Girneys

Girneys are vocalizations - similar to human Baby Talk - used by adult female Rhesus Monkeys to establish friendly contact with infant monkeys who are not their own offspring. The vocalizations are made in a high-pitched sing-song. Dario Maestripieri, professor of comparative human development at the University of Chicago, says the sounds are "made with their mouths almost closed, sort of nasal and relatively soft." Professor Maestripieri suggests that the similarity of girneys to human Baby Talk suggests that the latter may be of biological origin. The research was made mostly by Maestripieri's PhD student Jessica Whitman, who observed 19 adult females in a family of 65 Rhesus Monkeys on the island of Cayo Santiago near Puerto Rico, every day for several months in 2004 and 2005. Melissa Gerald of the University of Puerto Rico was the third co-author of the paper, which was published in the journal "Ethology", August 24, 2007. Adult males - who take no part in raising the young - do not use the girneys. Mothers never use them with their own children. The vocalization is often accompanied by tail-wagging, a very rare behavior.

Sources
*"Monkeys fluent in baby talk," article in the "Chicago Tribune", August 24, 2007.
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