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Terranova F, Baciadonna L, Maccarone C, Isaja V, Gamba M, Favaro L. Penguins perceive variations of source- and filter-related vocal parameters of species-specific vocalisations. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1613-1622. [PMID: 37401990 PMCID: PMC10442253 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01806-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023]
Abstract
Animal vocalisations encode a wide range of biological information about the age, sex, body size, and social status of the emitter. Moreover, vocalisations play a significant role in signalling the identity of the emitter to conspecifics. Recent studies have shown that, in the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), acoustic cues to individual identity are encoded in the fundamental frequency (F0) and resonance frequencies (formants) of the vocal tract. However, although penguins are known to produce vocalisations where F0 and formants vary among individuals, it remains to be tested whether the receivers can perceive and use such information in the individual recognition process. In this study, using the Habituation-Dishabituation (HD) paradigm, we tested the hypothesis that penguins perceive and respond to a shift of ± 20% (corresponding to the natural inter-individual variation observed in ex-situ colonies) of F0 and formant dispersion (ΔF) of species-specific calls. We found that penguins were more likely to look rapidly and for longer at the source of the sound when F0 and formants of the calls were manipulated, indicating that they could perceive variations of these parameters in the vocal signals. Our findings provide the first experimental evidence that, in the African penguin, listeners can perceive changes in F0 and formants, which can be used by the receiver as potential cues for the individual discrimination of the emitter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Terranova
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Luigi Baciadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
| | - Chiara Maccarone
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
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Beeck VC, Heilmann G, Kerscher M, Stoeger AS. Sound Visualization Demonstrates Velopharyngeal Coupling and Complex Spectral Variability in Asian Elephants. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:2119. [PMID: 36009709 PMCID: PMC9404934 DOI: 10.3390/ani12162119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Sound production mechanisms set the parameter space available for transmitting biologically relevant information in vocal signals. Low-frequency rumbles play a crucial role in coordinating social interactions in elephants' complex fission-fusion societies. By emitting rumbles through either the oral or the three-times longer nasal vocal tract, African elephants alter their spectral shape significantly. In this study, we used an acoustic camera to visualize the sound emission of rumbles in Asian elephants, which have received far less research attention than African elephants. We recorded nine adult captive females and analyzed the spectral parameters of 203 calls, including vocal tract resonances (formants). We found that the majority of rumbles (64%) were nasally emitted, 21% orally, and 13% simultaneously through the mouth and trunk, demonstrating velopharyngeal coupling. Some of the rumbles were combined with orally emitted roars. The nasal rumbles concentrated most spectral energy in lower frequencies exhibiting two formants, whereas the oral and mixed rumbles contained higher formants, higher spectral energy concentrations and were louder. The roars were the loudest, highest and broadest in frequency. This study is the first to demonstrate velopharyngeal coupling in a non-human animal. Our findings provide a foundation for future research into the adaptive functions of the elephant acoustic variability for information coding, localizability or sound transmission, as well as vocal flexibility across species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika C. Beeck
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | - Angela S. Stoeger
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
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Volodin IA, Volodina EV, Frey R. Rutting vocal display in male impala (Aepyceros melampus) and overlap with alarm context. Front Zool 2021; 18:2. [PMID: 33413460 PMCID: PMC7792082 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-020-00383-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The rutting vocal display of male impala Aepyceros melampus is unique for its complexity among ruminants. This study investigates bouts of rutting calls produced towards potential mates and rival males by free-ranging male impala in Namibia. In particular, a comparison of male rutting and alarm snorts is conducted, inspired by earlier findings of mate guarding by using alarm snorts in male topi Damaliscus lunatus. RESULTS Rutting male impala produced 4-38 (13.5 ± 6.5) rutting calls per bout. We analyzed 201 bouts, containing in total 2709 rutting calls of five types: continuous roars produced within a single exhalation-inhalation cycle; interrupted roars including few exhalation-inhalation cycles; pant-roars distinctive by a pant-phase with rapidly alternating inhalations and exhalations; usual snorts lacking any roar part; and roar-snorts starting with a short roar part. Bouts mostly started and ended with usual snorts. Continuous roars were the shortest roars. The average duration of the exhalatory phase was longest in the continuous roars and shortest in the pant-roars. The average fundamental frequency (49.7-51.4 Hz) did not differ between roar types. Vocal tract length, calculated by using measurements of the first four vocal tract resonances (formants), ranged within 381-382 mm in all roar types. In the studied male impala, rutting snorts within bouts of rutting calls were longer and had higher values of the upper quartile in the call spectra than alarm snorts produced towards potential danger. CONCLUSIONS Additional inhalations during the emission of the interrupted and pant-roars prolong their duration compared to the continuous roars but do not affect the fundamental frequency or the degree of larynx retraction while roaring. Alarm snorts are separated from one another by large intervals, whereas the intervals between rutting snorts within bouts are short. Sometimes, rutting snorts alternate with roars, whereas alarm snorts do not. Therefore, it is not the acoustic structure of individual snorts but the temporal sequence and the occasional association with another call type that defines snorts as either rutting or alarm snorts. The rutting snorts of male impala may function to attract the attention of receptive females and delay their departure from a male's harem or territory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya A Volodin
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorobievy Gory, 12/1, Moscow, 119234, Russia.
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia.
| | - Elena V Volodina
- Department of Behaviour and Behavioural Ecology of Mammals, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Moscow, Russia
| | - Roland Frey
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany
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Filippi P. Emotional Voice Intonation: A Communication Code at the Origins of Speech Processing and Word-Meaning Associations? JOURNAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10919-020-00337-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The aim of the present work is to investigate the facilitating effect of vocal emotional intonation on the evolution of the following processes involved in language: (a) identifying and producing phonemes, (b) processing compositional rules underlying vocal utterances, and (c) associating vocal utterances with meanings. To this end, firstly, I examine research on the presence of these abilities in animals, and the biologically ancient nature of emotional vocalizations. Secondly, I review research attesting to the facilitating effect of emotional voice intonation on these abilities in humans. Thirdly, building on these studies in animals and humans, and through taking an evolutionary perspective, I provide insights for future empirical work on the facilitating effect of emotional intonation on these three processes in animals and preverbal humans. In this work, I highlight the importance of a comparative approach to investigate language evolution empirically. This review supports Darwin’s hypothesis, according to which the ability to express emotions through voice modulation was a key step in the evolution of spoken language.
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Baciadonna L, Briefer EF, Favaro L, McElligott AG. Goats distinguish between positive and negative emotion-linked vocalisations. Front Zool 2019; 16:25. [PMID: 31320917 PMCID: PMC6617626 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-019-0323-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Evidence from humans suggests that the expression of emotions can regulate social interactions and promote coordination within a group. Despite its evolutionary importance, social communication of emotions in non-human animals is still not well understood. Here, we combine behavioural and physiological measures, to determine if animals can distinguish between vocalisations linked to different emotional valences (positive and negative). Using a playback paradigm, goats were habituated to listen to a conspecific call associated with positive or negative valence (habituation phase) and were subsequently exposed to a variant of the same call type (contact call) associated with the opposite valence (dishabituation phase), followed by a final call randomly selected from the habituation phase as control (rehabituation phase). The effects of the calls on the occurrence of looking and cardiac responses in these phases were recorded and compared. RESULTS We found that when the valence of the call variant changed, goats were more likely to look at the source of the sound, indicating that they could distinguish calls based on their valence. Heart rate was not affected by the valence of the calls played, whereas heart-rate variability tended to be higher in the habituation and rehabituation phases, when positive calls were played compared to negative ones. Together, the behavioural and physiological measures provide evidence suggesting, first, that goats are able to distinguish call variants based on their valence, and second, that goat behaviour and cardiac responses are affected by call valence. CONCLUSION This study indicates that auditory modalities are a potent means to communicate emotions in non-human animals. These findings can contribute to our understanding of the evolution of emotion perception in non-human animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Baciadonna
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS UK
| | - Elodie F. Briefer
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Universitätsstrasse 2, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Section for Ecology & Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Turin, Italy
- Equipe Neuro-Ethologie Sensorielle, ENES/Neuro-PSI CNRS UMR9197, University of Lyon/Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Alan G. McElligott
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS UK
- Centre for Research in Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour, Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, London, SW15 4JD UK
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Clark CW, Gagnon GJ, Frankel AS. Fin whale singing decreases with increased swimming speed. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:180525. [PMID: 31312464 PMCID: PMC6599786 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.180525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The attributes of male acoustic advertisement displays are often related to a performer's age, breeding condition and motivation, but these relationships are particularly difficult to study in free-ranging marine mammals. For fin whale singers, we examined the relationships between a singer's swimming speed, song duration and amount of singing. We used a unique set of fin whale singing and swimming data collected in support of the US Navy's marine mammal monitoring programme associated with the Navy's Integrated Undersea Surveillance System. A goal of the programme is to improve understanding of the potential effects of anthropogenic sound sources on baleen whale behaviours and populations. We found that as whales swam faster, some continued to sing, while others did not. If swimming speed is an indication of male stamina, then singing while swimming faster could be a display by which females and/or other males assess a singer's physical fitness and potential reproductive quality. Results have implications for interpreting fin whale singing behaviour and the possible influences of anthropogenic sounds on fin whale mating strategies and breeding success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher W. Clark
- Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
- Marine Acoustics, Inc., 2417 Camino Real South, Virginia Beach, VA 23456, USA
| | - George J. Gagnon
- Marine Acoustics, Inc., 2417 Camino Real South, Virginia Beach, VA 23456, USA
| | - Adam S. Frankel
- Marine Acoustics, Inc., 2417 Camino Real South, Virginia Beach, VA 23456, USA
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Raine J, Pisanski K, Oleszkiewicz A, Simner J, Reby D. Human Listeners Can Accurately Judge Strength and Height Relative to Self from Aggressive Roars and Speech. iScience 2018; 4:273-280. [PMID: 30240746 PMCID: PMC6146593 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2018] [Revised: 04/02/2018] [Accepted: 04/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Although animal vocalizations and human speech are known to communicate physical formidability, no previous study has examined whether human listeners can assess the strength or body size of vocalizers relative to their own, either from speech or from nonverbal vocalizations. Here, although men tended to underestimate women's formidability, and women to overestimate men's, listeners judged relative strength and height from aggressive roars and aggressive speech accurately. For example, when judging roars, male listeners accurately identified vocalizers who were substantially stronger than themselves in 88% of trials, and never as weaker. For male vocalizers only, roars functioned to exaggerate the expression of threat compared to aggressive speech, as men were rated as relatively stronger when producing roars. These results indicate that, like other mammals, the acoustic structure of human aggressive vocal signals (and in particular roars) may have been selected to communicate functional information relevant to listeners' survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan Raine
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
| | - Katarzyna Pisanski
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland
| | - Anna Oleszkiewicz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland; Taste and Smell Center, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Julia Simner
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - David Reby
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
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Koda H, Murai T, Tuuga A, Goossens B, Nathan SK, Stark DJ, Ramirez DAR, Sha JCM, Osman I, Sipangkui R, Seino S, Matsuda I. Nasalization by Nasalis larvatus: Larger noses audiovisually advertise conspecifics in proboscis monkeys. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2018; 4:eaaq0250. [PMID: 29507881 PMCID: PMC5833997 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 01/23/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Male proboscis monkeys have uniquely enlarged noses that are prominent adornments, which may have evolved through their sexually competitive harem group social system. Nevertheless, the ecological roles of the signals encoded by enlarged noses remain unclear. We found significant correlations among nose, body, and testis sizes and a clear link between nose size and number of harem females. Therefore, there is evidence supporting both male-male competition and female choice as causal factors in the evolution of enlarged male noses. We also observed that nasal enlargement systematically modifies the resonance properties of male vocalizations, which probably encode male quality. Our results indicate that the audiovisual contributions of enlarged male noses serve as advertisements to females in their mate selection. This is the first primate research to evaluate the evolutionary processes involved in linking morphology, acoustics, and socioecology with unique masculine characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hiroki Koda
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Tadahiro Murai
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | | | - Benoit Goossens
- Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah, Malaysia
- Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah, Malaysia
- Organisms and Environment Division, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | | | - Danica J. Stark
- Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah, Malaysia
- Organisms and Environment Division, Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Diana A. R. Ramirez
- Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah, Malaysia
- Danau Girang Field Centre, Sabah Wildlife Department, Sabah, Malaysia
| | - John C. M. Sha
- School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ismon Osman
- Singapore Zoo, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | | | - Satoru Seino
- Zoorasia, Yokohama Zoological Gardens, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Ikki Matsuda
- Chubu University Academy of Emerging Sciences, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai-shi, Aichi 487-8501, Japan
- Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
- Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Japan
- Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia, Sabah, Malaysia
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Dorph A, McDonald PG. The acoustic repertoire and behavioural context of the vocalisations of a nocturnal dasyurid, the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus). PLoS One 2017; 12:e0179337. [PMID: 28686679 PMCID: PMC5501449 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Defining an acoustic repertoire is essential to understanding vocal signalling and communicative interactions within a species. Currently, quantitative and statistical definition is lacking for the vocalisations of many dasyurids, an important group of small to medium-sized marsupials from Australasia that includes the eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus), a species of conservation concern. Beyond generating a better understanding of this species' social interactions, determining an acoustic repertoire will further improve detection rates and inference of vocalisations gathered by automated bioacoustic recorders. Hence, this study investigated eastern quoll vocalisations using objective signal processing techniques to quantitatively analyse spectrograms recorded from 15 different individuals. Recordings were collected in conjunction with observations of the behaviours associated with each vocalisation to develop an acoustic-based behavioural repertoire for the species. Analysis of recordings produced a putative classification of five vocalisation types: Bark, Growl, Hiss, Cp-cp, and Chuck. These were most frequently observed during agonistic encounters between conspecifics, most likely as a graded sequence from Hisses occurring in a warning context through to Growls and finally Barks being given prior to, or during, physical confrontations between individuals. Quantitative and statistical methods were used to objectively establish the accuracy of these five putative call types. A multinomial logistic regression indicated a 97.27% correlation with the perceptual classification, demonstrating support for the five different vocalisation types. This putative classification was further supported by hierarchical cluster analysis and silhouette information that determined the optimal number of clusters to be five. Minor disparity between the objective and perceptual classifications was potentially the result of gradation between vocalisations, or subtle differences present within vocalisations not discernible to the human ear. The implication of these different vocalisations and their given context is discussed in relation to the ecology of the species and the potential application of passive acoustic monitoring techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annalie Dorph
- Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Paul G. McDonald
- Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
- * E-mail:
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Reber SA, Janisch J, Torregrosa K, Darlington J, Vliet KA, Fitch WT. Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators. Sci Rep 2017; 7:1816. [PMID: 28500350 PMCID: PMC5431764 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01948-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2017] [Accepted: 04/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In many vertebrates, acoustic cues to body size are encoded in resonance frequencies of the vocal tract ("formants"), rather than in the rate of tissue vibration in the sound source ("pitch"). Anatomical constraints on the vocal tract's size render formants honest cues to size in many bird and mammal species, but it is not clear whether this correlation evolved convergently in these two clades, or whether it is widespread among amniotes (mammals, birds, and non-avian reptiles). We investigated the potential for honest acoustic cues in the bellows of adult American alligators and found that formant spacing provided highly reliable cues to body size, while presumed correlates of the source signal did not. These findings held true for both sexes and for all bellows whether produced in or out of water. Because birds and crocodilians are the last extant Archosaurians and share common ancestry with all extinct dinosaurs, our findings support the hypothesis that dinosaurs used formants as cues to body size. The description of formants as honest signals in a non-avian reptile combined with previous evidence from birds and mammals strongly suggests that the principle of honest signalling via vocal tract resonances may be a broadly shared trait among amniotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan A Reber
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria.
| | - Judith Janisch
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria
| | - Kevin Torregrosa
- St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, St. Augustine, FL, 32080, USA
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo, Bronx, NY, 10460, USA
| | - Jim Darlington
- St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, St. Augustine, FL, 32080, USA
| | - Kent A Vliet
- Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
| | - W Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria.
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Automated monitoring of vocal rutting activity in red deer (Cervus elaphus). RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF THERIOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.15.2.03] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Reber SA, Nishimura T, Janisch J, Robertson M, Fitch WT. A Chinese alligator in heliox: formant frequencies in a crocodilian. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 218:2442-7. [PMID: 26246611 PMCID: PMC4528706 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.119552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Crocodilians are among the most vocal non-avian reptiles. Adults of both sexes produce loud vocalizations known as ‘bellows’ year round, with the highest rate during the mating season. Although the specific function of these vocalizations remains unclear, they may advertise the caller's body size, because relative size differences strongly affect courtship and territorial behaviour in crocodilians. In mammals and birds, a common mechanism for producing honest acoustic signals of body size is via formant frequencies (vocal tract resonances). To our knowledge, formants have to date never been documented in any non-avian reptile, and formants do not seem to play a role in the vocalizations of anurans. We tested for formants in crocodilian vocalizations by using playbacks to induce a female Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis) to bellow in an airtight chamber. During vocalizations, the animal inhaled either normal air or a helium/oxygen mixture (heliox) in which the velocity of sound is increased. Although heliox allows normal respiration, it alters the formant distribution of the sound spectrum. An acoustic analysis of the calls showed that the source signal components remained constant under both conditions, but an upward shift of high-energy frequency bands was observed in heliox. We conclude that these frequency bands represent formants. We suggest that crocodilian vocalizations could thus provide an acoustic indication of body size via formants. Because birds and crocodilians share a common ancestor with all dinosaurs, a better understanding of their vocal production systems may also provide insight into the communication of extinct Archosaurians. Highlighted Article: Frequency peaks in bellows of a Chinese alligator breathing a helium–oxygen mixture instead of air shift to significantly higher frequencies, showing that crocodilian vocalizations contain vocal resonance frequencies or ‘formants’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan A Reber
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1150, Austria
| | - Takeshi Nishimura
- Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Judith Janisch
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1150, Austria
| | - Mark Robertson
- St Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, St Augustine, FL 32080, USA
| | - W Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1150, Austria
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14
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Efremova KO, Frey R, Volodin IA, Fritsch G, Soldatova NV, Volodina EV. The postnatal ontogeny of the sexually dimorphic vocal apparatus in goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa). J Morphol 2016; 277:826-44. [PMID: 26997608 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2015] [Revised: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 02/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
This study quantitatively documents the progressive development of sexual dimorphism of the vocal organs along the ontogeny of the goitred gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa). The major, male-specific secondary sexual features, of vocal anatomy in goitred gazelle are an enlarged larynx and a marked laryngeal descent. These features appear to have evolved by sexual selection and may serve as a model for similar events in male humans. Sexual dimorphism of larynx size and larynx position in adult goitred gazelles is more pronounced than in humans, whereas the vocal anatomy of neonate goitred gazelles does not differ between sexes. This study examines the vocal anatomy of 19 (11 male, 8 female) goitred gazelle specimens across three age-classes, that is, neonates, subadults and mature adults. The postnatal ontogenetic development of the vocal organs up to their respective end states takes considerably longer in males than in females. Both sexes share the same features of vocal morphology but differences emerge in the course of ontogeny, ultimately resulting in the pronounced sexual dimorphism of the vocal apparatus in adults. The main differences comprise larynx size, vocal fold length, vocal tract length, and mobility of the larynx. The resilience of the thyrohyoid ligament and the pharynx, including the soft palate, and the length changes during contraction and relaxation of the extrinsic laryngeal muscles play a decisive role in the mobility of the larynx in both sexes but to substantially different degrees in adult females and males. Goitred gazelles are born with an undescended larynx and, therefore, larynx descent has to develop in the course of ontogeny. This might result from a trade-off between natural selection and sexual selection requiring a temporal separation of different laryngeal functions at birth and shortly after from those later in life. J. Morphol. 277:826-844, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kseniya O Efremova
- Department of General Biology, Medicobiological Faculty, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University (RNRMU), Moscow, Russia
| | - Roland Frey
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany
| | - Ilya A Volodin
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.,Scientific Research Department, Moscow Zoo, Moscow, Russia
| | - Guido Fritsch
- Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany
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15
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Vocal Production by Terrestrial Mammals: Source, Filter, and Function. VERTEBRATE SOUND PRODUCTION AND ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27721-9_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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16
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Mitchell RLC, Xu Y. What is the Value of Embedding Artificial Emotional Prosody in Human-Computer Interactions? Implications for Theory and Design in Psychological Science. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1750. [PMID: 26617563 PMCID: PMC4641894 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2015] [Accepted: 10/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In computerized technology, artificial speech is becoming increasingly important, and is already used in ATMs, online gaming and healthcare contexts. However, today’s artificial speech typically sounds monotonous, a main reason for this being the lack of meaningful prosody. One particularly important function of prosody is to convey different emotions. This is because successful encoding and decoding of emotions is vital for effective social cognition, which is increasingly recognized in human–computer interaction contexts. Current attempts to artificially synthesize emotional prosody are much improved relative to early attempts, but there remains much work to be done due to methodological problems, lack of agreed acoustic correlates, and lack of theoretical grounding. If the addition of synthetic emotional prosody is not of sufficient quality, it may risk alienating users instead of enhancing their experience. So the value of embedding emotion cues in artificial speech may ultimately depend on the quality of the synthetic emotional prosody. However, early evidence on reactions to synthesized non-verbal cues in the facial modality bodes well. Attempts to implement the recognition of emotional prosody into artificial applications and interfaces have perhaps been met with greater success, but the ultimate test of synthetic emotional prosody will be to critically compare how people react to synthetic emotional prosody vs. natural emotional prosody, at the behavioral, socio-cognitive and neural levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel L C Mitchell
- Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience , King's College London, London, UK
| | - Yi Xu
- Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London , London, UK
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17
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Abstract
Despite numerous descriptive accounts of scent marking in marsupials, rigorous experimentation is rare, and relatively little evidence exists to show that conspecifics use chemical signals to distinguish between individuals or different social groups. In this study a series of olfactory discrimination tests sought to determine whether: (1) male koala sternal scent gland secretions are individually distinctive; and (2) male koalas can differentiate between the scent of familiar and unfamiliar individuals. In the first experiment a habituation-discrimination trial demonstrated that male koalas discriminate between the scent gland secretions of different unfamiliar individuals. In a second experiment male koalas spent significantly more time investigating scent from unfamiliar males than familiar males, supporting the hypothesis that they differentiate between conspecifics based on their familiarity. Taken together these results suggest that male koalas are able to discriminate the identity and familiarity of conspecifics using chemical cues, and provide a platform for further studies investigating the functional role of olfactory communication in this species.
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18
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Lemasson A, Remeuf K, Trabalon M, Cuir F, Hausberger M. Mares prefer the voices of highly fertile stallions. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0118468. [PMID: 25714814 PMCID: PMC4340864 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2014] [Accepted: 01/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated the possibility that stallion whinnies, known to encode caller size, also encoded information about caller arousal and fertility, and the reactions of mares in relation to type of voice. Voice acoustic features are correlated with arousal and reproduction success, the lower-pitched the stallion's voice, the slower his heart beat and the higher his fertility. Females from three study groups preferred playbacks of low-pitched voices. Hence, females are attracted by frequencies encoding for large male size, calmness and high fertility. More work is needed to explore the relative importance of morpho-physiological features. Assortative mating may be involved as large females preferred voices of larger stallions. Our study contributes to basic and applied ongoing research on mammal reproduction, and questions the mechanisms used by females to detect males' fertility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alban Lemasson
- Université de Rennes 1, Laboratoire d’éthologie animale et humaine, UMR 6552- C.N.R.S., Paimpont, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Kévin Remeuf
- Université de Rennes 1, Laboratoire d’éthologie animale et humaine, UMR 6552- C.N.R.S., Paimpont, France
| | - Marie Trabalon
- Université de Rennes 1, Laboratoire d’éthologie animale et humaine, UMR 6552- C.N.R.S., Paimpont, France
| | | | - Martine Hausberger
- C.N.R.S., Laboratoire d’éthologie animale et humaine, UMR 6552- Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France
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19
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Tullo E, Ponzetta MP, Trunfio C, Gardoni D, Ferrari S, Guarino M. Acoustic Analysis of Some Characteristics of Red Deer Roaring. ITALIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE 2015. [DOI: 10.4081/ijas.2015.3773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Emanuela Tullo
- Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie per la Salute, la Produzione Animale e la Sicurezza Alimentare, University of Milan, Italy
| | - Maria Paola Ponzetta
- Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell’Ambiente, University of Florence, Italy
| | - Carmen Trunfio
- Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell’Ambiente, University of Florence, Italy
| | - Davide Gardoni
- Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie per la Salute, la Produzione Animale e la Sicurezza Alimentare, University of Milan, Italy
| | - Sara Ferrari
- Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie per la Salute, la Produzione Animale e la Sicurezza Alimentare, University of Milan, Italy
| | - Marcella Guarino
- Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie per la Salute, la Produzione Animale e la Sicurezza Alimentare, University of Milan, Italy
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20
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Jones MR, Witt CC. Migrate small, sound big: functional constraints on body size promote tracheal elongation in cranes. J Evol Biol 2014; 27:1256-64. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2013] [Revised: 03/27/2014] [Accepted: 03/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- M. R. Jones
- Museum of Southwestern Biology and Department of Biology; University of New Mexico; Albuquerque NM USA
| | - C. C. Witt
- Museum of Southwestern Biology and Department of Biology; University of New Mexico; Albuquerque NM USA
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21
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Lemasson A, Mikus MA, Blois-Heulin C, Lodé T. Vocal repertoire, individual acoustic distinctiveness, and social networks in a group of captive Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea). J Mammal 2014. [DOI: 10.1644/12-mamm-a-313.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
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22
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Pitcher BJ, Briefer EF, Vannoni E, McElligott AG. Fallow bucks attend to vocal cues of motivation and fatigue. Behav Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/art131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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23
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Garcia M, Charlton BD, Wyman MT, Fitch WT, Reby D. Do red deer stags (Cervus elaphus) use roar fundamental frequency (F0) to assess rivals? PLoS One 2013; 8:e83946. [PMID: 24386312 PMCID: PMC3875517 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2013] [Accepted: 11/08/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well established that in humans, male voices are disproportionately lower pitched than female voices, and recent studies suggest that this dimorphism in fundamental frequency (F0) results from both intrasexual (male competition) and intersexual (female mate choice) selection for lower pitched voices in men. However, comparative investigations indicate that sexual dimorphism in F0 is not universal in terrestrial mammals. In the highly polygynous and sexually dimorphic Scottish red deer Cervus elaphus scoticus, more successful males give sexually-selected calls (roars) with higher minimum F0s, suggesting that high, rather than low F0s advertise quality in this subspecies. While playback experiments demonstrated that oestrous females prefer higher pitched roars, the potential role of roar F0 in male competition remains untested. Here we examined the response of rutting red deer stags to playbacks of re-synthesized male roars with different median F0s. Our results show that stags’ responses (latencies and durations of attention, vocal and approach responses) were not affected by the F0 of the roar. This suggests that intrasexual selection is unlikely to strongly influence the evolution of roar F0 in Scottish red deer stags, and illustrates how the F0 of terrestrial mammal vocal sexual signals may be subject to different selection pressures across species. Further investigations on species characterized by different F0 profiles are needed to provide a comparative background for evolutionary interpretations of sex differences in mammalian vocalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Garcia
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Megan T. Wyman
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - W. Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - David Reby
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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24
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Budka M, Osiejuk TS. Formant Frequencies are Acoustic Cues to Caller Discrimination and are a Weak Indicator of the Body Size of Corncrake Males. Ethology 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michał Budka
- Department of Behavioural Ecology; Faculty of Biology; Institute of Environmental Biology; Adam Mickiewicz University; Poznań; Poland
| | - Tomasz S. Osiejuk
- Department of Behavioural Ecology; Faculty of Biology; Institute of Environmental Biology; Adam Mickiewicz University; Poznań; Poland
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25
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Charlton BD, Whisson DA, Reby D. Free-ranging male koalas use size-related variation in formant frequencies to assess rival males. PLoS One 2013; 8:e70279. [PMID: 23922967 PMCID: PMC3726542 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2013] [Accepted: 06/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the use of formant frequencies in nonhuman animal vocal communication systems has received considerable recent interest, only a few studies have examined the importance of these acoustic cues to body size during intra-sexual competition between males. Here we used playback experiments to present free-ranging male koalas with re-synthesised bellow vocalisations in which the formants were shifted to simulate either a large or a small adult male. We found that male looking responses did not differ according to the size variant condition played back. In contrast, male koalas produced longer bellows and spent more time bellowing when they were presented with playbacks simulating larger rivals. In addition, males were significantly slower to respond to this class of playback stimuli than they were to bellows simulating small males. Our results indicate that male koalas invest more effort into their vocal responses when they are presented with bellows that have lower formants indicative of larger rivals, but also show that males are slower to engage in vocal exchanges with larger males that represent more dangerous rivals. By demonstrating that male koalas use formants to assess rivals during the breeding season we have provided evidence that male-male competition constitutes an important selection pressure for broadcasting and attending to size-related formant information in this species. Further empirical studies should investigate the extent to which the use of formants during intra-sexual competition is widespread throughout mammals.
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26
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Passilongo D, Reby D, Carranza J, Apollonio M. Roaring high and low: composition and possible functions of the Iberian stag's vocal repertoire. PLoS One 2013; 8:e63841. [PMID: 23667678 PMCID: PMC3648515 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2012] [Accepted: 04/12/2013] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
We provide a detailed description of the rutting vocalisations of free-ranging male Iberian deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus, Hilzheimer 1909), a geographically isolated and morphologically differentiated subspecies of red deer Cervus elaphus. We combine spectrographic examinations, spectral analyses and automated classifications to identify different call types, and compare the composition of the vocal repertoire with that of other red deer subspecies. Iberian stags give bouts of roars (and more rarely, short series of barks) that are typically composed of two different types of calls. Long Common Roars are mostly given at the beginning or at the end of the bout, and are characterised by a high fundamental frequency (F0) resulting in poorly defined formant frequencies but a relatively high amplitude. In contrast, Short Common Roars are typically given in the middle or at the end of the bout, and are characterised by a lower F0 resulting in relatively well defined vocal tract resonances, but low amplitude. While we did not identify entirely Harsh Roars (as described in the Scottish red deer subspecies (Cervus elaphus scoticus)), a small percentage of Long Common Roars contained segments of deterministic chaos. We suggest that the evolution of two clearly distinct types of Common Roars may reflect divergent selection pressures favouring either vocal efficiency in high pitched roars or the communication of body size in low-pitched, high spectral density roars highlighting vocal tract resonances. The clear divergence of the Iberian red deer vocal repertoire from those of other documented European red deer populations reinforces the status of this geographical variant as a distinct subspecies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Passilongo
- Department of Science for Nature and Environmental Resources, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
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27
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Saito A, Shinozuka K. Vocal recognition of owners by domestic cats (Felis catus). Anim Cogn 2013; 16:685-90. [PMID: 23525707 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0620-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2012] [Revised: 01/05/2013] [Accepted: 03/01/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Domestic cats have had a 10,000-year history of cohabitation with humans and seem to have the ability to communicate with humans. However, this has not been widely examined. We studied 20 domestic cats to investigate whether they could recognize their owners by using voices that called out the subjects' names, with a habituation-dishabituation method. While the owner was out of the cat's sight, we played three different strangers' voices serially, followed by the owner's voice. We recorded the cat's reactions to the voices and categorized them into six behavioral categories. In addition, ten naive raters rated the cats' response magnitudes. The cats responded to human voices not by communicative behavior (vocalization and tail movement), but by orienting behavior (ear movement and head movement). This tendency did not change even when they were called by their owners. Of the 20 cats, 15 demonstrated a lower response magnitude to the third voice than to the first voice. These habituated cats showed a significant rebound in response to the subsequent presentation of their owners' voices. This result indicates that cats are able to use vocal cues alone to distinguish between humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsuko Saito
- Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
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28
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Teichroeb LJ, Riede T, Kotrba R, Lingle S. Fundamental frequency is key to response of female deer to juvenile distress calls. Behav Processes 2013; 92:15-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2012.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2012] [Revised: 09/09/2012] [Accepted: 09/21/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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29
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Bocci A, Telford M, Laiolo P. Determinants of the acoustic behaviour of red deer during breeding in a wild alpine population, and implications for species survey. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2012.705331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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30
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Charlton BD, Ellis WA, Brumm J, Nilsson K, Fitch WT. Female koalas prefer bellows in which lower formants indicate larger males. Anim Behav 2012. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.09.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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31
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Charlton BD, Ellis WAH, Larkin R, Fitch WT. Perception of size-related formant information in male koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). Anim Cogn 2012; 15:999-1006. [PMID: 22740017 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-012-0527-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2012] [Revised: 06/18/2012] [Accepted: 06/18/2012] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Advances in bioacoustics allow us to study the perceptual and functional relevance of individual acoustic parameters. Here, we use re-synthesised male koala bellows and a habituation-dishabituation paradigm to test the hypothesis that male koalas are sensitive to shifts in formant frequencies corresponding to the natural variation in body size between a large and small adult male. We found that males habituated to bellows, in which the formants had been shifted to simulate a large or small male displayed a significant increase in behavioural response (dishabituation) when they were presented with bellows simulating the alternate size variant. The rehabituation control, in which the behavioural response levels returned to that of the last playbacks of the habituation phase, indicates that this was not a chance increase in response levels. Our results provide clear evidence that male koalas perceive and attend to size-related formant information in their own species-specific vocalisations and suggest that formant perception is a widespread ability shared by marsupials and placental mammals, and perhaps by vertebrates more widely.
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32
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Frey R, Volodin I, Volodina E, Carranza J, Torres-Porras J. Vocal anatomy, tongue protrusion behaviour and the acoustics of rutting roars in free-ranging Iberian red deer stags (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). J Anat 2012; 220:271-92. [PMID: 22257361 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01467.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Roaring in rutting Iberian red deer stags Cervus elaphus hispanicus is unusual compared to other subspecies of red deer, which radiated from the Iberian refugium after the last glacial maximum. In all red deer stags, the larynx occupies a permanent low mid-neck resting position and is momentarily retracted almost down to the rostral end of the sternum during the production of rutting calls. Simultaneous with the retraction of the larynx, male Iberian red deer pronouncedly protrude the tongue during most of their rutting roars. This poses a mechanical challenge for the vocal tract (vt) and for the hyoid apparatus, as tongue and larynx are strongly pulled in opposite directions. This study (i) examines the vocal anatomy and the acoustics of the rutting roars in free-ranging male C. e. hispanicus; (ii) establishes a potential mechanism of simultaneous tongue protrusion and larynx retraction by applying a two-dimensional model based on graphic reconstructions in single video frames of unrestrained animals; and (iii) advances a hypothesis of evaporative cooling by tongue protrusion in the males of a subspecies of red deer constrained to perform all of the exhausting rutting activities, including acoustic display, in a hot and arid season.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roland Frey
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany.
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33
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Charlton BD, Ellis WAH, McKinnon AJ, Cowin GJ, Brumm J, Nilsson K, Fitch WT. Cues to body size in the formant spacing of male koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) bellows: honesty in an exaggerated trait. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 214:3414-22. [PMID: 21957105 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.061358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Determining the information content of vocal signals and understanding morphological modifications of vocal anatomy are key steps towards revealing the selection pressures acting on a given species' vocal communication system. Here, we used a combination of acoustic and anatomical data to investigate whether male koala bellows provide reliable information on the caller's body size, and to confirm whether male koalas have a permanently descended larynx. Our results indicate that the spectral prominences of male koala bellows are formants (vocal tract resonances), and show that larger males have lower formant spacing. In contrast, no relationship between body size and the fundamental frequency was found. Anatomical investigations revealed that male koalas have a permanently descended larynx: the first example of this in a marsupial. Furthermore, we found a deeply anchored sternothyroid muscle that could allow male koalas to retract their larynx into the thorax. While this would explain the low formant spacing of the exhalation and initial inhalation phases of male bellows, further research will be required to reveal the anatomical basis for the formant spacing of the later inhalation phases, which is predictive of vocal tract lengths of around 50 cm (nearly the length of an adult koala's body). Taken together, these findings show that the formant spacing of male koala bellows has the potential to provide receivers with reliable information on the caller's body size, and reveal that vocal adaptations allowing callers to exaggerate (or maximise) the acoustic impression of their size have evolved independently in marsupials and placental mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin D Charlton
- Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.
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34
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Reby D, Charlton BD. Attention grabbing in red deer sexual calls. Anim Cogn 2011; 15:265-70. [PMID: 21927848 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-011-0451-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2011] [Revised: 08/26/2011] [Accepted: 08/29/2011] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Identifying the respective functions of distinct call types is an important step towards understanding the diversification of mammal vocal repertoires. Red deer (Cervus elaphus) stags give two distinct types of roars during the rut, termed 'common roars' and 'harsh roars'. This study tests the hypothesis that harsh roars function to raise and maintain female attention to calling males. To this end, we examined the response of female red deer to playback sequences of common roar bouts including a bout of harsh roars midway through the sequence. We found that females not only substantially increased their attention to the bout of harsh roars but also then maintained overall higher attention levels to subsequent common roar bouts. Our results suggest that the specific acoustic characteristics of male red deer harsh roar bouts may have evolved to engage and maintain the attention of female receivers during the breeding season. More generally, they indicate a possible evolutionary path for the diversification of male sexual vocal repertoires.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Reby
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
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35
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Charlton BD, Reby D. Context-related acoustic variation in male fallow deer (Dama dama) groans. PLoS One 2011; 6:e21066. [PMID: 21695159 PMCID: PMC3113910 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2011] [Accepted: 05/19/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
While social and behavioural contexts are known to affect the acoustic structure of vocal signals in several mammal species, few studies have investigated context-related acoustic variation during inter-sexual advertisement and/or intra-sexual competition. Here we recorded male fallow deer groans during the breeding season and investigated how key acoustic parameters (fundamental frequency and formant frequencies) vary as a function of the social context in which they are produced. We found that in the presence of females, male fallow deer produced groans with higher mean fundamental frequency when vocal males were also present than they did when no vocal males were in close vicinity. We attribute this to the increased arousal state typically associated with this context. In addition, groan minimum formant frequency spacing was slightly, but significantly lower (indicating marginally more extended vocal tracts) when males were alone than when potential mates and/or competitors were nearby. This indicates that, contrary to our predictions, male fallow deer do not exaggerate the acoustic impression of their body size by further lowering their formant frequencies in the presence of potential mating partners and competitors. Furthermore, since the magnitude of the variation in groan minimum formant frequency spacing remains small compared to documented inter-individual differences, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that formants are reliable static cues to body size during intra- and inter-sexual advertisement that do not concurrently encode dynamic motivation-related information.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - David Reby
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Sussex, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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36
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Charlton BD, Ellis WAH, McKinnon AJ, Brumm J, Nilsson K, Fitch WT. Perception of male caller identity in Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus): acoustic analysis and playback experiments. PLoS One 2011; 6:e20329. [PMID: 21633499 PMCID: PMC3102089 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2011] [Accepted: 04/21/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to signal individual identity using vocal signals and distinguish between conspecifics based on vocal cues is important in several mammal species. Furthermore, it can be important for receivers to differentiate between callers in reproductive contexts. In this study, we used acoustic analyses to determine whether male koala bellows are individually distinctive and to investigate the relative importance of different acoustic features for coding individuality. We then used a habituation-discrimination paradigm to investigate whether koalas discriminate between the bellow vocalisations of different male callers. Our results show that male koala bellows are highly individualized, and indicate that cues related to vocal tract filtering contribute the most to vocal identity. In addition, we found that male and female koalas habituated to the bellows of a specific male showed a significant dishabituation when they were presented with bellows from a novel male. The significant reduction in behavioural response to a final rehabituation playback shows this was not a chance rebound in response levels. Our findings indicate that male koala bellows are highly individually distinctive and that the identity of male callers is functionally relevant to male and female koalas during the breeding season. We go on to discuss the biological relevance of signalling identity in this species' sexual communication and the potential practical implications of our findings for acoustic monitoring of male population levels.
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Stopher KV, Nussey DH, Clutton-Brock TH, Guinness F, Morris A, Pemberton JM. The red deer rut revisited: female excursions but no evidence females move to mate with preferred males. Behav Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arr052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Taylor AM, Reby D, McComb K. Cross modal perception of body size in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). PLoS One 2011; 6:e17069. [PMID: 21359228 PMCID: PMC3040207 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2010] [Accepted: 01/13/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
While the perception of size-related acoustic variation in animal vocalisations is well documented, little attention has been given to how this information might be integrated with corresponding visual information. Using a cross-modal design, we tested the ability of domestic dogs to match growls resynthesized to be typical of either a large or a small dog to size-matched models. Subjects looked at the size-matched model significantly more often and for a significantly longer duration than at the incorrect model, showing that they have the ability to relate information about body size from the acoustic domain to the appropriate visual category. Our study suggests that the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms at the basis of size assessment in mammals have a multisensory nature, and calls for further investigations of the multimodal processing of size information across animal species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna M Taylor
- Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
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Charlton BD, Zhihe Z, Snyder RJ. Giant pandas perceive and attend to formant frequency variation in male bleats. Anim Behav 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Reby D, Charlton BD, Locatelli Y, McComb K. Oestrous red deer hinds prefer male roars with higher fundamental frequencies. Proc Biol Sci 2010; 277:2747-53. [PMID: 20427342 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Across vertebrates, the observation that lower-pitched vocalizations are typically associated with larger and/or higher quality males has lead to the widespread belief that inter- and intra-sexual selection will produce male calls with low fundamental frequencies (F0). Here we investigated the response of oestrous red deer hinds to playback of re-synthesized male roars characterized by either higher than average or lower than average F0. We found that hinds prefer higher rather than lower 'pitched' roars, providing, to our knowledge, the first evidence of such a bias in nonhuman mammals. Our findings can be interpreted in relation to previous observations that the minimum F0 of roars is positively correlated with male reproductive success in free-ranging red deer stags, and that across Cervids the F0 of male mating calls shows extreme variability. Females showing preferences for higher-pitched roars might derive genetic benefits through more competitive male offspring. Our results emphasize the need for further investigations of female preferences in mammals in order to better understand the extreme variation of F0 values observed in male sexual calls.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Reby
- Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, , Sussex BN1 9QH, UK.
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Mercado E, Schneider JN, Pack AA, Herman LM. Sound production by singing humpback whales. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2010; 127:2678-2691. [PMID: 20370048 DOI: 10.1121/1.3309453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
Sounds from humpback whale songs were analyzed to evaluate possible mechanisms of sound production. Song sounds fell along a continuum with trains of discrete pulses at one end and continuous tonal signals at the other. This graded vocal repertoire is comparable to that seen in false killer whales [Murray et al. (1998). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 104, 1679-1688] and human singers, indicating that all three species generate sounds by varying the tension of pneumatically driven, vibrating membranes. Patterns in the spectral content of sounds and in nonlinear sound features show that resonating air chambers may also contribute to humpback whale sound production. Collectively, these findings suggest that categorizing individual units within songs into discrete types may obscure how singers modulate song features and illustrate how production-based characterizations of vocalizations can provide new insights into how humpback whales sing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo Mercado
- Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
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Charlton BD, Zhihe Z, Snyder RJ. The information content of giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, bleats: acoustic cues to sex, age and size. Anim Behav 2009. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.06.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Charlton BD, Huang Y, Swaisgood RR. Vocal discrimination of potential mates by female giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Biol Lett 2009; 5:597-9. [PMID: 19535366 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In the current study, we used male giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) bleats in a habituation-discrimination paradigm to determine whether females discriminate between the vocalizations of different males. We found that females habituated to the bleats of a specific male showed a significant dishabituation when they were presented with bleats from a novel male. Further playbacks, in which we standardized the mean fundamental frequency (pitch) and amplitude modulation of male bleats, indicated that amplitude modulation is the key feature that females attend to when discriminating between male callers. Our results show that female giant pandas can discriminate between the vocalizations of potential mates and provide a platform for further studies investigating the functional role of caller identity in giant panda sexual communication.
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Charlton BD, McComb K, Reby D. Free-Ranging Red Deer Hinds Show Greater Attentiveness to Roars with Formant Frequencies Typical of Young Males. Ethology 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01539.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Vannoni E, McElligott AG. Low frequency groans indicate larger and more dominant fallow deer (Dama dama) males. PLoS One 2008; 3:e3113. [PMID: 18769619 PMCID: PMC2518835 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2008] [Accepted: 08/06/2008] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Models of honest advertisement predict that sexually selected calls should signal male quality. In most vertebrates, high quality males have larger body sizes that determine higher social status and in turn higher reproductive success. Previous research has emphasised the importance of vocal tract resonances or formant frequencies of calls as cues to body size in mammals. However, the role of the acoustic features of vocalisations as cues to other quality-related phenotypic characteristics of callers has rarely been investigated. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined whether the acoustic structure of fallow deer groans provides reliable information on the quality of the caller, by exploring the relationships between male quality (body size, dominance rank, and mating success) and the frequency components of calls (fundamental frequency, formant frequencies, and formant dispersion). We found that body size was not related to the fundamental frequency of groans, whereas larger males produced groans with lower formant frequencies and lower formant dispersion. Groans of high-ranking males were characterised by lower minimum fundamental frequencies and to a lesser extent, by lower formant dispersions. Dominance rank was the factor most strongly related to mating success, with higher-ranking males having higher mating success. The minimum fundamental frequency and the minimum formant dispersion were indirectly related to male mating success (through dominance rank). Conclusion/Significance Our study is the first to show that sexually selected vocalisations can signal social dominance in mammals other than primates, and reveals that independent acoustic components encode accurate information on different phenotypic aspects of male quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Vannoni
- Zoologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- * E-mail: (EV); (AGM)
| | - Alan G. McElligott
- Zoologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
- * E-mail: (EV); (AGM)
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Taylor AM, Reby D, McComb K. Human listeners attend to size information in domestic dog growls. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2008; 123:2903-9. [PMID: 18529206 DOI: 10.1121/1.2896962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The acoustic features of vocalizations have the potential to transmit information about the size of callers. Most acoustic studies have focused on intraspecific perceptual abilities, but here, the ability of humans to use growls to assess the size of adult domestic dogs was tested. In a first experiment, the formants of growls were shifted to create playback stimuli with different formant dispersions (Deltaf), simulating different vocal tract lengths within the natural range of variation. Mean fundamental frequency (F0) was left unchanged and treated as a covariate. In a second experiment, F0 was resynthesized and Deltaf was left unchanged. In both experiments Deltaf and F0 influenced how participants rated the size of stimuli. Lower formant and fundamental frequencies were rated as belonging to larger dogs. Crucially, when F0 was manipulated and Deltaf was natural, ratings were strongly correlated with the actual weight of the dogs, while when Deltaf was varied and F0 was natural, ratings were not related to the actual weight. Taken together, this suggests that participants relied more heavily on Deltaf, in accordance with the fact that formants are better predictors of body size than F0.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna M Taylor
- Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, BN1 9QH United Kingdom.
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