Northern Mockingbirds produce syntactical patterns of vocal mimicry that reflect taxonomy of imitated species

Gammon, David E.; Altizer, Carly E.

doi:10.1111/j.1557-9263.2011.00318.x

Cited by 21 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae: Robinson, 1974; northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos: Gammon & Altizer, 2011), whereas others reproduce heterospecific calls (e.g. For example, some species of bird commonly reproduce the songs of other bird species (e.g.…”

Section: Heterospecific Sounds In Avian Vocalisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, some species of bird commonly reproduce the songs of other bird species (e.g. superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae: Robinson, 1974; northern mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos: Gammon & Altizer, 2011), whereas others reproduce heterospecific calls (e.g. spotted bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus maculatus: Kelley & Healy, 2011).…”

Section: Heterospecific Sounds In Avian Vocalisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of the most spectacular examples of heterospecific imitations are produced by passerines that routinely incorporate multiple heterospecific sounds into elaborate vocal displays (e.g. common starling, Sturnus vulgaris: Hindmarsh, 1984; black-browed reed warbler: Hamao & Eda-Fujiwara, 2004; northern mockingbird: Gammon & Altizer, 2011;Albert's lyrebird: Putland et al, 2006;superb lyrebird: Zann & Dunstan, 2008;Dalziell & Magrath, 2012). These vocal displays can closely resemble advertisement song (as defined in Catchpole & Slater, 2008) as they can be produced primarily in the breeding season, only or mostly by males, and delivered from a perch in long bouts (e.g.…”

Section: (A) Sexual Selection and Mate Attractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Avian vocal mimicry: a unified conceptual framework

et al. 2014

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Mimicry is a classical example of adaptive signal design. Here, we review the current state of research into vocal mimicry in birds. Avian vocal mimicry is a conspicuous and often spectacular form of animal communication, occurring in many distantly related species. However, the proximate and ultimate causes of vocal mimicry are poorly understood. In the first part of this review, we argue that progress has been impeded by conceptual confusion over what constitutes vocal mimicry. We propose a modified version of Vane-Wright's (1980) widely used definition of mimicry. According to our definition, a vocalisation is mimetic if the behaviour of the receiver changes after perceiving the acoustic resemblance between the mimic and the model, and the behavioural change confers a selective advantage on the mimic. Mimicry is therefore specifically a functional concept where the resemblance between heterospecific sounds is a target of selection. It is distinct from other forms of vocal resemblance including those that are the result of chance or common ancestry, and those that have emerged as a by-product of other processes such as ecological convergence and selection for large song-type repertoires. Thus, our definition provides a general and functionally coherent framework for determining what constitutes vocal mimicry, and takes account of the diversity of vocalisations that incorporate heterospecific sounds. In the second part we assess and revise hypotheses for the evolution of avian vocal mimicry in the light of our new definition. Most of the current evidence is anecdotal, but the diverse contexts and acoustic structures of putative vocal mimicry suggest that mimicry has multiple functions across and within species. There is strong experimental evidence that vocal mimicry can be deceptive, and can facilitate parasitic interactions. There is also increasing support for the use of vocal mimicry in predator defence, although the mechanisms are unclear. Less progress has been made in explaining why many birds incorporate heterospecific sounds into their sexual displays, and in determining whether these vocalisations are functionally mimetic or by-products of sexual selection for other traits such as repertoire size. Overall, this discussion reveals a more central role for vocal mimicry in the behavioural ecology of birds than has previously been appreciated. The final part of this review identifies important areas for future research. Detailed empirical data are needed on individual species, including on the structure of mimetic signals, the contexts in which mimicry is produced, how mimicry is acquired, and the ecological relationships between mimic, model and receiver. At present, there is little information and no consensus about the various costs of vocal mimicry for the protagonists in the mimicry complex. The diversity and complexity of vocal mimicry in birds raises important questions for the study of animal communication and challenges our view of the nature of mimicry itself. Therefore, a better understanding of...

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Section: Heterospecific Sounds In Avian Vocalisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Heterospecific Sounds In Avian Vocalisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (A) Sexual Selection and Mate Attractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Avian vocal mimicry: a unified conceptual framework

et al. 2014

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“…Some of the most complex songs produced by male oscines around the globe incorporate imitations of heterospecifics. Such 'vocal mimics' include European starlings Sturnus vulgaris (Eens, 1997), marsh warblers Acrocephalus palustris (Dowsett- Lemaire, 1979), northern mockingbirds Mimus polyglottos (Gammon and Altizer, 2011), Lawrence's thrush Turdus lawrencii (2010), and chorister robins Cossypha dichroa (Harcus, 1977). However, research into the mimetic vocalizations of females is conspicuously absent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elaborate Mimetic Vocal Displays by Female Superb Lyrebirds

Dalziell

Welbergen

2016

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Some of the most striking vocalizations in birds are made by males that incorporate vocal mimicry in their sexual displays. Mimetic vocalization in females is largely undescribed, but it is unclear whether this is because of a lack of selection for vocal mimicry in females, or whether the phenomenon has simply been overlooked. These issues are thrown into sharp relief in the superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae, a basal oscine passerine with a lek-like mating system and female uniparental care. The spectacular mimetic song display produced by courting male lyrebirds is a textbook example of a sexually selected trait, but the vocalizations of female lyrebirds are largely unknown. Here, we provide the first analysis of the structure and context of the vocalizations of female lyrebirds. Female lyrebirds were completely silent during courtship; however, females regularly produced sophisticated vocal displays incorporating both lyrebird-specific vocalizations and imitations of sounds within their environment. The structure of female vocalizations varied significantly with context. While foraging, females mostly produced a complex lyrebird-specific song, whereas they gave lyrebird-specific alarm calls most often during nest defense. Within their vocal displays females also included a variety of mimetic vocalizations, including imitations of the calls of dangerous predators, and of alarm calls and song of harmless heterospecifics. Females gave more mimetic vocalizations during nest defense than while foraging, and the types of sounds they imitated varied between these contexts, suggesting that mimetic vocalizations have more than one function. These results are inconsistent with previous portrayals of vocalizations by female lyrebirds as rare, functionless by-products of sexual selection on males. Instead, our results support the hypotheses that complex female vocalizations play a role in nest defense and mediate female-female competition for breeding territories. In sum, this study reveals elaborate female vocal displays in a species widely depicted as an example of sexual selection for male extravagance, and thus highlights the hidden complexity of female vocalizations.

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“…Some species have vocal repertoires of tens or even hundreds of discrete elements; others have only a handful, but use them to generate a wide variety of combinations. For example, an individual mockingbird Mimus polyglottos can mimic over 100 distinct song types of different species, and combine them into diverse sequences [1]. Even the rock hyrax Procavia capensis, using no more than five discrete vocal elements, creates long vocal sequences that are rarely the same on repetition [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal vocal sequences: not the Markov chains we thought they were

et al. 2014

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Many animals produce vocal sequences that appear complex. Most researchers assume that these sequences are well characterized as Markov chains (i.e. that the probability of a particular vocal element can be calculated from the history of only a finite number of preceding elements). However, this assumption has never been explicitly tested. Furthermore, it is unclear how language could evolve in a single step from a Markovian origin, as is frequently assumed, as no intermediate forms have been found between animal communication and human language. Here, we assess whether animal taxa produce vocal sequences that are better described by Markov chains, or by non-Markovian dynamics such as the 'renewal process' (RP), characterized by a strong tendency to repeat elements. We examined vocal sequences of seven taxa: Bengalese finches Lonchura striata domestica, Carolina chickadees Poecile carolinensis, free-tailed bats Tadarida brasiliensis, rock hyraxes Procavia capensis, pilot whales Globicephala macrorhynchus, killer whales Orcinus orca and orangutans Pongo spp. The vocal systems of most of these species are more consistent with a non-Markovian RP than with the Markovian models traditionally assumed. Our data suggest that non-Markovian vocal sequences may be more common than Markov sequences, which must be taken into account when evaluating alternative hypotheses for the evolution of signalling complexity, and perhaps human language origins.

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Northern Mockingbirds produce syntactical patterns of vocal mimicry that reflect taxonomy of imitated species

Cited by 21 publications

References 24 publications

Avian vocal mimicry: a unified conceptual framework

Avian vocal mimicry: a unified conceptual framework

Elaborate Mimetic Vocal Displays by Female Superb Lyrebirds

Animal vocal sequences: not the Markov chains we thought they were

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