Marmoset monkeys call each other by name study finds

Scientists studying the behaviour of marmoset monkeys believe the creatures are able to call one another by name.

The monkeys were found to use calls - known as “phee calls” - which were different for each marmoset.

Apart from humans, only dolphins and elephants had previously been found to use vocal communication to talk to members of their own species.

The researchers hope their discovery will help us to better understand how human language evolved over time.

What did experts discover?

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recorded conversations between pairs of marmoset monkeys.

They separated the two monkeys using a barrier so they could not see each other -and then recorded their calls.

Marmoset monkeys are chatty creatures who use high pitched whistle-like calls, called "phee calls", to talk to each other.

When experts played back the conversations, they found that the marmosets used different phee-calls for each monkey on the other side of the barrier - similar to how humans use names.

Researchers also found the monkeys could recognise when the calls were directed at them and that they were more likely to respond when they were called by their name.

Scientists say that this behaviour may be important to help the monkeys stay in contact with each other in dense rainforests, where visibility is often limited.

Experts are unsure how and when humans first began talking but the team from Hebrew University hope their discovery will answer some of those questions.

David Omer, who was involved with the study, explained: "We can still learn a lot from non-human primates about the evolution of language in humans."