scholarly journals Alarm calls evoke a visual search image of a predator in birds

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (7) ◽  
pp. 1541-1545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshitaka N. Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Mental Images ◽  
Search Image ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Parus Minor

One of the core features of human speech is that words cause listeners to retrieve corresponding visual mental images. However, whether vocalizations similarly evoke mental images in animal communication systems is surprisingly unknown. Japanese tits (Parus minor) produce specific alarm calls when and only when encountering a predatory snake. Here, I show that simply hearing these calls causes tits to become more visually perceptive to objects resembling snakes. During playback of snake-specific alarm calls, tits approach a wooden stick being moved in a snake-like fashion. However, tits do not respond to the same stick when hearing other call types or if the stick’s movement is dissimilar to that of a snake. Thus, before detecting a real snake, tits retrieve its visual image from snake-specific alarm calls and use this to search out snakes. This study provides evidence for a call-evoked visual search image in a nonhuman animal, offering a paradigm to explore the cognitive basis for animal vocal communication in the wild.

scholarly journals Vocal plasticity in a reptile

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1855) ◽  
pp. 20170451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Brumm ◽  
Sue Anne Zollinger
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Vocal Plasticity ◽  
Lombard Effect ◽  
Gekko Gecko ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Signalling Systems

Sophisticated vocal communication systems of birds and mammals, including human speech, are characterized by a high degree of plasticity in which signals are individually adjusted in response to changes in the environment. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first evidence for vocal plasticity in a reptile. Like birds and mammals, tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) increased the duration of brief call notes in the presence of broadcast noise compared to quiet conditions, a behaviour that facilitates signal detection by receivers. By contrast, they did not adjust the amplitudes of their call syllables in noise (the Lombard effect), which is in line with the hypothesis that the Lombard effect has evolved independently in birds and mammals. However, the geckos used a different strategy to increase signal-to-noise ratios: instead of increasing the amplitude of a given call type when exposed to noise, the subjects produced more high-amplitude syllable types from their repertoire. Our findings demonstrate that reptile vocalizations are much more flexible than previously thought, including elaborate vocal plasticity that is also important for the complex signalling systems of birds and mammals. We suggest that signal detection constraints are one of the major forces driving the evolution of animal communication systems across different taxa.

scholarly journals Exploring the Adaptive Significance of Five Types of Puma (Puma concolor) Vocalizations

2017 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian L Allen ◽  
Yiwei Wang ◽  
Christopher C Wilmers
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Puma Concolor ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Video Cameras ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Indirect Cues ◽  
Limit Detection

Communication is a central component of animal behaviour, yet communicative behaviours are poorly studied due to their complexity and varied functions. Pumas (Puma concolor) are wide-ranging, solitary felids that primarily use indirect cues (e.g., scent marking) for communication. Because these cryptic carnivores are rarely observed directly, little is known about their vocalizations in the wild. We recorded a variety of Puma vocalizations among females and family groups using motion-triggered video cameras and then attempted to understand the function of each vocalization. We found two categories of vocalizations: 1) attention-attracting (caterwauling and mewing), and 2) calls (contact, agitated, and alarm). Vocalizations to attract attention ranged across broad frequencies. Contact, agitated, and alarm calls are narrow-frequency vocalizations that varied in intensity and were used to communicate with nearby conspecifics. Vocal communication entails risk, and while some Puma vocalizations may provide benefits that outweigh their risk, others are structured to limit detection and risk. These observations highlight the importance of the structure of vocalizations used during different behaviours to understand their adaptive significance.

scholarly journals A Cause for Alarm: Increasing Translocation Success of Captive Individuals Through Alarm Communication

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Morris ◽  
Benjamin James Pitcher ◽  
Anthony Chariton
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Communication Behavior ◽  
Developmental History ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Alarm Communication ◽  
Predator Behavior

Translocation programmes implying the movement of animals from one place to another aim to sustain endangered populations in the wild. However, their success varies greatly, with predation being a major contributing factor. This is particularly prevalent in released captive-raised individuals which have a reduced or lost awareness of predators. Alarm calls are an immediate response made toward a predator, mostly studied in highly predated, social vertebrates. These warning vocalizations are a vital part of a prey species' anti-predator behavior, enhancing the individuals' and surrounding listeners' survival. To date, most translocation programmes have not considered this behavior for release success. Here we review the literature summarizing alarm communication systems of wild and captive vertebrates, aiming to establish recommendations and actions which could encourage alarm communication behavior in captive vertebrate species. Observations of wild animals show that alarm-call understanding is gained through the experience of predation pressure from a young age, amongst conspecific and heterospecific social groups, which captive individuals can lack. This information, combined with consideration of a programme's accessible resources and captive individual's developmental history, is pivotal to efficiently guide appropriate actions. Focusing on preserving behaviors in captivity, we provide a list of recommendations and actions to guide the reinforcement of alarm communication throughout the translocation process. Ensuring predator awareness and the maintenance of alarm communication in translocated individuals may greatly improve the likelihood of release success.

scholarly journals Construction grammar for monkeys?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pleyer ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Key Issues

Abstract In recent years, multiple researchers working on the evolution of language have put forward the idea that the theoretical framework of usage-based approaches and Construction Grammar is highly suitable for modelling the emergence of human language from pre-linguistic or proto-linguistic communication systems. This also raises the question of whether usage-based and constructionist approaches can be integrated with the analysis of animal communication systems. In this paper, we review possible avenues where usage-based, constructionist approaches can make contact with animal communication research, which in turn also has implications for theories of language evolution. To this end, we first give an overview of key assumptions of usage-based and constructionist approaches before reviewing some key issues in animal communication research through the lens of usage-based, constructionist approaches. Specifically, we will discuss how research on alarm calls, gestural communication and symbol-trained animals can be brought into contact with usage-based, constructionist theorizing. We argue that a constructionist view of animal communication can yield new perspectives on its relation to human language, which in turn has important implications regarding the evolution of language. Importantly, this theoretical approach also generates hypotheses that have the potential of complementing and extending results from the more formalist approaches that often underlie current animal communication research.

scholarly journals Brevity is not always a virtue in primate communication

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruna M. Bezerra ◽  
Antonio S. Souto ◽  
Andrew N. Radford ◽  
Gareth Jones
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Coding Efficiency ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
The Law

Semple et al . (Semple et al. in press, Biol. Lett. ( doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.1062 )) argued that the ‘law of brevity’ (an inverse relationship between word length and frequency of use) applies not only to human language but also to vocal signalling in non-human primates, because coding efficiency is paramount in both situations. We analysed the frequency of use of signals of different duration in the vocal repertoires of two Neotropical primate species studied in the wild—the common marmoset ( Callithrix jacchus ) and the golden-backed uakari ( Cacajao melanocephalus ). The key prediction of the law of brevity was not supported in either species: although the most frequently emitted calls were relatively brief, they were not the shortest signals in the repertoire. The costs and benefits associated with signals of different duration must be appreciated to understand properly their frequency of use. Although relatively brief vocal signals may be favoured by natural selection in order to minimize energetic costs, the very briefest signals may be ambiguous, contain reduced information or be difficult to detect or locate, and may therefore be selected against. Analogies between human language and vocal communication in animals can be misleading as a basis for understanding frequency of use, because coding efficiency is not the only factor of importance in animal communication, and the costs and benefits associated with different signal durations will vary in a species-specific manner.

scholarly journals Construction Grammar for Monkeys? Animal communication and its implications for language evolution in the light of usage-based linguistic theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pleyer ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Key Issues

In recent years, multiple researchers working on the evolution of language have put forward the idea that the theoretical framework of usage-based approaches and Construction Grammar is highly suitable for modelling the emergence of human language from pre-linguistic or proto-linguistic communication systems. This also raises the question of whether usage-based and constructionist approaches can be integrated with the analysis of animal communication systems. In this paper, we review possible avenues where usage-based, constructionist approaches can make contact with animal communication research, which in turn also has implications for theories of language evolution. To this end, we first give an overview of key assumptions of usage-based and constructionist approaches before reviewing some key issues in animal communication research through the lens of usage-based, constructionist approaches. Specifically, we will discuss how research on alarm calls, gestural communication and symbol-trained animals can be brought into contact with usage-based, constructionist theorizing. We argue that a constructionist view of animal communication can yield new perspectives on its relation to human language, which in turn has important implications regarding the evolution of language. Importantly, this theoretical approach also generates hypotheses that have the potential of complementing and extending results from the more formalist approaches that often underlie current animal communication research.

scholarly journals The syntax–semantics interface in animal vocal communication

2019 ◽  
Vol 375 (1789) ◽  
pp. 20180405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshitaka N. Suzuki ◽  
David Wheatcroft ◽  
Michael Griesser
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Phenomenological Studies

Syntax (rules for combining words or elements) and semantics (meaning of expressions) are two pivotal features of human language, and interaction between them allows us to generate a limitless number of meaningful expressions. While both features were traditionally thought to be unique to human language, research over the past four decades has revealed intriguing parallels in animal communication systems. Many birds and mammals produce specific calls with distinct meanings, and some species combine multiple meaningful calls into syntactically ordered sequences. However, it remains largely unclear whether, like phrases or sentences in human language, the meaning of these call sequences depends on both the meanings of the component calls and their syntactic order. Here, leveraging recently demonstrated examples of meaningful call combinations, we introduce a framework for exploring the interaction between syntax and semantics (i.e. the syntax-semantic interface) in animal vocal sequences. We outline methods to test the cognitive mechanisms underlying the production and perception of animal vocal sequences and suggest potential evolutionary scenarios for syntactic communication. We hope that this review will stimulate phenomenological studies on animal vocal sequences as well as experimental studies on the cognitive processes, which promise to provide further insights into the evolution of language. This article is part of the theme issue ‘What can animal communication teach us about human language?’

scholarly journals Lungs contribute to solving the frog’s cocktail party problem by enhancing the spectral contrast of conspecific vocal signals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Lee ◽  
J. Christensen-Dalsgaard ◽  
L. A. White ◽  
K. M. Schrode ◽  
M. A. Bee
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Control Function ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Calling Behavior ◽  
Cocktail Party ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Cocktail Party Problem ◽  
Spectral Contrast

AbstractNoise impairs signal perception and is a major source of selection on animal communication. Identifying adaptations that enable receivers to cope with noise is critical to discovering how animal sensory and communication systems evolve. We integrated biophysical and bioacoustic measurements with physiological modeling to demonstrate that the lungs of frogs serve a heretofore unknown noise-control function in vocal communication. Lung resonance enhances the signal-to-noise ratio for communication by selectively reducing the tympanum’s sensitivity at critical frequencies where the tuning of two inner ear organs overlaps. Social network analysis of citizen-science data on frog calling behavior indicates the calls of other frog species in multi-species choruses are a prominent source of environmental noise attenuated by the lungs. These data reveal that an ancient adaptation for detecting sound via the lungs has been evolutionarily co-opted to create spectral contrast enhancement that contributes to solving a multi-species cocktail party problem.

scholarly journals Dwarf mongoose alarm calls: investigating a complex non-human animal call

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1935) ◽  
pp. 20192514
Author(s):  
Katie Collier ◽  
Andrew N. Radford ◽  
Sabine Stoll ◽  
Stuart K. Watson ◽  
Marta B. Manser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Communication Systems ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Individual

Communication plays a vital role in the social lives of many species and varies greatly in complexity. One possible way to increase communicative complexity is by combining signals into longer sequences, which has been proposed as a mechanism allowing species with a limited repertoire to increase their communicative output. In mammals, most studies on combinatoriality have focused on vocal communication in non-human primates. Here, we investigated a potential combination of alarm calls in the dwarf mongoose ( Helogale parvula ), a non-primate mammal. Acoustic analyses and playback experiments with a wild population suggest: (i) that dwarf mongooses produce a complex call type (T 3 ) which, at least at the surface level, seems to comprise units that are not functionally different to two meaningful alarm calls (aerial and terrestrial); and (ii) that this T 3 call functions as a general alarm, produced in response to a wide range of threats. Using a novel approach, we further explored multiple interpretations of the T 3 call based on the information content of the apparent comprising calls and how they are combined. We also considered an alternative, non-combinatorial interpretation that frames T 3 as the origin, rather than the product, of the individual alarm calls. This study complements previous knowledge of vocal combinatoriality in non-primate mammals and introduces an approach that could facilitate comparisons between different animal and human communication systems.

scholarly journals Previously unknown behavior in parasitic cuckoo females: male-like vocalization during migratory activity

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Swetlana G. Meshcheryagina ◽  
Alexey Opaev
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Harmonic Spectrum ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Neck Extension ◽  
Migratory Activity ◽  
Call Production ◽  
In Captivity ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Combined Features ◽  
Female Call

Abstract Background In the last decade, enigmatic male-like cuckoo calls have been reported several times in East Asia. These calls exhibited a combination of vocal traits of both Oriental Cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) and Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) advertising calls, and some authors therefore suggested that the enigmatic calls were produced by either Common × Oriental Cuckoo male hybrids or Common Cuckoo males having a gene mutation. However, the exact identity of calling birds are still unknown. Methods We recorded previously unknown male-like calls from three captive Oriental Cuckoo females, and compared these calls with enigmatic vocalizations recorded in the wild as well as with advertising vocalizations of Common and Oriental Cuckoo males. To achieve this, we measured calls automatically. Besides, we video-recorded captive female emitting male-like calls, and compared these recordings with the YouTube recordings of calling males of both Common and Oriental Cuckoos to get insight into the mechanism of call production. Results The analysis showed that female male-like calls recorded in captivity were similar to enigmatic calls recorded in the wild. Therefore, Oriental Cuckoo females might produce the latter calls. Two features of these female calls appeared to be unusual among birds. First, females produced male-like calls at the time of spring and autumn migratory activity and on migration in the wild. Because of this, functional significance of this call remained puzzling. Secondly, the male-like female call unexpectedly combined features of both closed-mouth (closed beak and simultaneous inflation of the ‘throat sac’) and open-mouth (prominent harmonic spectrum and the maximum neck extension observed at the beginning of a sound) vocal behaviors. Conclusions The Cuculus vocalizations outside the reproductive season remain poorly understood. Here, we found for the first time that Oriental Cuckoo females can produce male-like calls in that time. Because of its rarity, this call might be an atavism. Indeed, female male-like vocalizations are still known in non-parasitic tropical and apparently more basal cuckoos only. Therefore, our findings may shed light on the evolution of vocal communication in avian brood parasites.

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