Acoustic Variation and Social Transmission in Functionally Referential Food Calls of Macaca mulatta in Chitrakoot Region Satna, M.P.

Vocal communication in nonhuman primates provides critical insight into the evolutionary foundations of language and social cognition.The present study investigates acoustic variation and potential social transmission in functionally referential food calls of Macaca mulatta inhabiting the Chitrakoot region of Satna District, Madhya Pradesh, India.Field observations and acoustic recordings were conducted across multiple troops to examine context-specific call production, structural variability, and patterns of intra-and inter-group similarity.Acoustic parameters including call duration, fundamental frequency, peak frequency, bandwidth, and harmonic structure were quantified using bioacoustics software PRAAT.Multivariate analyses were employed to assess whether call structure varied according to food type, social context, and group membership.Results indicate significant acoustic differentiation associated with specific food categories, supporting the functional referentiality of food calls.Furthermore, greater acoustic similarity was observed within troops than between geographically separated groups, suggesting the influence of social learning or group-level vocal convergence.Juveniles exhibited greater variability in call structure compared to adults, indicating possible ontogenetic refinement through social exposure.These findings provide evidence for vocal plasticity and socially mediated acoustic modulation in Macaca mulatta, contributing to ongoing debates regarding the extent of vocal learning in cercopithecine primates.The study enhances understanding of primate communication systems and offers important implications for the evolutionary precursors of human speech.