Call Repertoire of the Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur sahamalazensis

Abstract

The acoustic structure of primate loud calls can be used as a powerful, inexpensive, and noninvasive tool for intra-and interspecific comparative analyses, reconstruction of phylogeny, and primate surveys. Despite the range of possibilities offered by acoustic analysis, only few studies so far have focused on quantitative descriptions of the acoustic structure of primate loud call repertoires. Here we aimed to assess the vocal repertoire of the solitary Sahamalaza sportive lemur, Lepilemur sahamalazensis, and to investigate potential communication functions. We recorded every sportive lemur vocalization we heard during 1000 h of nocturnal observations of eight collared individuals, as well as opportunistic searches in the Ankarafa Forest, Sahamalaza Peninsula in northwest Madagascar. In addition, we used playback experiments with four call types to clarify call function. We measured both temporal and spectral properties to describe calls quantitatively and used cross-validated discriminant function analysis to validate call types that we identified from a preliminary qualitative inspection of the spectrograms of 107 calls. We identified six distinct loud call types with the possibility of a seventh call type, with six loud call types similar to those of Lepilemur edwardsi and two loud call types similar to those of four other sportive lemur species. The described call types most likely function in mate advertisement, offspring care, and territorial defense. Future studies of loud calling of the Sahamalaza sportive lemur are needed to clarify if certain call types are sex specific and if loud calls could be used for recognition of individuals to enable noninvasive density measurements and species monitoring.

Home Range Size and Social Organization of the Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur,Lepilemur sahamalazensis

“…Sportive lemurs have been described as highly vocal (Rabesandratana 2006;Rasoloharijaona et al 2006), and the use of loud calls for coordinating pair movements has been described for the pair-living L. edwardsi by Rasoloharijaona et al (2006) and Méndez-Cárdenas and Zimmermann (2009). Lepilemur ruficaudatus on the other hand exhibited only a low rate of mutual (but not coordinated) vocal exchanges between pair-partners, suggesting that loud calling serves as a territorial signal and to regulate spacing (Fichtel and Hilgartner 2012), similar to what we found for L. sahamalazensis in another part of our study (Seiler et al 2015). Lepilemur sahamalazensis vocalized only rarely (0.2 calls/h), and had a similar number (6, potentially 7, Seiler et al 2015) of distinct call types to other sportive lemurs: L. edwardsi (9 call types) Rasoloharijaona et al (2006); L. ruficaudatus (6 call types) Fichtel and Hilgartner (2012); and L. leucopus (5 call types) Dröscher and Kappeler (2013).…”

“…Lepilemur sahamalazensis vocalized only rarely (0.2 calls/h), and had a similar number (6, potentially 7, Seiler et al 2015) of distinct call types to other sportive lemurs: L. edwardsi (9 call types) Rasoloharijaona et al (2006); L. ruficaudatus (6 call types) Fichtel and Hilgartner (2012); and L. leucopus (5 call types) Dröscher and Kappeler (2013). The most frequent calls are likely to be either territorial or related to mother-infant communication (Seiler et al 2015). We did not observe glandular scent-marking (or any forms of scent marking) or branchbashing displays such as those described for male L. leucopus by Dröscher and Kappeler (2013).…”

“…For the same reason, we can discard the infanticide-avoidance hypothesis, which assumes that infanticide is the primary force selecting for males associating permanently with one female unable to defend their infants against strange males (see, for example, van Schaik and Kappeler 1997). Seiler et al (2015) reported that the observed female L. sahamalazensis with babies rapidly moved towards the tree that their babies were in when presented with the call type "2-parts", a possible mating call of the species. We argued that it is possible that females will aim to avoid unknown males during the offspring care period.…”

The use of Vocalizations of the Sambirano Mouse Lemur (Microcebus sambiranensis) in an Acoustic Survey of Habitat Preference

“…The understanding of species-specific acoustic communication is important for the field identification of cryptic, nocturnal primate species and has valuable implications for conservation (Seiler et al 2015). The European Association for the Study and Conservation of Lemurs (AEECL) and Mikajy Natiora, two nongovernmental organizations active in Madagascar that endeavour to protect several Endangered lemur species, use the scientific understanding of species habitat use to target specific forest habitat types with their long-term reforestation program.…”

The influence of age and sex on the vocal repertoire of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) and their responses to call playback

“… and Seiler et al . ). Only calls that had no overlapping signals and that had clear and identifiable parameters were analyzed (adapted from Miksis‐Olds and Tyack ).…”