Territorial choruses of giant otter groups (Pteronura brasiliensis) encode information on group identity

Listening to animal behavior to understand changing ecosystems

Interpreting sound gives powerful insight into the health of ecosystems. Beyond detecting the presence of wildlife, bioacoustic signals can reveal their behavior. However, behavioral bioacoustic information is underused because identifying the function and context of animals' sounds remains challenging. A growing acoustic toolbox is allowing researchers to begin decoding bioacoustic signals by linking individual and population-level sensing. Yet, studies integrating acoustic tools for behavioral insight across levels of biological organization remain scarce. We aim to catalyze the emerging field of behavioral bioacoustics by synthesizing recent successes and rising analytical, logistical, and ethical challenges. Because behavior typically represents animals' first response to environmental change, we posit that behavioral bioacoustics will provide theoretical and applied insights into animals' adaptations to global change.

Visitors and observers otter-ly influence the behavior and enclosure use of zoo-housed giant otters

The potential impact of human presence on captive animal behavior has recently been the focus of considerable research interest, especially following 2020 and 2021 periods of enforced closure as a result of COVID-19 opening restrictions. It is important to investigate whether human presence represents an enriching or stressful stimulus to a range of zoo-housed species. In 2020, during an easing of lockdown restrictions, investigations of the "visitor effect" and "observer effect" were carried out, using the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) as a model species. To investigate the impact of both visitor and observer presence, otter behavior and space use was recorded for a pair of on-show and a pair of off-show otters. Observations were conducted using either a human observer, or cameras, allowing the researchers to investigate otter behavior when no one was present at the exhibits. The Electivity Index was used to assess the otters' use of four enclosure zones. Overall, otter behavior was significantly impacted by observer presence, though the impact of an observer differed between individual otters. Visitors had a minimal effect on otter enclosure use, whereas observers had a greater impact, whereby otters used their pools less frequently and houses more frequently when observers were present. However, this change in zone use differed between individuals, with more dominant otters tending to make use of indoor zones more often when observers were present. Zoos should consider the potential impact of human presence on their animals and use both behavior and space use when conducting their investigations.

The soundscape of swarming: Proof of concept for a noninvasive acoustic species identification of swarming Myotis bats

Bats emit echolocation calls to orientate in their predominantly dark environment. Recording of species-specific calls can facilitate species identification, especially when mist netting is not feasible. However, some taxa, such as Myotis bats can be hard to distinguish acoustically. In crowded situations where calls of many individuals overlap, the subtle differences between species are additionally attenuated. Here, we sought to noninvasively study the phenology of Myotis bats during autumn swarming at a prominent hibernaculum. To do so, we recorded sequences of overlapping echolocation calls (N = 564) during nights of high swarming activity and extracted spectral parameters (peak frequency, start frequency, spectral centroid) and linear frequency cepstral coefficients (LFCCs), which additionally encompass the timbre (vocal "color") of calls. We used this parameter combination in a stepwise discriminant function analysis (DFA) to classify the call sequences to species level. A set of previously identified call sequences of single flying Myotis daubentonii and Myotis nattereri, the most common species at our study site, functioned as a training set for the DFA. 90.2% of the call sequences could be assigned to either M. daubentonii or M. nattereri, indicating the predominantly swarming species at the time of recording. We verified our results by correctly classifying the second set of previously identified call sequences with an accuracy of 100%. In addition, our acoustic species classification corresponds well to the existing knowledge on swarming phenology at the hibernaculum. Moreover, we successfully classified call sequences from a different hibernaculum to species level and verified our classification results by capturing swarming bats while we recorded them. Our findings provide a proof of concept for a new noninvasive acoustic monitoring technique that analyses "swarming soundscapes" by combining classical acoustic parameters and LFCCs, instead of analyzing single calls. Our approach for species identification is especially beneficial in situations with multiple calling individuals, such as autumn swarming.

Airborne vocal communication in adult neotropical otters (Lontra longicaudis)

Most aquatic mammals have complex social and communication systems. Interestingly, little is known about otters' vocal communication compared to other aquatic mammals. Here, for the first time, we acoustically describe vocalizations of the neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis), a solitary and endangered New World otter species. We recorded vocalizations and behavioral contexts from six captive neotropical otters at Projeto Lontra, Santa Catarina Island, Brazil. Analysis of acoustic parameters were used to classify the vocalizations according to structure and context. We describe six call types with highly tonal as well as chaotic vocalizations with fundamental frequencies ranging from 90 to 2500 Hz. Additionally, we identified sex differences in the usage of calls. Results suggest that the neotropical river otter has a rich vocal repertoire, similar in complexity to other solitary otter species, but less complex than that of the social giant otter. Despite differences in sociality, phylogeny and ecology, L. longicaudis seems to possess vocalizations homologous to those found in other otters (e.g. hah and chirp), suggesting phylogenetic inertia in otter communicative repertoire. Otters thus offer an interesting but neglected group to explore the evolution of communication systems.

Social organization of otters in relation to their ecology

Otter species are known to fluctuate intraspecifically from a solitary lifestyle to group-living arrangements. By examining what is known about habitat use and foraging style in otters of 13 different species, based on 93 studied sites, we assessed (1) the relationship between social habits and preferred habitats, (2) the relationship between species and prey preferences, and (3) the effect of predator avoidance on their social organization in order to assess the socio-ecological factors influencing otters. Females remain the core of their social stability. We show the major influence of habitats and feeding strategies (i.e. socio-ecology) of otters. The different species of solitary otters most often inhabit linear environments, such as freshwater ecosystems or wave-exposed marine coasts, and their habitat is often subject to disturbances that fragment their functional continuity. Social otters are more often found in extensive habitats with high plant cover, regular food resources and in areas with large predators compared to solitary species. The maintenance of regular resources and the fact that the main trophic resources are replenished rapidly might be determining factors driving sociality. Group-living and bachelor congregations among otters can also respond to pressure from large predators. This suggests that foraging, habitat use and the presence of large predators may be the drivers of sociality in otters. We conclude that most otters have a greater social potential than previously assumed, which is confirmed by their various vocalizations recently described.

Localize Animal Sound Events Reliably (LASER): A New Software for Sound Localization in Zoos

Locating a vocalizing animal can be useful in many fields of bioacoustics and behavioral research, and is often done in the wild, covering large areas. In zoos, however, the application of this method becomes particularly difficult, because, on the one hand, the animals are in a relatively small area and, on the other hand, reverberant environments and background noise complicate the analysis. Nevertheless, by localizing and analyzing animal sounds, valuable information on physiological state, sex, subspecies, reproductive state, social status, and animal welfare can be gathered. Therefore, we developed a sound localization software that is able to estimate the position of a vocalizing animal precisely, making it possible to assign the vocalization to the corresponding individual, even under difficult conditions. In this study, the accuracy and reliability of the software is tested under various conditions. Different vocalizations were played back through a loudspeaker and recorded with several microphones to verify the accuracy. In addition, tests were carried out under real conditions using the example of the giant otter enclosure at Dortmund Zoo, Germany. The results show that the software can estimate the correct position of a sound source with a high accuracy (median of the deviation 0.234 m). Consequently, this software could make an important contribution to basic research via position determination and the associated differentiation of individuals, and could be relevant in a long-term application for monitoring animal welfare in zoos.

Spontaneous Mouse Behavior in Presence of Dissonance and Acoustic Roughness

According to a novel hypothesis (Arnal et al., 2015, Current Biology 25:2051-2056), auditory roughness, or temporal envelope modulations between 30 and 150 Hz, are present in both natural and artificial human alarm signals, which boosts the detection of these alarms in various tasks. These results also shed new light on the unpleasantness of dissonant sounds to humans, which builds upon the high level of roughness present in such sounds. However, it is not clear whether this hypothesis also applies to other species, such as rodents. In particular, whether consonant/dissonant chords, and particularly whether auditory roughness, can trigger unpleasant sensations in mice remains unknown. Using an autonomous behavioral system, which allows the monitoring of mouse behavior over a period of weeks, we observed that C57Bl6J mice did not show any preference for consonant chords. In addition, we found that mice showed a preference for rough sounds over sounds having amplitude modulations in their temporal envelope outside the "rough" range. These results suggest that some emotional features carried by the acoustic temporal envelope are likely to be species-specific.

Bats distress vocalizations carry fast amplitude modulations that could represent an acoustic correlate of roughness

Communication sounds are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, where they play a role in advertising physiological states and/or socio-contextual scenarios. Human screams, for example, are typically uttered in fearful contexts and they have a distinctive feature termed as "roughness", which depicts amplitude fluctuations at rates from 30-150 Hz. In this article, we report that the occurrence of fast acoustic periodicities in harsh sounding vocalizations is not unique to humans. A roughness-like structure is also present in vocalizations emitted by bats (species Carollia perspicillata) in distressful contexts. We report that 47.7% of distress calls produced by bats carry amplitude fluctuations at rates ~1.7 kHz (>10 times faster than temporal modulations found in human screams). In bats, rough-like vocalizations entrain brain potentials and are more effective in accelerating the bats' heart rate than slow amplitude modulated sounds. Our results are consistent with a putative role of fast amplitude modulations (roughness in humans) for grabbing the listeners attention in situations in which the emitter is in distressful, potentially dangerous, contexts.