Animals are also overheard

When monkeys communicate with each other, the Sika deer immediately listen, because the monkey's "story" helps them find food more easily.

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A team of experts from Kyoto University, Japan, came to Yakushima island to study the symbiotic relationship between macaque monkey and Sika deer. In 2004, the team used to see deer picking fruits under camphor trees that monkeys climbed. This time they want to know why deer can follow macaque monkeys to places where food is available, the BBC reported.

A macaque monkey and Sika deer on Yakushima island. These two species
regularly support each other in detecting remote predators.

Camphor fruit is a favorite dish of both Sika deer and macaque monkey on Yakushima island.

Every time a food is detected, macaque monkeys always inform their fellow humans with typical cries. The team recorded those cries and played back through the speakers. Upon hearing the sound of monkeys from the speakers, the deer will immediately approach. But if the speakers are silent, the deer disappear. That shows the sound that monkeys emit brings some benefit to deer.

"This is clear evidence of the ability to communicate between two different animals. It seems that the deer overhear the story of the monkeys to be able to find camphor trees more easily," said Dr. Hiroki Koda, study leader, said.

Koda believes that Sika deer can distinguish sounds related to camphor trees with sounds related to other fruits. Therefore, every time the monkeys call each other to the camphor tree, Sika deer will recognize that cry and follow.

The study is published in the journal Behavioral Processes.