Development of coordinated singing in a newly formed siamang pair (Hylobates syndactylus)

Abstract

The study traced the development of coordinated singing in a newly formed male-female siamang pair. Forty-five song bouts were observed during 18 wk following the pairs' initial introduction to one another. Of particular interest was the development of vocal coordination between pair members in the great-call sequence of the duet. The percentage of successfully completed great-call sequences rose from 24% for the first three sessions to 79% for the last three sessions. Types of "errors" that led to incomplete great calls were identified. The two most common errors were: uninvited female high-bark series, which accounted for the premature termination of 30% of the great-call attempts during the first three sessions and of 1 I % of the attempts during the last three sessions, and a premature male ululating scream and/or locomotion call, which accounted for the premature termination of 34% of the great-call attempts during the first three sessions and of 5% of the attempts during the final three sessions. The fully coordinated great-call sequences that finally developed closely resembled the siamang great-call sequence described by Haimoff (Behaviour 76: 128-15 1, 198 1 ; Semiotica 68: 1988). The role of experience in the development of vocal coordination is discussed.

Singing behavior and singing functions of black‐crested gibbons (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis) at Mt. Wuliang, central Yunnan, China

“…Gibbon songs almost certainly function in intragroup relations, such as pairbond maintenance and group cohesion The pairbonding hypothesis is supported by the observations that more recently paired adults duet with greater frequency than older groups [Brockelman & Srikosamatara, 1984;Geissmann, 1986], and that as the duration of the pairbond increases so does the ability of a pair to produce a coordinated duet [Geissmann, 1999;Maples et al, 1989]. Duetting activity in caged siamang groups has been shown to be positively correlated with a number of pairbond indicators [Geissmann & Orgeldinger, 2000].…”

An analysis of white‐handed gibbon male song reveals speech‐like phrases

“…Specifically, the codas become more complex across song bouts, a fact that has already been noted in the literature (Raemaekers et al, , Figure 14; Whitten, ) but, prior to this study, has lacked systematic analysis. Codas also occur at a time during the song duets of mated pairs in which the male and female coordinate vocal turn‐taking (Raemaekers et al, ; Geissmann, ), which requires flexible timing of vocal output, and thus may involve learning (Haraway and Maples, ; Maples, Haraway and Hutto, ; Terleph, Malaivijitnond and Reichard, ). Here we systematically describe within‐bout coda development from the simple, incomplete codas that typically start song bouts, to the more complex complete codas that end them.…”

Duet Songs of the Siamang, Hylobates Syndactylus: Ii. Testing the Pair-Bonding Hypothesis During a Partner Exchange

“…It has previously been reported that newly mated siamang pairs seemed to practise duetting (Haimoff, 1981;Geissmann, 1986;Palombit, 1992Palombit, , p. 319, 1994. Song development was described in more detail only in one newly formed pair of siamangs (Maples et al, 1989). These authors were able to demonstrate that the new pair initially produced a considerable amount of incomplete or atypical great call sequences; only after a few weeks did the pair mainly produce typical duets.…”

“…It was not shown, however, whether the two animals have had any duetting experience prior to this pair formation. Therefore, the changes in duetting behaviour described by Maples et al (1989) in a newly formed pair could possibly be explained as ontogenetic development of duetting behaviour, or they could occur only once when siamangs mate for the rst time, but be absent in subsequent pair formations.…”

“…a mate-speci c duet-relationshi p -has not been demonstrated in any of the studies mentioned above. The duet song of siamangs exhibits pair-speci c characteristics (Lamprecht, 1970;West, 1982;Maples et al, 1989). Pairspeci city could, however, develop in two ways: (1) it could simply be the sum of individual characteristics of the mates, or (2) it could result from a mate-directed adaptation and learning effort of at least one pair partner and thus represent a mate-speci c duet-relationship .…”