F. Fornalé
Red-green color vision in three catarrhine primates
Fornalé, F.; Vaglio, S.; Spiezio, C.; Prato Previde, E.
Authors
S. Vaglio
C. Spiezio
E. Prato Previde
Abstract
The evolution of the red-green visual subsystem in trichromatic primates has been linked to foraging advantages, specifically the detection of either ripe fruits or young leaves amid mature foliage, and to the intraspecific socio-sexual communication, namely the signal of the male rank, the mate choice and the reproductive strategies in females. New data should be added to the debate regarding the evolution of trichromatic color vision. Three catarrhine primates were observed to achieve this goal. The research was performed on captive groups of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops), pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) housed at Parco Natura Viva - Garda Zoological Park (Italy). Using pairs of red-green bags containing the same hidden reward in comparable outdoor enclosures, we recorded the choices by observed individuals (n = 25) to investigate the role of color cues in choosing an object. The results indicate that chimpanzees used red color as cue to choose an object that contains food by showing a preference toward red objects; in contrast, vervet monkeys and pig-tailed macaques do not demonstrate a clear choice based on the color of the object. Our findings highlight the importance of the foraging hypothesis but not rule out the potential role of the intraspecific socio-sexual communication and may serve to add useful information to the debate regarding the adaptive value of the evolution of color vision in order to fill a phylogenetic gap from Old World monkeys to humans. Future studies should address the role of socio-sexual communication, such as the selection of the reproductive partner of both high genetic quality and with compatible genes, to determine how this influenced the evolution of color vision in non-human primates.
Citation
Fornalé, F., Vaglio, S., Spiezio, C., & Prato Previde, E. (2012). Red-green color vision in three catarrhine primates. Communicative and Integrative Biology, 5(6), 583-589. https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.21414
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Nov 1, 2012 |
Deposit Date | Oct 2, 2013 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Journal | Communicative and Integrative Biology |
Print ISSN | 1942-0889 |
Publisher | Taylor and Francis Group |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 5 |
Issue | 6 |
Pages | 583-589 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.21414 |
Keywords | Trichromacy, Red-green color preference, Vervet monkey, Pig-tailed macaque, Chimpanzee. |
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This is an open-access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. The article may be redistributed, reproduced, and reused for non-commercial purposes, provided the original source is properly cited.
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