Simulating Representational Communication in Vervet Monkeys

Vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) are said to give acoustically different alarm calls to different predators, evoking contrasting, seemingly adaptive, responses. Since it can be a potentially critical evolutionary feature if proven its worth, there is a need to check how effective are these alarm calls in helping the vervets' overall survival. This project is a predator-prey agent-based modeling attempt to simulate an ecological setup consisting of vervet monkeys as they interact with predators and give alarm calls. Hence the main goal of the simulation is to efficiently model representational communication through an agent-based model and show how the differential meaning of vervet’s alarm calls is helping in their survival.