RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Vocal convergence in the multi-level society of Guinea baboons JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.03.24.005504 DO 10.1101/2020.03.24.005504 A1 Julia Fischer A1 Franziska Wegdell A1 Franziska Trede A1 Federica Dal Pesco A1 Kurt Hammerschmidt YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/03/25/2020.03.24.005504.abstract AB The extent to which nonhuman primate vocalizations are amenable to modification through experience is relevant for understanding the substrate from which human speech evolved. One road to investigate the flexibility in vocal production has been to study differences in vocal behaviour between different social groups. We examined the vocal behaviour of Guinea baboons, Papio papio, ranging in the Niokolo Koba National Park in Senegal. Guinea baboons live in a multi-level society, with parties nested within gangs. We investigated whether the acoustic structure of grunts of 30 male baboons of five gangs differed in relation to social level and genetic relatedness. Males in this species are philopatric, resulting in increased male relatedness within gangs and parties. Grunts from members of the same gang were more similar to each other than across gangs (N = 435 dyads), but for parties within gangs we found no evidence for higher similarity (N = 169 dyads). Acoustic similarity did not correlate with genetic relatedness. Our study provides evidence for acoustic convergence in male Guinea baboon grunts; the observed nonlinear relationship between social level and acoustic similarity may reflect the limits of the extent to which vocal accommodation is possible, or even advantageous.