Monkeys have manners too!

Monkeys are actually masters of courteous chat.

Marmosets take it in turns to 'talk' so they don't interrupt each other

• Marmosets took turns to call out and waited 5 seconds before responding
• Even relative strangers engaged in conversations of up to half an hour
• Not even our closest cousins, chimpanzees, converse in the same way

They may not be known for  their good manners,

Marmosets take turns to ‘talk’ and can keep a conversation going for up to half an hour, according to research.

They also don’t speak over or interrupt each other and are as polite to relative strangers as they are to monkeys they are normally housed with.

The US researchers placed pairs of marmosets in a room and recorded their calls. 

The monkeys clearly took turns in calling out, with the second waiting around five seconds to respond, and engaged in lengthy exchanges.

Researcher Asif Ghazanfar, of Princeton University in New Jersey, said: ‘We were surprised at how reliably the marmoset monkeys exchanged their vocalisations in a co-operative manner, particularly since in most cases they were doing so with individuals they were not pair-bonded with.

‘This makes what we found much more similar to human conversations and very different from the co-ordinated calling for birds, frogs or crickets, which is linked to mating or territorial defence.’

He said the monkeys may find the pattern of conversation relaxing.

The research showed that even relative strangers engaged in conversations of up to half an hour.

The creatures clearly took turns in calling out, with the second waiting around five seconds after the first had finished speaking to respond

A spokesman for the researchers said: ‘In other words, they follow a set of unspoken rules of conversational etiquette.’

In contrast, other animals either rarely call to each other, or when they do, they call in concert.

It also sets them apart from chimps and other great apes which, the researcher said, ‘not only don’t take turns when they vocalise, they don’t vocalise much at all’.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, Dr Ghazanfar said that it seems a big brain isn’t a pre-requisite for carrying out a conversation.

He said the monkeys may find the regular back-and-forth pattern of conversation relaxing, particularly when they are away from other members of their troop.

The researchers believe that some other types of monkey, including tamarins, also hold polite conversations

Plus, politely listening without butting in may simply make easier to hear what is said, including information about the monkey’s identity, above the noise of the forest.

It is hoped that further study of marmosets will shed light on human disorders such as autism, in which sufferers can find it hard to hold a conversation.

Dr Ghazanfar said: ‘Individuals with Down’s syndrome or autism often have difficulties in the timing of their verbal output when conversing with others.

‘We are confident that we can shed light what goes awry in such disorders by investigating the development and neurobiology of marmoset monkey turn-taking behaviour.’