Nose Amplifies Threatening Call

a reddish brown monkey with a distinctly large floppy nose sits in a tree surrounded by leaves

Biological Strategy

Proboscis monkey

AskNature Team

Image: Danielle Brigida / Flickr / CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution alone

Send Sound Signals

Many living systems send auditory signals to communicate with others, including to attract, announce, or warn. These sounds must be audible to the intended recipient in a variety of conditions, such as in wind, water, and solids. As a result, each living system has specific sounds best adapted to its environment. For example, some birds live in loud habitats, like those alongside noisy streams or in windy areas. These birds use sound frequencies that can be heard by other birds over competing environmental noises.

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Mammals

Class Mammalia (“breast”): Bats, cats, whales, horses, humans

Mammals make up less than 1% of all animals on earth, but they include some of the most well-known species. We know first-hand some of the characteristics that make mammals unique, like having hair, being able to sweat, and producing milk through mammary glands. Another critical shared feature is a set of highly-specialized teeth. Unlike sharks or alligators, for example, whose teeth are generally all the same size and shape, mammals have differently shaped teeth in different areas of the jaws to target specific foods or foraging strategies.

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The nose of the male proboscis monkey amplifies its threatening call by serving as a resonating chamber.

“A large mobile nose, like that of the elephant, may also be known as a proboscis: hence the name of the proboscis monkey, a curious-looking primate, the male of which has a long bulbous nose that hangs over his mouth. This kind of nose is used as a resonating chamber, and is erected to amplify the male’s threatening call through the forest canopy of Borneo.” (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:136)

Foy S, Oxford Scientific Films. The Grand Design: Form and Colour in Animals. Lingfield, Surrey, U.K.: BLA Publishing Limited for J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London; 1982. 238 p.

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

The grand design: Form and colour in animals

26/02/1983 | Sally Foy

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Reference

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