The Many Chimps Project: ontogeny as a source of variation in chimpanzee vocal behaviour
The Many Chimps Project is a large-scale collaborative project that will examine the role ontogeny plays in generating geographic diversity in chimpanzee call acoustics. Early in human ontogeny, the acoustic characteristics of vocal behaviour are relatively similar across populations but show immense geographic diversity later in ontogeny. It is well-documented that adult chimpanzee vocalisations are also geographically variable, but almost nothing is known about how this emerges during ontogeny. This is a critical gap in our understanding of the phylogenetic roots of language. The Many Chimps Project will create a comprehensive database on chimpanzee call acoustics using pre-existing recordings and make comparisons of call acoustics between chimpanzees at the same stage in ontogeny across populations that differ in their ecology, social environment, and genetic composition. This will elucidate the process of chimpanzee vocal ontogeny and identify factors that influence this process, providing novel insights into the phylogenetic roots of language.
We are looking for a motivated post-graduate student to help extract acoustic measurements from ~ 7000 chimpanzee calls using pre-existing recordings of chimpanzee vocalizations from multiple field sites across Africa. Previous experience in coding chimpanzee calls, or familiarity with the chimpanzee vocal repertoire will be essential, as well as experience extracting acoustic measurements from audio recordings. An understanding of methodological issues in bioacoustics research will also be critical in order to select recordings that are suitable for analysis (i.e., those with minimal levels of irrelevant spectral noise). Understanding or experience of inter-rater reliability testing will be useful, although training can be provided on this. All work can be completed remotely if necessary and will occur during a period of 2 months full-time or 4 months part-time, with the possibility of extension.
Hosting laboratory : ENES Lab (Saint-Etienne, France). https://www.eneslab.com/