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Context-specific close-range "hoo" calls in wild gibbons (Hylobates lar)

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Zuberbuhler_2015_BMCEB_Context_CC.pdf (1.045Mb)
Date
08/04/2015
Author
Clarke, Esther
Reichard, Ulrich H.
Zuberbuehler, Klaus
Keywords
Referential communication
Primate vocalisations
Hylobatidae
Ape communication
Language evolution
Functionally referential signals
Food-associated calls
Primate alarm calls
Semantic communication
Playback experiments
Vocal communication
Acoustic features
BArbary macaques
Diana monkeys
Organization
QH301 Biology
QL Zoology
DAS
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Abstract
Background: Close range calls are produced by many animals during intra-specific interactions, such as during home range defence, playing, begging for food, and directing others. In this study, we investigated the most common close range vocalisation of lar gibbons (Hylobates lar), the 'hoo' call. Gibbons and siamangs (family Hylobatidae) are known for their conspicuous and elaborate songs, while quieter, close range vocalisations have received almost no empirical attention, perhaps due to the difficult observation conditions in their natural forest habitats. Results: We found that 'hoo' calls were emitted by both sexes in a variety of contexts, including feeding, separation from group members, encountering predators, interacting with neighbours, or as part of duet songs by the mated pair. Acoustic analyses revealed that 'hoo' calls varied in a number of spectral parameters as a function of the different contexts. Males' and females' 'hoo' calls showed similar variation in these context-specific parameter differences, although there were also consistent sex differences in frequency across contexts. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that lar gibbons are able to generate significant, context-dependent acoustic variation within their main social call, which potentially allows recipients to make inferences about the external events experienced by the caller. Communicating about different events by producing subtle acoustic variation within some call types appears to be a general feature of primate communication, which can increase the expressive power of vocal signals within the constraints of limited vocal tract flexibility that is typical for all non-human primates. In this sense, this study is of direct relevance for the on-going debate about the nature and origins of vocally-based referential communication and the evolution of human speech.
Citation
Clarke , E , Reichard , U H & Zuberbuehler , K 2015 , ' Context-specific close-range "hoo" calls in wild gibbons (Hylobates lar) ' , BMC Evolutionary Biology , vol. 15 , 56 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-015-0332-2
Publication
BMC Evolutionary Biology
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-015-0332-2
ISSN
1471-2148
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2015 Clarke et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Description
This work was supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council PhD studentship awarded to EC.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6695

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