple things. As children get older, they can become more specific about the noises and words made in relation to the things in their environment. It is thought that as vervet monkeys get older they are able to learn and break the broad categories into more specific sub categories to a specific context.
An experiment conducted by Tabitha Price used custom software to gather the acoustic sounds of male and female vervet monkeys from East Africa and male vervet monkeys from South Africa. The point of the experiment was to gather the acoustic sounds of these monkeys when stimulated by the presence of snakes (mainly pythons), raptors, terrestrial animals (mostly leopards), and aggression. Then to determine if the calls could be distinguished with a known context.
The researchers concluded that while the vervet monkeys were able to categorize different predators and members of different social groups, however their ability to communicate specific threats is not proven. The chirps and barks that vervet monkeys make as an eagle swoops in are the same chirps and barks that are made in moments of high arousal. Similarly, the barks made for leopards are the same that are made during aggressive interactions. The environment that they exist in is too complex for their ability to communicate about everything in their environment specifically.
In an experiment conducted by Julia Fischer, a drone was flown over vervet monkeys and recorded the sounds produced. The vervet monkeys made alarm calls that were almost identical to the eagle calls of East African vervets. When a sound recording of the drone was played back a few days later to a monkey that was alone and away from the main group it looked up and scanned the sky. Fischer concluded that vervet monkeys can be exposed to a new threat once and understand what it means.
It is still debated whether or not vervet monkeys are actually aware of what the alarm calls mean. One side of the argument is that the monkeys give alarm calls because they are simply excited. The other side of the argument is that the alarm calls create mental representation of predators in the listeners minds. The common middle ground argument is that they give alarm calls because they want others to elicit a certain response, not necessarily because they want the group to think that there is a specific threat near.
Ultimately there is not enough evidence to support whether or not the calls are simply identifying a threat or calling for specific action due to the threat.
Campbell's mona monkeys Campbell's mona monkeys also generate alarm calls, but in a different way than vervet monkeys. Instead of having discrete calls for each predator, Campbell monkeys have two distinct types of calls which contain different calls which consist in an acoustic continuum of affixes which change meaning. It has been suggested that this is a homology to human morphology. Similarly, the cotton-top tamarin is able to use a limited vocal range of alarm calls to distinguish between aerial and land predators.Neyman, P. F. 1978. Aspects of the ecology and social organization of free-ranging cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) and the conservation status of the species. In: The Biology and Conservation of the Callitrichidae (Ed. by D. G. Kleiman), pp. 39e71. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Both the Campbell monkey and the cotton-top tamarin have demonstrated abilities similar to vervet monkeys' ability to distinguish likely direction of predation and appropriate responses.Sproul et al. Cottontop tamarin, Saguinus oedipus, alarm calls contain sufficient information for recognition of individual identity. Animal Behaviour (2006) vol. 72 (6) pp. 1379-1385
That these three species use vocalizations to warn others of danger has been called by some proof of proto-language in primates. However, there is some evidence that this behavior does not refer to the predators themselves but to threat, distinguishing calls from words.
Barbary macaque Another species that exhibits alarm calls is the Barbary macaque. Barbary macaque mothers are able to recognize their own offspring's calls and behave accordingly.
Diana monkeys Diana monkeys also produce alarm signals. Adult males respond to each other's calls, showing that calling can be contagious. Their calls differ based on signaller sex, threat type, habitat, and caller ontogenetic or lifetime predator experience.
Diana monkeys emit different alarm calls as a result of their sex. Male alarm calls are primarily used for resource defence, male–male competition, and communication between groups of conspecifics. Female alarm calls are mainly used for communication within groups of conspecifics to avoid predation.
Alarm calls are also predator-specific. In Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, Diana monkeys are preyed on by leopards, eagles, and chimpanzees, but only emit alarm calls for leopards and eagles. When threatened by chimpanzees, they use silent, cryptic behaviour and when threatened by leopards or eagles, they emit predator-specific alarm signals. When researchers play recordings of alarm calls produced by chimpanzees in response to predation by leopards, about fifty per cent of nearby Diana monkeys switch from a chimpanzee antipredator response to a leopard antipredator response. The tendency to switch responses is especially prominent among Diana monkey populations that live within the main range of the chimpanzee community. This shift in antipredator response suggests that the monkeys interpret chimpanzee-produced, leopard-induced alarm calls as evidence for the presence of a leopard. When the same monkeys are then played recordings of leopard growls, their reactions confirm that they had anticipated the presence of a leopard. There are three possible cognitive mechanisms explaining how Diana monkeys recognize chimpanzee-produced, leopard-induced alarm calls as evidence for a nearby leopard: associative learning, causal reasoning, or a specialized learning programme driven by adaptive antipredator behaviour necessary for survival.