Sequential information in a great ape utterance

Fedurek, Paweł; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Dahl, Christoph D.

doi:10.1038/srep38226

Cited by 64 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…These results imply trade-offs in investment into different phases. Previous analyses of pant hoots suggest that prolonging the duration of particular phases, such as the build-up or the climax, may be used as effective territorial displays or to coordinate chorusing [ 29 , 43 ]. However, it appears that, in some cases, if one phase is longer in total duration, the subsequent one tends to be shorter; thus, plasticity in phase duration appears somewhat constrained at a broader level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At a functional level, the different relationships between call F0 and duration found in different phases suggest that specific phases within a pant hoot have distinct functions modulated by their pitch [ 43 ]. For example, the low-frequency build-up phase seems to be directed (at least in part) to the nearby individuals, since callers adjust its duration depending on the vocal response of the nearby males [ 29 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is considerable within- [ 29 ] and between- [ 38 ] individual variation in terms of the number of calls within all four phases of the sequence. Pant hoots have multiple social functions, ranging from signalling social status and bonds, to coordinating grouping and proximity [ 39 – 42 ], and recent evidence indicates that different phases fulfil different communicative functions [ 43 ].

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trade-offs in the production of animal vocal sequences: insights from the structure of wild chimpanzee pant hoots

2017

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BackgroundVocal sequences - utterances consisting of calls produced in close succession - are common phenomena in animal communication. While many studies have explored the adaptive benefits of producing such sequences, very little is known about how the costs and constraints involved in their production affect their form. Here, we investigated this issue in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) pant hoot, a long and structurally complex vocal sequence comprising four acoustically distinct phases – introduction, build-up, climax and let-down.ResultsWe found that in each of these phases, and for the sequence as a whole, there was a negative relationship between the number of calls produced and their average duration. There was also a negative relationship between the total duration of some adjacent phases. Significant relationships between the fundamental frequency of calls and their number or duration were found for some phases of the sequence, but the direction of these relationships differed between particular phases.ConclusionsThese results indicate that there are trade-offs in terms of signal duration at two levels in pant-hoot production: between call number and duration, and between the relative durations of successive phases. These trade-offs are likely to reflect biomechanical constraints on vocal sequence production. Phase-specific trade-offs also appear to occur between fundamental frequency and call number or duration, potentially reflecting that different phases of the sequence are associated with distinct types of information, linked in different ways to call pitch. Overall, this study highlights the important role of costs and constraints in shaping the temporal and acoustic structure of animal vocal sequences.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12983-017-0235-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trade-offs in the production of animal vocal sequences: insights from the structure of wild chimpanzee pant hoots

2017

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“…Therefore, vocalisation, the active generation of sounds with specific organs, becomes an expression of an internal state of an animal generated spontaneously or motivated by an external event [ 20 ]. Many of these vocalisations have a complex structure that includes different acoustic elements and there are many hypotheses related to the adaptive function of how such complexity [ 21 ] have developed over years. The study of emotions in animals is related to the evolution of species and consequently to the evolution of animal vocalisations.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic Description of the Soundscape of a Real-Life Intensive Farm and Its Impact on Animal Welfare: A Preliminary Analysis of Farm Sounds and Bird Vocalisations

Ginovart-Panisello

Alsina-Pagès

Iriondo

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Poultry meat is the world’s primary source of animal protein due to low cost and is widely eaten at a global level. However, intensive production is required to supply the demand although it generates stress to animals and welfare problems, which have to be reduced or eradicated for the better health of birds. In this study, bird welfare is measured by certain indicators: CO2, temperature, humidity, weight, deaths, food, and water intake. Additionally, we approach an acoustic analysis of bird vocalisations as a possible metric to add to the aforementioned parameters. For this purpose, an acoustic recording and analysis of an entire production cycle of an intensive broiler Ross 308 poultry farm in the Mediterranean area was performed. The acoustic dataset generated was processed to obtain the Equivalent Level (Leq), the mean Peak Frequency (PF), and the PF variation, every 30 min. This acoustical analysis aims to evaluate the relation between traditional indicators (death, weight, and CO2) as well as acoustical metrics (equivalent level impact (Leq) and Peak Frequency) of a complete intensive production cycle. As a result, relation between CO2 and humidity versus Leq was found, as well as decreases in vocalisation when the intake of food and water was large.

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“…Although not yet studied systematically, the calls given as part of the four units almost certainly contribute to other constructions in chimpanzee vocal behaviour or are produced as standalone signals (P Fedurek, personal communication). In a study using machine learning, it was demonstrated that the four units convey information on caller identity, rank and age, and on the external event [36]. The different call types within the four units can be repeated multiple times, but it is currently unknown whether this has communicative function.…”

Section: Merged Compoundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combinatorial capacities in primates

Zuberbühler

2018

Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

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Do primates have syntax-like abilities? One line of enquiry is to test how subjects respond to different types of artificial grammars. Results have revealed neural structures responsible for processing combinatorial content, shared between nonhuman primates and humans. Another approach has been to study natural communication, which has revealed a wealth of organisational principles, including merged compounds and sequences with stochastic, permutated, hierarchical and crossmodal combinatorial utterances. There is solid experimental evidence that recipients can attend to such combinatorial features to extract meaning. The debate is whether animal communication can also be compositional, insofar as whether signallers assemble meaningful units to create more complex utterances with novel meanings.

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Sequential information in a great ape utterance

Cited by 64 publications

References 77 publications

Trade-offs in the production of animal vocal sequences: insights from the structure of wild chimpanzee pant hoots

Trade-offs in the production of animal vocal sequences: insights from the structure of wild chimpanzee pant hoots

Acoustic Description of the Soundscape of a Real-Life Intensive Farm and Its Impact on Animal Welfare: A Preliminary Analysis of Farm Sounds and Bird Vocalisations

Combinatorial capacities in primates

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