A number of social animals produce food-associated calls, which have been interpreted as informative and referential about the quality or quantity of food accessed by the caller. In chimpanzees, however, some behavioural patterns have remained unexplained by this model, suggesting that food-associated calls have a more generalized social function beyond attracting others to food, such as promoting tolerance between co-feeding individuals. In this study, we investigated how wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of Budongo Forest, Uganda, use food associated-calls in situations when social tolerance is low, i.e., during agonistic interactions. We found a positive relationship between food calling and agonistic behaviours during a feeding event, independent of the number of males on the feeding patch. Moreover, food calling followed rather than preceded aggression, suggesting that aggression can trigger food call production. These results support the view that chimpanzee food-associated calls can act as social tools mediating competitive or aggressive interactions.

中文翻译：

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野生黑猩猩觅食与争斗行为的关系

许多社交动物会发出与食物相关的叫声，这些叫声被解释为有关呼叫者获取的食物质量或数量的信息和参考。然而，在黑猩猩中，该模型仍然无法解释一些行为模式，这表明与食物相关的叫声除了吸引其他人吃食物外，还具有更广泛的社会功能，例如促进共同进食的个体之间的耐受性。在这项研究中，我们调查了乌干达布东戈森林的野生黑猩猩 (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) 如何在社会容忍度低的情况下（即在激动相互作用期间）使用食物相关呼叫。我们发现在喂食事件中食物召唤和激动行为之间存在正相关关系，与喂食区上的雄性数量无关。而且，食物叫声紧随其后而不是先于攻击，这表明攻击可以触发食物叫声的产生。这些结果支持这样一种观点，即黑猩猩与食物相关的叫声可以作为调节竞争性或攻击性互动的社交工具。