Individual and sex distinctiveness in bark calls of domestic chinchillas elicited in a distress context

Moreno‐Gómez, Felipe N.; León, Alex; Velásquez, Nelson; Penna, Mario; Délano, Paul H.

doi:10.1121/1.4929750

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…At the same time, in alarm calls of speckled ground squirrels ( Spermophilus suslicus ) [ 78 ], yellow ground squirrels ( S . fulvous ) [ 78 ] and chinchillas ( Chinchilla lanigera ) [ 81 ] and in barks of two borzoi breeds of the domestic dog [ 35 ], discrimination to sex was found on the level expected by chance alone, whereas individual differences were comparable to those in cheetah meows in our study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 48%

Acoustic Structure and Contextual Use of Calls by Captive Male and Female Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus)

Smirnova

Volodin

Demina³

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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The vocal repertoire of captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and the specific role of meow vocalizations in communication of this species attract research interest about two dozen years. Here, we expand this research focus for the contextual use of call types, sex differences and individual differences at short and long terms. During 457 trials of acoustic recordings, we collected calls (n = 8120) and data on their contextual use for 13 adult cheetahs (6 males and 7 females) in four Russian zoos. The cheetah vocal repertoire comprised 7 call types produced in 8 behavioural contexts. Context-specific call types (chirr, growl, howl and hiss) were related to courting behaviour (chirr) or to aggressive behaviour (growl, howl and hiss). Other call types (chirp, purr and meow) were not context-specific. The values of acoustic variables differed between call types. The meow was the most often call type. Discriminant function analysis revealed a high potential of meows to encode individual identity and sex at short terms, however, the vocal individuality was unstable over years. We discuss the contextual use and acoustic variables of call types, the ratios of individual and sex differences in calls and the pathways of vocal ontogeny in the cheetah with relevant data on vocalization of other animals.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 48%

Acoustic Structure and Contextual Use of Calls by Captive Male and Female Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus)

Smirnova

Volodin

Demina³

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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“…These results can be explained by the ecological importance of distress calls in chinchillas. While BBN is an anthropogenic stimulus, vocalizations are emitted by stressed chinchillas as an alarm call to other members 26 , 27 , hence they carry relevant social and semantic information for chinchillas 28 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two different auditory distractors were used during the behavioural protocol: (1) BBN (0.02-20 kHz), as an irrelevant distractor and (2) male chinchilla vocalizations, as an ecologically relevant distractor. All vocalizations used were previously recorded in a distress context for the study of Moreno-Gomez et al 26 . We used four clean harmonic male vocalizations (one for each of the four days with VOC (days 9-12)) with the fundamental frequency (F0) between 538 and 861 Hz and dominant frequency around 1,200 Hz (Fig.…”

Section: Experimental Protocol the Behavioural Protocol Was Evaluatementioning

confidence: 99%

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The olivocochlear reflex strength in awake chinchillas is relevant for behavioural performance during visual selective attention with auditory distractors

Bowen

Terreros

Moreno‐Gómez

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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The auditory efferent system comprises descending projections from the cerebral cortex to subcortical nuclei, reaching the cochlear receptor through olivocochlear fibres. One of the functions attributed to this corticofugal system is to suppress irrelevant sounds during selective attention to visual stimuli. Medial olivocochlear neurons can also be activated by sounds through a brainstem reflex circuit. Whether the individual variability of this reflex is related to the cognitive capacity to suppress auditory stimuli is still controversial. Here we propose that the individual strength per animal of the olivocochlear reflex is correlated with the ability to suppress auditory distractors during visual attention in awake chinchillas. The olivocochlear reflex was elicited with a contralateral broad-band noise at ~ 60 dB and ipsilateral distortion product otoacoustic emissions were obtained at different frequencies (1–8 kHz). Fourteen chinchillas were evaluated in a behavioural protocol of visual attention with broad-band noise and chinchilla vocalizations as auditory distractors. Results show that the behavioural performance was affected by both distractors and that the magnitudes of the olivocochlear reflex evaluated at multiple frequencies were relevant for behavioural performance during visual discrimination with auditory distractors. These results stress the ecological relevance of the olivocochlear system for suppressing natural distractors.

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“…Call variables may provide general information about body size [18, 19] and particular information about body mass [20] and body condition [21–24]. In addition, acoustic traits may reflect sexual dimorphism [14, 25–28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High frequency audible calls in northern birch mice Sicista betulina in response to handling: effects of individuality, sex and body mass on the acoustics

Volodin

Klenova

Ilchenko³

et al. 2019

BMC Res Notes

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ObjectivesThis is the first study of the sonic and ultrasonic vocalization in a Dipodidae rodent. For the small-sized quadrupedal northern birch mouse Sicista betulina, phylogenetically related to the bipedal jerboas (Dipodidae), we report null results for ultrasonic vocalization and investigate the acoustic cues to individual identity, sex and body size in the discomfort-related high-frequency tonal sonic calls.ResultsWe used a parallel audio recording in the sonic and ultrasonic ranges during weighting adult northern birch mice before the scheduled hibernation in captivity. The sonic (audible) high-frequency tonal calls (ranging from 6.21 to 9.86 kHz) were presented in all individuals (7 males and 4 females). The ultrasonic calls lacked in the recordings. Two-way nested ANOVA revealed the effects of caller individual identity on all 10 measured acoustic variables and the effects of sex on four out of 10 measured acoustic variables. Discriminant function analyses with 10 acoustic variables included in the analysis showed 85.5% correct assignment of calls to individual and 79.7% correct assignment of calls to sex; both values significantly exceeded the random values (23.1% and 54.3%, respectively) calculated with randomization procedure. Body mass did not differ between sexes and did not correlate significantly with the acoustic variables.

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Individual and sex distinctiveness in bark calls of domestic chinchillas elicited in a distress context

Cited by 9 publications

References 54 publications

Acoustic Structure and Contextual Use of Calls by Captive Male and Female Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus)

Acoustic Structure and Contextual Use of Calls by Captive Male and Female Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus)

The olivocochlear reflex strength in awake chinchillas is relevant for behavioural performance during visual selective attention with auditory distractors

High frequency audible calls in northern birch mice Sicista betulina in response to handling: effects of individuality, sex and body mass on the acoustics

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