The relationship between the behavioral activity and the underwater vocalization of the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas)

Panova, E. M.; Belikov, R. A.; Agafonov, A. V.; Bel’kovich, V. M.

doi:10.1134/s000143701201016x

Cited by 35 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Like most cetaceans, belugas are thought to vocalize primarily to echolocate or to socially communicate. However, assessments of the functionality of sounds (other than click trains) have been limited mainly to observational studies in which different sound types were correlated with different social contexts (Panova, Belikov, Agafonov, & Bel'kovich, 2012;Sjare & Smith, 1986).…”

Section: Speech-like Sound Production By Belugasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imitating Sounds: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding Vocal Imitation

Mercado¹,

Mantell²,

Pfordresher³

2014

CCBR

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Vocal imitation is often described as a specialized form of learning that facilitates social communication and that involves less cognitively sophisticated mechanisms than more "perceptually opaque" types of imitation. Here, we present an alternative perspective. Considering current evidence from adult mammals, we note that vocal imitation often does not lead to learning and can involve a wide range of cognitive processes. We further suggest that sound imitation capacities may have evolved in certain mammals, such as cetaceans and humans, to enhance both the perception of ongoing actions and the prediction of future events, rather than to facilitate mate attraction or the formation of social bonds. The ability of adults to voluntarily imitate sounds is better described as a cognitive skill than as a communicative learning mechanism. Sound imitation abilities are gradually acquired through practice and require the coordination of multiple perceptual-motor and cognitive mechanisms for representing and generating sounds. Understanding these mechanisms is critical to explaining why relatively few mammals are capable of flexibly imitating sounds, and why individuals vary in their ability to imitate sounds. Keywords: mimicry; copying; social learning; singing; emulation; imitatible; convergence; imitativenessIn his seminal text, Habitat and Instinct, Lloyd Morgan (1896, p. 166) describes two general kinds of imitation: instinctive imitation and intelligent or voluntary imitation. The examples he provides of intelligent imitation mostly involve reproducing sounds-a child copies words used by his companions, a mockingbird imitates the songs of 32 other bird species, a jay imitates the neighing of a horse, and so on. In fact, most of the examples of "imitation proper" that Morgan provides consist of birds reproducing the sounds of other species. Similarly, Romanes (1884) focuses almost exclusively on reports of birds imitating songs, music, and speech in his discussion of imitation. These classic portrayals of vocal reproductions as providing the best and clearest examples of imitation stand in stark contrast to current psychological discussions of imitation, which often classify examples such as those given by Romanes and Morgan as non-imitative performances that merely resemble actual imitation (Byrne, 2002;Heyes, 1996). When did phenomena that were once considered archetypal examples of voluntary imitation transform into a footnote of modern cognitive theories? Was some discovery made that fundamentally changed our scientific understanding of the processes underlying vocal imitation? Have psychologists or biologists succeeded in explaining what vocal imitation is and how it works to the point where little can be gained from further study? Or, have theoretical assumptions led scientists to underestimate the cognitive mechanisms required for an individual to be able to flexibly imitate sounds?In the present article, we attempt to identify what exactly vocal imitation entails, and to assess whether current explanatory fr...

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Section: Speech-like Sound Production By Belugasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imitating Sounds: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding Vocal Imitation

Mercado¹,

Mantell²,

Pfordresher³

2014

CCBR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Our recordings were taken while the animals were suggested to be migrating en route to their summer concentration areas. We have no concurrent visual data to confirm the behavioral state of the vocalizing animals; studies of behavioral state and call type suggest that simple, stereotyped tonal whistles are more likely to be used in long-range communication and are assumed to be involved in group coordination (Panova et al, 2012). The lower number of pulsed calls and higher percentages of whistles found in the current study may have occurred if the animals were engaged more in maintaining contact (longer-range communication) while migrating rather than engaging in social interactions.…”

Section: B Comparison Of Call Types With Other Known Repertoiresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pulsed calls are typically emitted more often during social interactions and are hypothesized to function in intragroup (short-range) communication (Faucher, 1988;Panova et al, 2012). Recordings of the Norwegian repertoire were taken from a small boat drifting close to the animals, which may have affected their behavior (Karlsen et al, 2002).…”

Section: B Comparison Of Call Types With Other Known Repertoiresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Belugas are highly vocal; these "canaries of the sea" produce a wide variety of calls like other delphinids that can be classified as whistles, pulsed calls, noisy calls, combined calls, and echolocation clicks (Au et al, 1985;Sjare and Smith, 1986;Faucher, 1988;Bel'kovich and Shchekotov, 1990;Angiel, 1997;Karlsen et al, 2002;Bel'kovich, 2007, 2008;Chmelnitsky and Ferguson, 2012;Panova et al, 2012). These calls range in frequency from approximately 200 Hz to 20 kHz with echolocation clicks extending upward of 120 kHz (Au et al, 1985;Sjare and Smith, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) vocalizations and call classification from the eastern Beaufort Sea population

Garland

Castellote

Berchok

2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Beluga whales, Delphinapterus leucas, have a graded call system; call types exist on a continuum making classification challenging. A description of vocalizations from the eastern Beaufort Sea beluga population during its spring migration are presented here, using both a non-parametric classification tree analysis (CART), and a Random Forest analysis. Twelve frequency and duration measurements were made on 1019 calls recorded over 14 days off Icy Cape, Alaska, resulting in 34 identifiable call types with 83% agreement in classification for both CART and Random Forest analyses. This high level of agreement in classification, with an initial subjective classification of calls into 36 categories, demonstrates that the methods applied here provide a quantitative analysis of a graded call dataset. Further, as calls cannot be attributed to individuals using single sensor passive acoustic monitoring efforts, these methods provide a comprehensive analysis of data where the influence of pseudo-replication of calls from individuals is unknown. This study is the first to describe the vocal repertoire of a beluga population using a robust and repeatable methodology. A baseline eastern Beaufort Sea beluga population repertoire is presented here, against which the call repertoire of other seasonally sympatric Alaskan beluga populations can be compared.

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“…Recent studies matching behavioral activity to vocalizations have been reported in [4] [5]. Classification of dolphin whistle types is considered as a major step for biologists studying dolphin recognition and behavior [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%