Nasal and Oral Calls in Juvenile Goitred Gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) and their Potential to Encode Sex and Identity

Abstract

Like many other gazelles, goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) are capable of calling either through the nose or through the open mouth. In particular, juvenile goitred gazelles provide a convenient model for contrasting acoustic characteristics of nasal and oral calls, and for estimating their communicative functions. In this study, acoustic variables (formants, fundamental frequency, duration and power quartiles) of 480 oral and 483 nasal calls, recorded from 20 (9 male, 11 female) individually identified captive juvenile goitred gazelles, were examined for their potential to encode sex and identity of the caller. Discriminant function analysis revealed an equally high potential of oral and nasal calls to encode sex, whereas encoding the individual identity was significantly more accurate for oral calls. Sex was encoded exclusively in formants, whilst individual identity was encoded in a combination of all investigated variables. No correlation was found between body mass and values of any acoustic variable. Analyses controlling for age and sex revealed higher average values for all investigated variables of oral calls compared to nasal calls. We discuss the results in relation to the source‐filter theory, mother–offspring communication and production mechanisms of nasal and oral calls in mammals.

The postnatal ontogeny of the sexually dimorphic vocal apparatus in goitred gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa)

“…In a comparative perspective and consistent with previous findings, the larynx of goitred gazelles is prominently enlarged relative to body size, at any age and in either sex (Güldenstaedt, ; Efremova et al, ; Frey et al, ; Volodin et al, ). A sexual dimorphism of larynx size was lacking in neonates, but developed in the course of adolescence and was most evident in adults.…”

“…The selective advantage of the moderate descent in both sexes is not yet clear but we hypothesize that it is related to the length changes of the pharynx and a concomitant higher mobility of the larynx assisting in food transport during regurgitation and swallowing of the cud (Supporting Information, Video 1). In contrast to humans, in which the position of the larynx is more or less static, the larynx in goitred gazelles is mobile in both sexes at any age (Efremova et al, ; Volodin et al, ; Supporting information, Video 2), but particularly so in adult males during production of their rutting calls (Blank, ; Frey et al, ; Blank et al, ).…”

“…Previous works on age‐related differences in nasal and oral vtls, neck circumferences and on the anatomy of the larynx and vocal folds were confined to the analysis of a few juvenile and adolescent goitred gazelles (Efremova et al, ; Frey et al, ; Volodin et al, ) but included a preliminary histological investigation of the large connective‐tissue vocal pads attached to the vocal folds (Efremova et al, ). The present study investigates the postnatal ontogeny of the vocal apparatus in both sexes and three age classes of goitred gazelles.…”

Vocal correlates of sender-identity and arousal in the isolation calls of domestic kitten (Felis silvestris catus)

“…Whereas linguistic aspects of human speech are unique to humans, non-verbal cues comparable to paralinguistic cues were also found in the vocalisations of animals of at least 11 mammalian orders (for indexical cues e.g., humans: [3,4], non-human primates: [5,6], Scandentia: [7]; Artiodactyla: [8,9]; Perissodactyla: [10,11]; Carnivora: [12,13]; Cetaceae: [14]; Chiroptera: [15,16]; Rodentia: [17,18]; Proboscidae: [19,20]; Sirenia: [21]; Hyracoidea: [22]; for prosodic cues see review [23-25]). This suggests a pre-human origin of paralinguistic cues due to homologies in the central nervous system and the mammalian vocal production system.…”

Vocal Tract Morphology Determines Species-Specific Features in Vocal Signals of Lemurs (Eulemur)

“…Nasal vocalizations are common in mammal species in various social and environmental circumstances (Efremova et al 2011;Fitch 2006;Frey et al 2007;Volodin et al 2011). Primates use nasal calls, and they are particularly common in forest environments (Gautier and Gautier-Hion 1982).…”