Feline faces: Unraveling the social function of domestic cat facial signals.

Lately, there has been a growing interest in studying domestic cat facial signals, but most of this research has centered on signals produced during human-cat interactions or pain. The available research on intraspecific facial signaling with domesticated cats has largely focused on non-affiliative social interactions. However, the transition to intraspecific sociality through domestication could have resulted in a greater reliance on affiliative facial signals that aid with social bonding.

Primate socio-ecology shapes the evolution of distinctive facial repertoires.

Primate facial musculature enables a wide variety of movements during bouts of communication, but how these movements contribute to signal construction and repertoire size is unclear. The suggests that morphological constraints shape the evolution of facial repertoires: species with higher facial mobility will produce larger and more complex repertoires. In contrast, the suggests that social needs shape the evolution of facial repertoires: as social complexity increases, so does communicative repertoire size.

A Comparison of Focal and Opportunistic Sampling Methods when Studying Chimpanzee Facial and Gestural Communication.

Researchers frequently use focal individual sampling to study primate communication. Recent studies of primate gestures have shown that opportunistic sampling offers benefits not found in focal individual sampling, such as the collection of larger sample sizes. What is not known is whether the opportunistic method is biased towards certain signal types or signalers.