User:Jmod24/sandbox

Article Evaluation

The stub article I am reviewing is on girneys; vocalizations used by certain species of adult female monkeys to establish friendly relations with the offspring of other monkeys. Most of the information included in this stub article is relevant to the topic. The author provides a brief description of the behavior, an analogy to human behavior, and references the work in which information was drawn from. However, the author notes specific details about the work including when and where the research was conducted. I do not believe this information is necessary in an encyclopedia and such space would be better used for providing a more detailed description of the animal behavior. The article does not appear to be influenced by the personal opinion of the author, but cannot be considered neutral as all the information used was drawn from a single source. This article emphasizes that the vocalizations are comparable to the “baby talk” that humans use while communicating with infants. It is possible that these vocalizations are not analogous to the human behavior and if the author pulled information from multiple sources, the article could be more well rounded and reliable. It is also important to note that the one source was published in 2007. There is relevant and up to date information available on girneys that could improve the article.

Potential Article Topics

Dominance signal

• To improve this stub article I would provide more examples of dominance signals. The examples provided in this stub article are very brief and poorly explained.
• This article should explain how different species display dominance signals and how they are differentiated from other types of signals,

Tail sailing

• This stub article could be improved with a more detailed description of tail sailing and expanding on the theories behind the function of this behavior.
• Article should specify if the behavior is seen in all species of whales.

Girneys

• The animal behavior I am most interested in researching for my Wikipedia assignment is girneys.
• The stub article on girneys only uses two references, which puts it at risk of being bias. Gathering information from a wider variety of sources would strengthen the reliability of the article.
• Providing situational examples for when girneys are used (ie. when friendly contact needs to be established) would improve the quality of this article.

TA: The topic "Dominance signal" has already been assigned to another student in the class, but the topics "Tail sailing" and "Girneys" sound alright, just make sure you can find enough primary sources to support a significant contribution.

Finalized Topic: Girneys

I plan to add on to the existing stub article about girneys. The current article discusses how girneys are used by species of certain adult female monkeys to communicate with the offspring of other monkeys. However, Blount (1985) suggests that these vocalizations are used by both males and females in situations other than adult-juvenile interactions. So I will touch on each situation in which girneys are used in the updated article. Such as when lower rank monkeys are in contact with higher rank monkeys, when monkey is responding to aggression, and when female adults interact with offspring other than their own. By drawing from additional journals not covered by the existing stub article, I discovered that just because an adult female monkey is near a juvenile of another monkey, does not mean the vocalization will be used. There are situational factors that influence the use of girneys, such as proximity, degree of socialization, and aggression. I will contribute this information to the article. I also plan to expand on the function of girneys. It is not enough to simply describe the vocalizations so I will add information about how they benefit certain species of large monkeys. The majority of journals I have found focus on the use of girneys in the Japanese Macaque. I will continue to search for articles that explain girneys in other species in hopes to discuss how they differ in the updated Wikipedia article. However, if I cannot obtain enough reliable sources I will limit the discussion to the one species.

Draft

Girneys

Girneys are soft vocalizations produced by old world monkeys that function to ease affiliative social interactions between members of the same species. The calls have been studied most extensively in the Japanese macaque. Both adult male and female macaques produce the call when agonistic behavior between unrelated macaques is heightened. The behavior is most often seen in subordinate adult females when interacting with a mother showing aggression to protect her young. However, macaques will also produce call when interacting with a dominant member of the species, and when avoiding further conflict after becoming victim of a agonistic interaction. The vocalization is adaptive as allows the signaler to inform aggressor that they are nonthreatening, thereby reducing the chance of conflict and increasing fitness. Girneys do not increase affilative interactions when used towards relatives and appear to be most beneficial when directed towards unfamiliar conspecifics.

Development of girneys

Developmental changes in vocalizations may occur through social experience. Macaques often engage in affiliative interactions with conspecifics after initating contact with girneys. These interactions, such as grooming and other forms of physical contact that reduce stress will function as positive feedback that reinforce that use girneys.

Proximity of female macaque to unrelated infant

Japanese macaque mothers tend to be highly protective of their infants and will display highly aggressive behavior and even physically attack subordinate who come in close proximity. In attempt to establish friendly contact with mother and minimize chance of attack, the subordinate will produce girney.

Social ranking and girneys

Japanese macaques form despotic societies in which some members of group are ranked higher than others. The higher ranking macaques are considered dominant, and macaques of lower rank will produce girneys when in close proximity to dominant members, to signal appeasement. Low ranking females without infants are the least likely to receive girneys while high ranking females with infants are most likely to receive girneys within a troop. This is coherent with the proposition that girneys function to initiate affiliative social interaction as low ranking females without infants are more likely to be victims of aggression than any other member of troop.

Post conflict affiliative interaction

Macaque victims of conflict will produce girneys in attempt to reduce chance of further aggression by former opponent. It is unclear if the vocalizations are effective in this context due to the despotic nature of macaque troops.

Peer Review: Laura Cadigan

I think that your introduction gives a good explanation of what the behaviour is, and what species display this behaviour. I think that each of your sections could be expanded upon to give a better description, but that they cover all aspects of the behaviour. In the development section some examples of the experiments or observations that lead to the conclusion that this behaviour is formed through social experience would be useful.

Girneys

A female macaque and her offspring

Girneys are soft vocalizations used by species of old world monkeys to ease affiliative social interactions between unrelated members of the same species. The vocalizations are most commonly used by adult females around birthing season; the female will direct the call towards an unrelated mother and her offspring as an attempt to initiate friendly contact. However, mothers themselves will never direct girneys towards their own offspring as girneys do not increase affilative interactions between relatives. Monkeys will also produce call when interacting with a dominant member of the same species, and when avoiding further conflict after becoming victim of an agonistic interaction. In all contexts, the vocalization is beneficial as it allows the signaler to inform potential aggressor that they are nonthreatening, thereby reducing the chance of attack and increasing fitness. Girneys are often accompanied by lip smacking and a hesitant approach towards the dominant monkey. If the vocalization successfully reduces tension, it may be followed by allogrooming, alloparenting, and/or a rocking embrace.

Old world monkeys

Multiple species of old world monkeys produce girneys. The actual sound of the vocalization varies slightly by species but its purpose is consistent – to reduce tension between unrelated members of the same species. No accounts of monkeys directing girney towards a different species of monkey have been observed. Monkeys who use the call include: Japanese macaques, rhesus macaques, mandrills, and baboons. However, they have been most extensively studied in species of macaques. The calls are commonly observed in adult old world monkeys, but rarely in juveniles. This is likely because juveniles are already groomed and protected by their mother and would not benefit from producing an affiliative call.

Morphology

Girneys resemble a moaning and purring sound with a song-like quality. The call stays within a low frequency range, but is very morphologically variable as it does not maintain a consistent temporal pattern. Instead, the vocalizations are uttered in rapid succession, through different patterns each time. The vocalization are produced in conjunction with lip movement and teeth chattering. Dario Maestripieri, professor of comparative human development at the University of Chicago, says the sounds are "made with their mouths almost closed, sort of nasal and relatively soft", and suggested that girneys are similar to human baby talk. In the context of mother offspring dyad approach, the morphology of girneys can be divided into two distinct vocalizations, atonal girneys and tonal girneys. Both atonal and tonal girneys are submissive and accompanied by a hesitant approach.

Atonal girneys

Vocalizations modified by a process of lip movement on teeth scraping is characteristic of atonal girneys. An adult female will produce this distinct call when approaching a cluster of females and infants late in the birth season, particularly when orientated toward the infant of the group.

Tonal girneys

Tonal girneys are more morphologically variable than atonal girneys as the characteristic tongue and lip movements are superimposed. The call is produced by an adult female who intends to participate in grooming with an unrelated dominant female. The subordinate directs the call while the dominant is separate from the cluster during birth season.

Function and Context

General function

Girneys are used in a variety of contexts but consistently function to ease affiliative social interactions between unrelated members of the same species and are generally directed from the subordinate monkey to the dominant monkey.

Establishing friendly contact with unrelated mother-offspring dyad

Japanese macaque grooming

Male macaque do not often participate in infant care, so mothers tend to be highly protective of their infants and will display highly aggressive behavior and even physically attack monkeys who come within close proximity. In attempt to establish friendly contact with mother and minimize chance of attack, the subordinate adult female will produce girney. The call can also benefit the adult female in that it may increase probability of affiliative physical contact such as grooming, which reduces stress. Monkeys who do not produce the call upon approaching mother-offspring dyad are less likely to attain access to an affiliative interaction. Additionally, females without infants may be allowed access to handling an unrelated mothers infant after initiating friendly contact with girneys. In this case, they often continue to make the call during handling

Acknowledging social hierarchy

Japanese macaques form despotic societies in which some members of group are ranked higher than others. The higher ranking macaques are considered dominant, and macaques of lower rank will produce girneys when in close proximity to dominant members, to signal appeasement and acknowledge inferiority. Low ranking females without infants are the least likely to receive girneys while high ranking females with infants are most likely to receive girneys within a troop. This is coherent with the proposition that girneys function to reduce tension, as low ranking females without infants are more likely to be victims of aggression than any other member of troop.

Post-conflict affiliation

Opponents of a conflict are attracted to each other for a short period of time following the conflict. During this time, the victim will produce girneys in attempt to restore friendly relations with former opponent. The victim is more likely to use the vocalization when opponent is less familiar, indicating that production of girney after conflict is dependent on the predictability of winning opponent. Despite the reconciliation intent of girneys, victims make themselves vulnerable to further aggression when initiating post conflict affiliation. So It is unclear if the vocalizations are effective in this context.