Context‐specific calls signal infants' needs in a strepsirrhine primate, the gray mouse lemur (<i>Microcebus murinus</i>)

Scheumann, Marina; Zimmermann, Elke; Deichsel, Guntram

doi:10.1002/dev.20234

Cited by 52 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Mouse lemurs have an elaborate vocal repertoire and use vocalizations in a diversity of social interactions (e.g., mating contexts [54,55], mother-infant communications [56], emotional state [5,57], paternal kin recognition [28]). We chose to investigate the individually distinctive agonistic call [58].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the origins of mammalian sociality: moderate evidence for matrilineal signatures in mouse lemur vocalizations

et al. 2014

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IntroductionMaternal kin selection is a driving force in the evolution of mammalian social complexity and it requires that kin are distinctive from nonkin. The transition from the ancestral state of asociality to the derived state of complex social groups is thought to have occurred via solitary foraging, in which individuals forage alone, but, unlike the asocial ancestors, maintain dispersed social networks via scent-marks and vocalizations. We hypothesize that matrilineal signatures in vocalizations were an important part of these networks. We used the solitary foraging gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) as a model for ancestral solitary foragers and tested for matrilineal signatures in their calls, thus investigating whether such signatures are already present in solitary foragers and could have facilitated the kin selection thought to have driven the evolution of increased social complexity in mammals. Because agonism can be very costly, selection for matrilineal signatures in agonistic calls should help reduce agonism between unfamiliar matrilineal kin. We conducted this study on a well-studied population of wild mouse lemurs at Ankarafantsika National Park, Madagascar. We determined pairwise relatedness using seven microsatellite loci, matrilineal relatedness by sequencing the mitrochondrial D-loop, and sleeping group associations using radio-telemetry. We recorded agonistic calls during controlled social encounters and conducted a multi-parametric acoustic analysis to determine the spectral and temporal structure of the agonistic calls. We measured 10 calls for each of 16 females from six different matrilineal kin groups.ResultsCalls were assigned to their matriline at a rate significantly higher than chance (pDFA: correct = 47.1%, chance = 26.7%, p = 0.03). There was a statistical trend for a negative correlation between acoustic distance and relatedness (Mantel Test: g = -1.61, Z = 4.61, r = -0.13, p = 0.058).ConclusionsMouse lemur agonistic calls are moderately distinctive by matriline. Because sleeping groups consisted of close maternal kin, both genetics and social learning may have generated these acoustic signatures. As mouse lemurs are models for solitary foragers, we recommend further studies testing whether the lemurs use these calls to recognize kin. This would enable further modeling of how kin recognition in ancestral species could have shaped the evolution of complex sociality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the origins of mammalian sociality: moderate evidence for matrilineal signatures in mouse lemur vocalizations

et al. 2014

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“…When direct physical contact is unattainable and the infant is unable to move freely, as in our RR paradigm, vocalizations then become the most important evolutionary tool enabling the piglet to re-establish maternal contact and restore a positive affective state. The affective content of the vocalizations provides the caregiver with distinctive, reliable cues related to the offspring's level of arousal and intensity of its emotional state (Scheumann et al, 2007). The caretaker can then decide to re-join the infant according to the criticality of the situation signalled by the offspring's vocalizations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Piglets call for maternal attention: Vocal behaviour in Sus scrofa domesticus is modulated by mother's proximity

Iacobucci

Colonnello

D’Antuono

et al. 2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…Additionally, vomeronasal neuroepithelium is already present at early prenatal stages (Garrett et al, 2013) and numerous neurons reactive to Olfactory Marker Protein—a marker of terminally differentiated vomeronasal and olfactory neurons—were found in the VNO and MOE sensory epithelium of a 1-day old mouse lemur indicating olfactory functionality at this age (Smith et al, 2007). Infant mouse lemurs open their eyes at the postnatal age of 4–6 days, acoustically communicate with their mothers (Glatston, 1979; Scheumann et al, 2007b), and start to leave the nest by the age of ~21 days (Lutermann, 2001). Our results imply the potential for the use of olfactory signals between infants and nest mates (including mothers and siblings) or the early perception of predator cues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional promiscuity in a mammalian chemosensory system: extensive expression of vomeronasal receptors in the main olfactory epithelium of mouse lemurs

et al. 2014

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The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is functional in most terrestrial mammals, though progressively reduced in the primate lineage, and is used for intraspecific communication and predator recognition. Vomeronasal receptor (VR) genes comprise two families of chemosensory genes (V1R and V2R) that have been considered to be specific for the VNO. However, recently a large number of VRs were reported to be expressed in the main olfactory epithelium (MOE) of mice, but there is little knowledge of the expression of these genes outside of rodents. To explore the function of VR genes in mammalian evolution, we analyzed and compared the expression of 64 V1R and 2 V2R genes in the VNO and the MOE of the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), the primate with the largest known VR repertoire. We furthermore compared expression patterns in adults of both sexes and seasons, and in an infant. A large proportion (83–97%) of the VR loci was expressed in the VNO of all individuals. The repertoire in the infant was as rich as in adults, indicating reliance on olfactory communication from early postnatal development onwards. In concordance with mice, we also detected extensive expression of VRs in the MOE, with proportions of expressed loci in individuals ranging from 29 to 45%. TRPC2, which encodes a channel protein crucial for signal transduction via VRs, was co-expressed in the MOE in all individuals indicating likely functionality of expressed VR genes in the MOE. In summary, the large VR repertoire in mouse lemurs seems to be highly functional. Given the differences in the neural pathways of MOE and VNO signals, which project to higher cortical brain centers or the limbic system, respectively, this raises the intriguing possibility that the evolution of MOE-expression of VRs enabled mouse lemurs to adaptively diversify the processing of VR-encoded olfactory information.

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Context‐specific calls signal infants' needs in a strepsirrhine primate, the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus)

Cited by 52 publications

References 48 publications

Modeling the origins of mammalian sociality: moderate evidence for matrilineal signatures in mouse lemur vocalizations

Modeling the origins of mammalian sociality: moderate evidence for matrilineal signatures in mouse lemur vocalizations

Piglets call for maternal attention: Vocal behaviour in Sus scrofa domesticus is modulated by mother's proximity

Functional promiscuity in a mammalian chemosensory system: extensive expression of vomeronasal receptors in the main olfactory epithelium of mouse lemurs

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