Fundamental frequency is key to response of female deer to juvenile distress calls

Teichroeb, Lisa J.; Riede, Tobias; Kotrba, Radim; Lingle, Susan

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2012.09.011

Cited by 27 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Eavesdropping entails gaining information from calls intended for others, can provide detailed information on danger, and helps structure animal communities by promoting mixed-species groups [1][2][3][4]. In some cases, individuals respond to unfamiliar heterospecific alarm calls similarly to conspecific calls because they share similar acoustic features (e.g., [7][8][9][10][11][12]). However, alarm calls are extremely variable among species, so community-wide eavesdropping probably requires learning (e.g., [13][14][15][16][17]).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Wild Birds Learn to Eavesdrop on Heterospecific Alarm Calls

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many vertebrates gain critical information about danger by eavesdropping on other species' alarm calls [1], providing an excellent context in which to study information flow among species in animal communities [2-4]. A fundamental but unresolved question is how individuals recognize other species' alarm calls. Although individuals respond to heterospecific calls that are acoustically similar to their own, alarms vary greatly among species, and eavesdropping probably also requires learning [1]. Surprisingly, however, we lack studies demonstrating such learning. Here, we show experimentally that individual wild superb fairy-wrens, Malurus cyaneus, can learn to recognize previously unfamiliar alarm calls. We trained individuals by broadcasting unfamiliar sounds while simultaneously presenting gliding predatory birds. Fairy-wrens in the experiment originally ignored these sounds, but most fled in response to the sounds after two days' training. The learned response was not due to increased responsiveness in general or to sensitization following repeated exposure and was independent of sound structure. Learning can therefore help explain the taxonomic diversity of eavesdropping and the refining of behavior to suit the local community. In combination with previous work on unfamiliar predator recognition (e.g., [5]), our results imply rapid spread of anti-predator behavior within wild populations and suggest methods for training captive-bred animals before release into the wild [6]. A remaining challenge is to assess the importance and consequences of direct association of unfamiliar sounds with predators, compared with social learning-such as associating unfamiliar sounds with conspecific alarms.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Wild Birds Learn to Eavesdrop on Heterospecific Alarm Calls

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Distress vocalizations of newborns from different species were obtained from other researchers (marmot, fur seal, sea lion, bat), from websites (human, domestic cat and dog [www.freesound.org and www.audiosparx.com]), and by recording or coordinating the recording of juveniles in free-ranging (mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, bighorn sheep) or captive (eland, red deer, fallow deer, sika deer) populations of ungulates (see Teichroeb et al 2013 for details of recording). Pinnipeds and bats were recorded when the mother and offspring were separated, with the sounds identified as attraction or isolation calls.…”

Section: Playback Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent report shows that mule deer and white-tailed deer mothers respond to distress calls of conspecific infants as long as the F0 remains within a certain species-specific range, hereafter the "frequency response range" (Teichroeb et al 2013). Females of both species respond strongly to conspecific distress calls as long as the mean F0 falls within approximately ‫%05ע‬ of the mean F0 of a conspecific infant's distress call, which translates to approximately 400-1,400 Hz for mule deer and 300-800 Hz for whitetailed deer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Species can vary in their ability to produce sounds of a certain frequency and duration because of energetic constraints associated with body size and metabolism (Gillooly and Ophir 2010). Divergence in traits such as F0 may also arise to reduce recognition errors (Teichroeb et al 2013) or to maximize transmission across particular habitat conditions (Hauser 1997). To test whether vocalizations contain shared elements that are capable of eliciting a response across species, one first needs to control for species-specific traits, an approach previously applied to adult distress calls of birds from different taxonomic orders (Aubin 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Females of both species respond strongly to conspecific distress calls as long as the mean F0 falls within approximately ‫%05ע‬ of the mean F0 of a conspecific infant's distress call, which translates to approximately 400-1,400 Hz for mule deer and 300-800 Hz for whitetailed deer. Mule deer and white-tailed deer are sister species, and females of both species will respond to distress calls made by each other's fawns as long as the F0 falls, or is manipulated to fall, within the frequency response range of their own species (Teichroeb et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Deer Mothers Are Sensitive to Infant Distress Vocalizations of Diverse Mammalian Species

Lingle

Riede

2014

The American Naturalist

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Acoustic structure, behavioral context, and caregiver responses to infant distress vocalizations (cries) are similar across mammals, including humans. Are these similarities enough for animals to respond to distress vocalizations of taxonomically and ecologically distant species? We show that mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) mothers approach a speaker playing distress vocalizations of infant marmots (Marmota flaviventris), seals (Neophoca cinerea and Arctocephalus tropicalis), domestic cats (Felis catus), bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans), humans (Homo sapiens), and other mammals if the fundamental frequency (F0) falls or is manipulated to fall within the frequency range in which deer respond to young of their own species. They did not approach to predator sounds or to control sounds having the same F0 but a different structure. Our results suggest that acoustic traits of infant distress vocalizations that are essential for a response by caregivers, and a caregiver's sensitivity to these acoustic traits, may be shared across diverse mammals.

show abstract

Flawed mothering or infant signaling? The effects of deficient acoustic cues on ovine maternal response

Morton

Hinch

Small

et al. 2018

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The neonate distress cry, which displays a similar acoustic structure across a range of mammalian species, is highly effective in attracting, even compelling, parental care. However, if this cry is defective, as found in human and rodent neonates with poor neurobehavioral function, is the signal less enticing? Using playback recordings of a ewe's own co-twins as stimuli in a two choice test, we compared the preference of each sheep dam for acoustic features of lamb distress calls to assess the impact of signal quality on maternal response. The results of this study indicate that lamb vocalizations with acoustic parameters reflecting poor vocal fold engagement and arousal were less likely to be preferred by their dam. Additionally, these calls were associated with delayed vocal initiation and poor infant survival behavior suggestive of subtle cognitive deficit; and support the possibility that, as in deer and rodents, ovine vocalizations within a specific fundamental frequency range may well be a trigger for optimal maternal behavior. This research has important implications for understanding failed maternal-young interactions in ungulate and other species, and for verifying standardization of infant stimuli used in maternal behavior studies.

show abstract

Fundamental frequency is key to response of female deer to juvenile distress calls

Cited by 27 publications

References 38 publications

Wild Birds Learn to Eavesdrop on Heterospecific Alarm Calls

Wild Birds Learn to Eavesdrop on Heterospecific Alarm Calls

Deer Mothers Are Sensitive to Infant Distress Vocalizations of Diverse Mammalian Species

Flawed mothering or infant signaling? The effects of deficient acoustic cues on ovine maternal response

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About