Evidence for echolocation in shrews

Gould, Edwin; Negus, Norman C.; Novick, Alvin

doi:10.1002/jez.1401560103

Cited by 91 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Nevertheless, this study of piebald shrews has not confirmed the use of ultrasound by piebald shrews, although ultrasonic calls were reported for Blarina, Sorex and Crocidura shrews (Gould et al, 1964;Gould, 1969;Buchler, 1976;Baxter and Meester, 1982;Forsman and Malmquist, 1988). Unlike other small sand-dwelling…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…To examine the body vibration and acoustics, we designed an experiment imitating the encounter of a shrew with a new, unknown substrate. This design was inspired by a previous study (Gould et al, 1964), where shrews were tested for exploratory audible or ultrasonic clicks on a disc raised above the ground. The purpose of the present study was to record and analyse spectrographically the airborne waves arising from seismic waves produced by a vibrating piebald shrew placed on a drum membrane, and to inspect the repetitive patterns of their screech calls.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measuring airborne components of seismic body vibrations in a Middle-Asian sand-dwelling Insectivora species, the piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellum)

Volodin

Zaytseva

Ilchenko³

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY Self-produced seismic vibrations have been found for some subterranean rodents but have not been reported for any Insectivora species, although seismic sensitivity has been confirmed for blind sand-dwelling chrysochlorid golden moles. Studying the vocal behaviour of captive piebald shrews, Diplomesodon pulchellum, we documented vibrations, apparently generated by the whole-body wall muscles, from 11 (5 male, 6 female) of 19 animals, placed singly on a drum membrane. The airborne waves of the vibratory drumming were digitally recorded and then analysed spectrographically. The mean frequency of vibration was 160.5 Hz. This frequency matched the periodicity of the deep sinusoidal frequency modulation (159.4 Hz) found in loud screech calls of the same subjects. The body vibration was not related to thermoregulation, hunger-related depletion of energy resources or fear, as it was produced by well-fed, calm animals, at warm ambient temperatures. We hypothesize that in the solitary, nocturnal, digging desert piebald shrew, body vibrations may be used for seismic exploration of substrate density, to avoid energy-costly digging of packed sand for burrowing and foraging. At the same time, the piercing quality of screech calls due to the deep sinusoidal frequency modulation, matching the periodicity of body vibration, may be important for agonistic communication in this species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring airborne components of seismic body vibrations in a Middle-Asian sand-dwelling Insectivora species, the piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellum)

Volodin

Zaytseva

Ilchenko³

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Speakman and Racey (Speakman and Racey, 1991) suggested that terrestrial mammals call at relatively low intensities due to the relatively high energetic cost. Calls produced by M. tuberculata while walking are approximately 8700 times more intense than those produced by shrews (Gould et al, 1964), suggesting that energetic cost may not limit call intensity for terrestrial vertebrates. Results from this study indicate that M. tuberculata calls at approximately 6dB SPL less (a reduction of approximately 6.4%) than when flying.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…' Very few terrestrial animals use echolocation (Thomas and Jalili, 2004), and those that do tend to use lower intensity pulses than bats use [e.g. shrews (Gould et al, 1964)]. This might reflect the prohibitively high energetic cost of echolocation in the absence of flight (Speakman et al, 1989;Speakman and Racey, 1991) or simply the need for bats, which travel faster than terrestrial mammals do, to have information about more distant targets than those of terrestrial mammals.…”

Section: Notedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Echolocation call production during aerial and terrestrial locomotion by New Zealand's enigmatic lesser short-tailed bat,Mystacina tuberculata

Parsons

Riskin

Hermanson

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYLinkage of echolocation call production with contraction of flight muscles has been suggested to reduce the energetic cost of flight with echolocation, such that the overall cost is approximately equal to that of flight alone. However, the pattern of call production with limb movement in terrestrially agile bats has never been investigated. We used synchronised high-speed video and audio recordings to determine patterns of association between echolocation call production and limb motion by Mystacina tuberculata Gray 1843 as individuals walked and flew, respectively. Results showed that there was no apparent linkage between call production and limb motion when bats walked. When in flight, two calls were produced per wingbeat, late in the downstroke and early in the upstroke. When bats walked, calls were produced at a higher rate, but at a slightly lower intensity, compared with bats in flight. These results suggest that M. tuberculata do not attempt to reduce the cost of terrestrial locomotion and call production through biomechanical linkage. They also suggest that the pattern of linkage seen when bats are in flight is not universal and that energetic savings cannot necessarily be explained by contraction of muscles associated with the downstroke alone.

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“…However, adult rats (Riley & Rosenzweig, 1957), shrews (Gould, Negus, & Novick, 1964), and tenrees (Gould, 1965) ean leam to use eeholoeated information when all other relevant sensory information is eliminated and the Ss are given numerous reinforeed trials. raken colleetively, these results suggest that the ability of small mammals to use echoloeated information is comparable to that of man (Supa, Cotzin, & Dallenbach, 1944).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%