Isolation calls of the bat Saccopteryx bilineata encode multiple messages

Fernandez, Ahana Aurora; Knörnschild, Mirjam

doi:10.12966/abc.04.05.2017

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In most cases, pup IC bouts triggered the IC production of adult males. Considering these findings, we hypothesize that ICs of adult males may serve as guidance for the formation of the group signature in pup ICs, which is observed after the onset of flight in pups (Knörnschild et al, 2012;Fernandez and Knörnschild, 2017). Thus, call convergence toward an already existing IC group signature could occur which would render vocal group signatures stable over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…In the case of ICs we focused our analyses on the end syllables because former studies found that both the individual and the group signature are encoded in the end syllables (Knörnschild and von Helversen, 2008;Knörnschild et al, 2012;Fernandez and Knörnschild, 2017). For each syllable type or part ( Figure 1C), we measured several temporal and spectral parameters (see Supplementary Material).…”

Section: Acoustic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Like all bat pups studied to date, S. bilineata pups produce isolation calls (ICs; Figure 1C) to solicit maternal care (Knörnschild and von Helversen, 2008). Pup ICs encode information about individual identity, age and social group affiliation (Knörnschild and von Helversen, 2008;Knörnschild et al, 2012;Fernandez and Knörnschild, 2017). During ontogeny, ICs of pups from the same social group become progressively more similar to one another, i.e., develop a group signature based on social modification (Knörnschild et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pup Directed Vocalizations of Adult Females and Males in a Vocal Learning Bat

Fernandez

Knörnschild

2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Social feedback plays an important role in human language development and in the vocal ontogeny of non-human animals. A special form of vocal feedback in humans, infant-directed speech-or motherese-facilitates language learning and is socially beneficial by increasing attention and arousal in the child. It is characterized by high pitch, expanded intonation contours and slower speech tempo. Furthermore, the vocal timbre (i.e., "color" of voice) of motherese differs from the timbre of adult-directed speech. In animals, pup-directed vocalizations are very common, especially in females. But so far there is hardly any research on whether there is a similar phenomenon as motherese in animal vocalizations. The greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata, is a vocal production learner with a large vocal repertoire that is acquired during ontogeny. We compared acoustic features between female pup-directed and adultdirected vocalizations and demonstrated that they differed in timbre and peak frequency. Furthermore, we described pup-directed vocalizations of adult males. During the ontogenetic period when pups' isolation calls (ICs) (used to solicit maternal care) are converging toward each other to form a group signature, adult males also produce ICs. Pups' ICs are acoustically more similar to those of males from the same social group than to other males. In conclusion, our novel findings indicate that parentoffspring communication in bats is more complex and multifaceted than previously thought, with female pup-directed vocalizations reminiscent of human motherese and male pup-directed vocalizations that may facilitate the transmission of a vocal signature across generations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Acoustic Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pup Directed Vocalizations of Adult Females and Males in a Vocal Learning Bat

Fernandez

Knörnschild

2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…Acoustic communication is one of the main channels for information transfer used by bats ( Chaverri et al, 2018 ). In addition to echolocation (i.e., for navigation and foraging), different bat species possess diverse vocal repertoires and specific vocalization types which encode various information types such as emotional state ( Bastian and Schmidt, 2008 ; Walter and Schnitzler, 2019 ) and identity information such as social group affiliation ( Wilkinson and Boughman, 1998 ; Knörnschild et al, 2012 ), age ( Jones et al, 1991 ; Fernandez and Knörnschild, 2017 ), and individual signatures ( Carter et al, 2008 ; Chaverri et al, 2010 ). Vision and olfaction, the other two main sensory modalities in bats, are less well understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Bats Have the Necessary Prerequisites for Symbolic Communication?

Knörnschild

Fernandez

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Training animals such as apes, gray parrots, or dolphins that communicate via arbitrary symbols with humans has revealed astonishing mental capacities that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Albeit bats have not yet been trained to communicate via symbols with humans, we are convinced that some species, especially captive Pteropodid bats (“flying foxes”), show the potential to master this cognitive task. Here, we briefly review what is known about bats’ cognitive skills that constitute relevant prerequisites for symbolic communication with humans. We focus on social learning in general, trainability by humans, associative learning from humans, imitation, vocal production learning and usage learning, and social knowledge. Moreover, we highlight potential training paradigms that could be used to elicit simple “symbolic” bat-human communication, i.e., training bats to select arbitrary symbols on a touchscreen to elicit a desired behavior of the human caregiver. Touchscreen-proficient bats could participate in cognition research, e.g., to study their numerical competence or categorical perception, to further elucidate how nonhuman animals learn and perceive the world.

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“…Eckenweber & Knörnschild, ). In addition, bats’ social vocalizations can encode personal information about the signaller, for instance species identity, regional origin, group affiliation or age (Knörnschild et al., ; Chaverri, Gillam, & Kunz, ; Fernandez & Knörnschild, ). Vocal signatures encoding individual identity are the most thoroughly studied vocal signature type in bats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocal information and the navigation of social decisions in bats: Is social complexity linked to vocal complexity?

2019

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To make adaptive behavioural decisions, animals must acquire and process information from their natural and social environment. Reducing uncertainty regarding the actions and goals of conspecifics is especially important for group‐living animals. Bats are often highly gregarious and use versatile social vocalizations to mediate social interactions. These social vocalizations encode a substantial amount of ecologically relevant information, such as individual identity, sex and kin. Decoding this information enables receivers to make informed decisions on resource allocation, mate choice, territorial defence and cooperation. Erroneous decisions on such crucial aspects of bats’ social behaviour can be costly due to reduced reproductive success or survival. Increasingly complex social interactions require social vocalizations encoding more information which, in turn, could facilitate the evolution of even more complex social interactions. Evidence for the positive correlation of social and vocal complexity is available for several taxa but is currently very limited for bats. We conducted a phylogenetic comparative analysis to link the information content encoded in bats’ social vocalizations to the complexity of their social lives, that is the level of uncertainty associated with assessing individual identity. We focused on three different vocalization types encoding individual signatures (pup isolation calls, adult contact calls and male‐specific vocalizations). Information content in bit (i.e. the number of binary decisions necessary to discriminate among N individuals) was used as an estimate of vocal complexity; relevant social group size (i.e. the number of conspecifics whose identity a receiver could confuse) was used as an estimate of social complexity. Our phylogenetic comparative analysis detected a positive relationship between the information content of vocalizations and the respective relevant social group size. This relationship suggests a positive feedback loop between social and vocal complexity for bat vocalizations and highlights the importance of vocal information for negotiating fitness‐relevant social decisions of bats. In conclusion, our work suggests that social complexity drives vocal complexity in bats. Future studies on other hitherto understudied taxa are necessary to establish a comprehensive theory on the multi‐faceted co‐evolution of sociality and communication in the animal kingdom. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Isolation calls of the bat Saccopteryx bilineata encode multiple messages

Cited by 14 publications

References 42 publications

Pup Directed Vocalizations of Adult Females and Males in a Vocal Learning Bat

Pup Directed Vocalizations of Adult Females and Males in a Vocal Learning Bat

Do Bats Have the Necessary Prerequisites for Symbolic Communication?

Vocal information and the navigation of social decisions in bats: Is social complexity linked to vocal complexity?

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