Acoustic cues to identity and predator context in meerkat barks

dc.contributor.authorTownsend, Simon W.
dc.contributor.authorCharlton, Benjamin D.
dc.contributor.authorManser, Marta B.
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-07T09:03:22Z
dc.date.available2014-10-07T09:03:22Z
dc.date.issued2014-08
dc.description.abstractFormants, the resonance frequencies of the vocal tract, are the key acoustic parameters underlying vowel identity in human speech. However, recent work on nonhuman animal communication systems has shown that formant variation provides potentially important information to receivers about static and dynamic attributes of callers. Meerkats, Suricata suricatta, produce broadband noisy bark vocalizations, lacking a clear fundamental frequency and harmonic structure, when they detect aerial or terrestrial predators. Here we investigated whether formants in meerkat barks have the potential to provide reliable information on caller identity and the predator context (aerial versus terrestrial predator) in which they are delivered. Acoustic analyses of naturally occurring barks and measurements of this species' vocal tract length were used to confirm that the six clear frequency bands below 15 kHz in meerkat barks represent formants. Discriminant function analyses subsequently demonstrated significant interindividual variation in the formant pattern of meerkat barks, suggesting that formants could be used by meerkats to identify conspecifics. In addition, mixed-effects models indicated that the frequency of the first formant was lower in barks produced in aerial versus terrestrial predation contexts. These results add to a growing body of literature on the potential function of formants in nonhuman animal vocal communication systems, and also imply that signalling external and referential information through such resonance frequencies, as in human language, might be more widespread in animals than previously thought.en_US
dc.description.librarianhb2014en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipUniversity of Zurich, Swiss National Science Foundation, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship, Cambridge University, Zurich University and Earthwatch.en_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehaven_US
dc.identifier.citationTownsend, SW, Charlton, BD & Manser, MB 2014, 'Acoustic cues to identity and predator context in meerkat barks', Animal Behaviour, vol. 94, pp. 143-149.en_US
dc.identifier.issn0003-3472 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1095-8282 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.05.021
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/42262
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rights© 2014 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Animal Behaviour. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Animal Behaviour, vol. 94, pp. 143-149, 2014. doi : 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.05.021.en_US
dc.subjectBarken_US
dc.subjectFormanten_US
dc.subjectFunctional referenceen_US
dc.subjectIndividualityen_US
dc.subjectMeerkat (Suricata suricatta)en_US
dc.titleAcoustic cues to identity and predator context in meerkat barksen_US
dc.typePostprint Articleen_US

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