Sensory biases underlie sex differences in tamarin long call structure

Miller, Cory T.; Scarl, Judith C.; Hauser, Marc D.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.10.028

Cited by 29 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The temporal parameters of the phees of juvenile common marmosets (about 20 weeks of age) also have higher values in males than in females, though there are no sexual differences in calls of infants of 5 weeks of age (Pistorio et al 2006). In contrast, in cotton-top tamarins, the whistle duration of the combination long call appears to be significantly shorter in males than in females (Miller et al 2004); this is also the case in the trillphees of juvenile common marmosets (Pistorio et al 2006). It might be interesting to note that this reversal appears to happen in New World monkey species in which sexual size dimorphism is often weak.…”

Section: Evidencementioning

confidence: 69%

Do age- and sex-related variations reliably reflect body size in non-human primate vocalizations? A review

2007

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In vocal communication, the mechanisms of sound production are well understood. The length of the vocal folds determines the minimum fundamental frequency, while the size and the shape of the vocal tract affect its filtering characteristics and hence, the resonant frequencies. Both measures-vocal fold length and vocal tract length-are related to body size and therefore, acoustic features are expected to vary with body size. Because direct measures of body size are difficult to obtain from free-ranging animals, age and sex have often been used as proxies. We surveyed studies which included direct measures of size or weight, and also studies in which only age and/or sex differences were examined. The main purpose was to examine whether age- and sex-related variations in acoustic features meet the predictions generated from our knowledge about sound production. Our survey revealed that compared to smaller animals, larger animals utter longer calls, with a lower fundamental frequency, with smaller formant dispersion, and with the energy concentrated in lower frequencies. Age and sex reliably reflect the influence of body size on acoustic features when gross size differences are examined. However, within age- and sex classes, this relationship may break down. In addition to body size, other factors such as internal state or social context may also influence the structure of vocal signals and highlight the richness of information in calls that is potentially available to listeners.

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Section: Evidencementioning

confidence: 69%

Do age- and sex-related variations reliably reflect body size in non-human primate vocalizations? A review

2007

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“…Therefore, a comparison of acoustic features is possible across age classes and between sexes. The calls are often uttered in bouts, as in many other species, by individuals that are apparently at risk of losing contact with the rest of the group or that are separated from particular individuals (Byrne 1981;Waser 1982;Masataka and Symmes 1986;Masataka 1989;Boinski 1991;Norcross and Newman 1993;Cheney et al 1996;Schrader and Todt 1993;Hammerschmidt et al 2000;Rendall et al 2000;Fischer et al 2000Fischer et al , 2001aFischer et al ,b, 2002Miller et al 2004). Clear calls of baboons are tonal and harmonically rich ( Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Age- and Sex-Related Variations in Clear Calls of Papio ursinus

Hammerschmidt

Seyfarth

et al. 2007

Int J Primatol

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Changes in vocalizations during ontogeny can in principle be related to three factors: growth, maturation, and experience, i.e., learning. While learning is a prerequisite for the proper development of speech, it hardly appears to play a role in the development of the species-typical vocal behavior of nonhuman primates. Nonetheless, subjects of different age and sex often exhibit prominent variation in the structure of their vocalizations. We investigated ontogenetic changes and the emergence of sex-related differences in the acoustic structure of Chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) clear calls. We recorded the vocalizations emitted by individuals separated from the rest of the group or from particular individuals, in a group of baboons in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, Botswana. We analyzed calls from 58 baboons of both sexes and all age classes. While the structure of the call appeared to be fixed from birth, call duration, the distribution of energy, and the fundamental frequency of the calls, including modulation, varied with age and sex of the caller. We discuss how body size may explain the variations. Some of the variables exhibited a different profile of variation with age between the sexes, with significant differences becoming apparent around puberty. The emergence of these sexual differences may be explained by the onset of sexual dimorphism in body size and mass. To which degree the hormonal status contributes to variation in the calling remains to be investigated.

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“…Second, we test whether the sex of either the sender or the receiver influences how birds perceive convergent and divergent stimuli. Many animals discriminate between similar vocalizations produced by males and females ( Vicario et al 2001;Miller et al 2004), and some call or song matching mediates sex-specific interactions such as male-male competition ( Vehrencamp 2001) or mate affiliation (Moravec et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex-specific responses to vocal convergence and divergence of contact calls in orange-fronted conures (Aratinga canicularis)

Balsby

Scarl

2008

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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We investigated the signal function of vocal imitation of contact calls in orange-fronted conures (OFCs; Aratinga canicularis) in Costa Rica. OFCs live in dynamic social systems with frequent flock fusions and fissions. Exchanges of contact calls precede these flock changes. During call exchanges, the similarity between the contact calls of different individuals may either increase (converge) or decrease (diverge). We conducted a playback experiment on wild-caught captive birds in which we simulated convergent, divergent and no-change interaction series with male and female contact calls. OFCs responded differently to convergent and divergent series of contact calls, but only when we considered the sex of the test birds. Males called most in response to convergent series, whereas females demonstrated high calling rates in response to both convergent and divergent interactions. Both sexes responded most to contact calls from the opposite sex, but overall females produced more calls and had shorter latencies to calling than males. These results demonstrate that OFCs can discriminate between male and female contact calls and that subtle changes in contact call structure during interactions have signal function. The stronger overall response to convergent series suggests that convergence of contact calls is an affiliative signal.

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Sensory biases underlie sex differences in tamarin long call structure

Cited by 29 publications

References 29 publications

Do age- and sex-related variations reliably reflect body size in non-human primate vocalizations? A review

Do age- and sex-related variations reliably reflect body size in non-human primate vocalizations? A review

Age- and Sex-Related Variations in Clear Calls of Papio ursinus

Sex-specific responses to vocal convergence and divergence of contact calls in orange-fronted conures (Aratinga canicularis)

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