Careless whisper: Monkeys are caught gossiping behind their keepers' backs for the first time ever
Zookeepers at New York City's Central Park Zoo have recorded the whispered communications of the cotton-top tamarin
After listening to recordings the scientists found the monkeys whispered to each other when a distrusted zoo worker entered their enclosure
Researchers believe whispering could be evidence of convergent evolution in communication strategies used by social and cooperative species
By SARAH GRIFFITHS
PUBLISHED: 09:43 GMT, 25 September 2013 | UPDATED: 08:14 GMT, 27 September 2013
Most humans have been caught gossiping about an unwanted guest in hushed tones.
But it seems that one of the world's smallest primates, the cotton-top tamarin, has a lot to say behind the backs of zookeepers.
Keepers at New York City's Central Park Zoo have recorded the chattering whispers of non-human primates for the first time ever.
They set out to record the primate's alarm calls used when they are scared of people, but instead discovered the monkeys seemingly fell silent when a distrusted zoo worker entered their enclosure.
However, when the keepers analysed their recordings - or audio spectrograms - at a later date, they were shocked to discover that the animals were communicating very quietly in whispers, io9 reported.
Researchers Rachel Morrison and Diana Reiss who published their findings in the journal Zoo Biology, said the whispering could be evidence of convergent evolution in communication strategies used by social and cooperative species.
The small cotton-top tamarins might whisper to each other in the tropical forests of northwestern Columbia in South America where they live.
In another study, scientists suggest why apes do not have any musical talent, when humans, parrots, small birds, elephants and whales do.
Matz Larsson, senior physician at the Lung Clinic at Örebro University Hospital, believes the ability to mimic and imitate things like music and speech is the result of the fact that synchronised group movement makes it possible to perceive sounds from the surroundings better.
The researchers said the whispering could be evidence of convergent evolution in communication strategies used by social and cooperative species
The study asserts that the evolution of vocal learning, including musical traits, is influenced by the need of a species to deal with the disturbing sounds that are created in connection with locomotion.
Dr Larsson said: 'When several people with legs of roughly the same length move together, we tend to unconsciously move in rhythm. When our footsteps occur simultaneously, a brief interval of silence occurs.
'In the middle of each stride we can hear our surroundings better. It becomes easier to hear a pursuer, and perhaps easier to conduct a conversation as well.'
So it follows that apes in treetops and on the ground move unpredictably and irregularly and when humans made the transition to walking on two legs, the sounds of their movements became significantly more predictable, making it possible for them to listen to nature better and thereby increase their chances of survival.
Dr Larsson explained that a behaviour that has survival value tends to produce dopamine, sometimes known as the 'reward molecule'.
In dangerous terrain, this could result in the stimulation of rhythmic movements and enhanced listening to surrounding sounds in nature.
If that kind of synchronised behaviour was rewarding in dangerous environments it may as well have been rewarding for the brain in relative safety, resulting in activities such as hand-clapping, foot-stamping and yelping around the campfire.
From there it was just a short step to dance and rhythm and the hormone dopamine flows when we listen to music.
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