“PYOW pyow hack hack hack”. Or, to translate from monkey-speak: “C’mon. We’re outta here.” That’s how male putty-nosed monkeys tell their group it’s time to move on.
Kate Arnold of the University of St Andrews, UK, noticed the call during experiments in Nigeria to test how wild groups of these tree-dwelling monkeys (Cerceopithecus nictitans) respond to recordings of noises of predatory leopards and eagles. The dominant males in groups of 15 to 25 females will make “pyow” sounds when leopards are prowling nearby, and “hack” sounds when eagles are alarmingly close.
The males would also utter a mixture of the…
