Acoustic analysis of airborne, underwater, and amphibious mother attraction calls by wild harbor seal pups (<i>Phoca vitulina</i>)

Sauvé, Caroline; Beauplet, Gwénaël; Hammill, Mike O.; Charrier, Isabelle

doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyv064

Cited by 36 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…However, a less complex task aiming to classify individuals using their vocalizations can be done by performing acoustic statistical analyses without testing animals. Such 'passive' individual classifications have been performed on many pinnipeds, with both aerial and underwater calls of mother−pup pairs and males (Insley et al 2003, Collins et al 2005, Charrier & Harcourt 2006, Khan et al 2006, Van Parijs & Clark 2006, Risch et al 2007, Gwilliam et al 2008, Van Opzeeland et al 2009, Charrier et al 2010, Trimble & Charrier 2011, Sauvé et al 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual signatures in the vocal repertoire of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal: new perspectives for population monitoring

Charrier

Marchesseau

Dendrinos

et al. 2017

Endang. Species. Res.

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The Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is considered Endangered by the IUCN, and is the most endangered pinniped in the world. Increasing our knowledge of this species is crucial in order to further our understanding of its social behaviour, but also to develop new methods to monitor and protect it. In many species, acoustic communication plays a major role in social interactions, and vocal signals convey important information about the emitter; understanding the diverse information encoded in vocalizations is helpful in wildlife monitoring. In the present study, we used passive, audio-video surveys to describe the aerial vocal repertoire of the Mediterranean monk seal during the pupping season. An exhaustive analysis was performed on the different call types, and individual vocal signatures were investigated. A total of 5 call types were identified: bark, chirp, grunt, short scream and scream, with bark and scream being the 2 main call types. A discriminant function analysis based on 10 acoustic variables revealed that all call types except grunts can be correctly classified, with an average rate of 86.7%. Furthermore, the individual vocal signature investigated in barks and screams revealed that both call types are individually specific, showing average correct classification rates of 54.2 and 66.1% respectively. Based on these findings, future research should focus on collecting new recordings from wellidentified seals to develop a new passive acoustic monitoring system based on individual identification. This system will enable the evaluation of annual pup production and thus provide essential information on the conservation status of the Mediterranean monk seal in Greece.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual signatures in the vocal repertoire of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal: new perspectives for population monitoring

Charrier

Marchesseau

Dendrinos

et al. 2017

Endang. Species. Res.

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“…From the production side, harbor seal pups emit mother attraction calls during the first weeks of life (Renouf, 1984). The duration of these calls: (1) exhibits inter-individual variability, (2) increases with age, and (3) is modulated by the sex of the animal (Perry and Renouf, 1988;Khan et al, 2006;Sauv e et al, 2015a;Ravignani, 2018). Evidence from the perception side is quite indirect.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on “Temporal and spatial variation in harbor seal (Phoca vitulina L.) roar calls from southern Scandinavia” [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141, 1824−1834 (2017)]

Ravignani¹

2018

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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In their recent article, Sabinsky and colleagues investigated heterogeneity in harbor seals' vocalizations. The authors found seasonal and geographical variation in acoustic parameters, warning readers that recording conditions might account for some of their results. This paper expands on the temporal aspect of the encountered heterogeneity in harbor seals' vocalizations. Temporal information is the least susceptible to variable recording conditions. Hence geographical and seasonal variability in roar timing constitutes the most robust finding in the target article. In pinnipeds, evidence of timing and rhythm in the millisecond range-as opposed to circadian and seasonal rhythms-has theoretical and interdisciplinary relevance. In fact, the study of rhythm and timing in harbor seals is particularly decisive to support or confute a cross-species hypothesis, causally linking the evolution of vocal production learning and rhythm. The results by Sabinsky and colleagues can shed light on current scientific questions beyond pinniped bioacoustics, and help formulate empirically testable predictions.

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“…After recording the animal, I annotated the onsets and offsets of vocalizations in Praat. Using a custom Python script (Table 1 , Data file 1) [ 12 , 13 ], I extracted three sorts of timing information: the duration of calls [ 14 – 17 ], the intervals between calls’ onsets [ 18 , 19 ], and the intervals between calls’ maximum-intensity peaks [ 20 ].…”

Section: Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The tier was saved as a .TextGrid file. Only clear MACs [ 10 , 11 , 17 , 24 ] were retained for further computations [ 14 , 15 , 17 ].…”

Section: Data Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous rhythms in a harbor seal pup calls

Ravignani

2018

BMC Res Notes

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ObjectivesTiming and rhythm (i.e. temporal structure) are crucial, though historically neglected, dimensions of animal communication. When investigating these in non-human animals, it is often difficult to balance experimental control and ecological validity. Here I present the first step of an attempt to balance the two, focusing on the timing of vocal rhythms in a harbor seal pup (Phoca vitulina). Collection of this data had a clear aim: To find spontaneous vocal rhythms in this individual in order to design individually-adapted and ecologically-relevant stimuli for a later playback experiment.Data descriptionThe calls of one seal pup were recorded. The audio recordings were annotated using Praat, a free software to analyze vocalizations in humans and other animals. The annotated onsets and offsets of vocalizations were then imported in a Python script. The script extracted three types of timing information: the duration of calls, the intervals between calls’ onsets, and the intervals between calls’ maximum-intensity peaks. Based on the annotated data, available to download, I provide simple descriptive statistics for these temporal measures, and compare their distributions.

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Acoustic analysis of airborne, underwater, and amphibious mother attraction calls by wild harbor seal pups (Phoca vitulina)

Cited by 36 publications

References 54 publications

Individual signatures in the vocal repertoire of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal: new perspectives for population monitoring

Individual signatures in the vocal repertoire of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal: new perspectives for population monitoring

Comment on “Temporal and spatial variation in harbor seal (Phoca vitulina L.) roar calls from southern Scandinavia” [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 141, 1824−1834 (2017)]

Spontaneous rhythms in a harbor seal pup calls

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