JERUSALEM, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- A new study revealed that marmoset monkeys use specific calls to name each other, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) said in a statement on Thursday.

HU noted that this behavior, detailed in the academic journal Science, was previously known to exist only in humans, dolphins, and elephants.

In the study, the researchers discovered that marmosets use specific whistle-like calls, known as "phee-calls," to identify one another.

To uncover this, the researchers recorded communication between pairs of marmosets and their interactions with a computer system.

The study also revealed that members from the same marmoset group use similar vocal labels to address different individuals and employ similar sound features to encode different names, resembling the use of names and dialects in humans.

The researchers said this vocal labeling may have evolved to help marmosets maintain cohesion within their dense rainforest habitat, where visibility is often limited.

The findings suggest that marmosets possess complex brain mechanisms that might be comparable to those involved in human language development.

The researchers noted that marmosets' monogamous family structures and shared childcare might reflect similar social challenges facing early humans, potentially leading to comparable communication methods.

They concluded that the study opens new avenues for exploring how human communication abilities may have evolved and what can be learned from these social nonhuman primates. Enditem

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