Study
Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication
Seyfarth, Robert M.; Cheney, Dorothy L.; Marler, Peter
Science, 1980
Recorded vervet monkey alarm calls for leopards, eagles and snakes were played back to free-ranging groups in the absence of any predator, and the monkeys’ responses were filmed and scored.
- Studied in
- Chlorocebus pygerythrus
- Sample size
- free-ranging vervet groups in Amboseli, Kenya
Each call produced the escape response appropriate to its predator: monkeys ran into trees for the leopard call, looked up and took cover for the eagle call, and looked down at the ground for the snake call — with no predator present.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Vervet alarm calls function referentially: they designate classes of predator rather than merely conveying alarm.
How NatureHQ reads it
The foundational result in animal communication, and the reason the field distinguishes referential signals from expressions of arousal. Because no predator was present, the response can only have come from the call itself. It is worth being careful about what follows: a signal that reliably designates a category is not a word, and the monkeys are not shown to intend to inform anyone.
- Playback removes context that would normally accompany a real alarm.
- Referential function is inferred from the response, not from anything measured in the caller.
- Whether callers intend to inform others is not addressed by the design.
Playing a monkey a warning about a leopard that is not there
Does an alarm call carry information about which predator is coming, or does the monkey simply see the predator?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Animal communication
Some animal calls point at specific things in the world, not just at how the caller feels
Bats
Bat squabbling encodes who is calling, who is being addressed and what about
Animal communication
A call only counts as carrying information once another animal has been shown to act on it — not when a pattern is found in the recording.
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublished in Science or Science Advances (AAAS).
doi.org/10.1126/science.7433999
Checked against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-09-28, and they agree on the title, the authors and the year.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-09.