Food-associated calls correlate with food preferences in cotton-top tamarins

doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80145-9

Animal Behaviour

Volume 42, Issue 6, December 1991, Pages 931-937

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80145-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

Food-associated calls in some birds and primates have been described as representational signals, with external reference to food objects. However, alternative interpretations suggest that these calls might also communicate an animal's preference for food or predict its subsequent behaviour. The vocal behaviour of cotton-top tamarins, Saguinus oedipus, was investigated in food and non-food related conditions. Recordings were made from nine adult cotton-top tamarins during presentation of a variety of foods. Two types of cells (C-chirps and D-chirps) occurred at a much higher rate than they did when no food was present or when animals were given non-food manipulable objects. Each of the two call types was associated with a different food-associated behavioural context. Great variation occurred within and between individuals in the number of calls elicited by different food types. Two-choice food-preference trials of six different foods presented individual tamarins with each combination of food pairs. All individuals had a transitive food preference hierarchy and each individual had a different preference hierarchy. Correlations between food preference rank and rate of calling were positive for eight of the nine animals, and the overall correlation of food preference with calling rate was significant suggesting that cotton-top tamarins use their calls to communicate honestly about their own food preferences.

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An ongoing debate in animal behaviour research is whether food calls function to cooperatively inform others or provide the caller with competitive advantages. When feeding, chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, produce two types of call: context-specific, close-range ‘rough grunts’ and context-general, long-range ‘pant hoots’. We investigated this dual signalling behaviour by wild male chimpanzees that were either actively joining others or passively being joined in food trees, considering the effects of the audience composition and the type of food encountered. For arriving individuals, we found that pant hoot production was best explained by the absence of socially important individuals (i.e. social bond partners and/or high-ranking males), suggesting that callers were cooperatively informing them about food availability, probably to strengthen social relationships. In contrast, rough grunts were mostly produced by low-ranking individuals, suggesting they were part of competitive interactions to avoid aggression. For individuals already in a tree, we found that both rough grunt and pant hoot production were most common in low-ranking individuals reacting to the arrival of high-ranking males and there was no significant effect of the presence, or absence, of social bond partners. We discuss these patterns and conclude that, when chimpanzees enter a food tree, their vocal behaviour functions to mediate both cooperative and competitive interactions.
The impact of noise from open-cast mining on Atlantic forest biophony
2015, Biological Conservation
Citation Excerpt :
Other factors than noise can contribute to a low species richness, abundance and diversity in noisy environments; for example, quality of habitat, vegetation characteristics, air and chemical pollution, and soil vibration among others (Summers et al., 2011). Nevertheless, owing to the importance of acoustic communication, which animals use to locate food (Elowson et al., 1991; Slabbekoorn and Ripmeester, 2008) and reproductive partners (Patricelli et al., 2002), to escape from predators (Greig-Smith, 1980; Chan et al., 2010), and to defend resources (Zuberbuehler et al., 1997), just to name some major functions, it is expected that noise will affect species richness, abundance and community composition (Tucker et al., 2014). Higher acoustic activity at the site close to the mine during the day could also be explained by anthropogenic noise.
The sound produced by human-made machinery (technophony) is known to exert negative effects on animal communication and well-being. Mining is an important economic activity in Brazil, which is often conducted close to forested areas and produces a diffuse noise. In this study, the impact of such noise on biophony (biological sounds) was investigated by characterizing and comparing the soundscapes of two different sites (close versus distant from an open-cast mine) in the same Atlantic forest fragment, matched for habitat type, in Southeast Brazil. Six automated recorders were installed at each site and were programmed to record continuously during seven consecutive days every two months between October 2012 and August 2013. Technophony and biophony values were derived from power spectra and the Acoustic Complexity Index (ACI). Mann–Whitney U tests demonstrated that the biophony exhibited a switch in daily dynamics, resulting in a statistically higher biophony during the day at the site close to the mine and a higher biophony during the night at the site far from the mine. Potential species richness was found to be higher at the site that was distant from the mine. The species composition and spectral characteristics of the calls were also found to differ between the two sites. These results provide the first investigation of potential disturbances caused by mining noise on biophony, demonstrating that it can cause alterations in the temporal dynamics and daily patterns of animal sounds, which are symptoms of altered behaviors or variations in community-species composition. These findings suggest remarkable insights that should be taken into consideration in the regulating of the use of natural areas for mining.
With whom to dine? Ravens' responses to food-associated calls depend on individual characteristics of the caller
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Upon discovering food, common ravens, Corvus corax, produce far-reaching ‘haa’ calls or yells, which are individually distinct and signal food availability to conspecifics. Here, we investigated whether ravens respond differently to ‘haa’ calls of known and unknown individuals. In a paired playback design, we tested responses to ‘haa’ call sequences in a group containing individually marked free-ranging ravens. We simultaneously played call sequences of a male and a female raven in two different locations and varied familiarity (known or unknown to the local group). Ravens responded strongest to dyads containing familiar females, performing more scan flights above and by perching in trees near the respective speaker. Acoustic analysis of the calls used as stimuli showed no sex-, age- or familiarity-specific acoustic cues, but highly significant classification results at the individual level. Taken together, our findings indicate that ravens respond to individual characteristics in ‘haa’ calls, and choose whom to approach for feeding, i.e. join social allies and avoid dominant conspecifics. This is the first study to investigate responses to ‘haa’ calls under natural conditions in a wild population containing individually marked ravens.
Food-associated vocalizations in mammals and birds: What do these calls really mean?
2012, Animal Behaviour
Citation Excerpt :
For the majority of species, this additional information about the feeding opportunity appears to be conveyed via changes in call rate, rather than changes in the acoustic structure of the calls themselves. For example, tufted capuchins and chimpanzees increase the call rate in response to greater quantities of foods (Hauser et al. 1993; Di Bitetti 2005), while male fowl (Marler et al. 1986), cottontop tamarins, Saguinus oedipus (Elowson et al. 1991), red-bellied tamarins, Saguinus labiatus (Caine et al. 1995) and spider monkeys (Chapman & Lefebvre 1990) increase their call rates in response to both greater quantities of food and foods of higher quality. Changes in call rate have also been shown to covary with other features relating to the caller’s perception of the feeding event, including food divisibility (Hauser et al. 1993), food accessibility (Bugnyar et al. 2001), the anticipation of food acquisition (Gros-Louis 2006), as well as the caller’s hunger level (Hauser & Marler 1993a; Wauters et al. 1999).
Alarm calls and food-associated calls from a diverse range of species are said to be functionally referential, in that receivers can use these sounds to predict environmental events in the absence of other contextual cues. The evolutionary driver for referential alarm calls has been hypothesized to be the mutually incompatible escape behaviours required to avoid different predators. However, some species produce acoustically distinctive and referential alarm calls but do not show highly referential abilities in other domains. We examined whether food-associated calls in many species are likely to be functionally referential and whether they specifically communicate about characteristic features of food. Food-associated calls are given in both feeding and nonfeeding contexts, and the types of information contained vary greatly. Most species do not produce unique calls for different foods; more common is variation in the call rate, which suggests that call structure reflects the callers’ internal state rather than the food type. We also examined the ultimate function of food-associated calls to evaluate whether there is a unifying explanation for the evolution of functionally referential food calls. Based on the literature, there does not appear to be a unifying function. In conclusion, while functionally referential food-associated calls have been convincingly demonstrated in a few species, it is more common for these vocalizations to reflect arousal rather than additionally providing specific referential information about the feeding event. At this point, there is no compelling hypothesis to explain the evolution of functionally referential food-associated calls. Given the multiple functions of food-associated signals, we should not expect a unitary explanation.
Food Signals
2010, Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Volume-Three Set
Food-associated calls are found in species from birds through primates. Questions have been raised about whether such calls provide honest information about food presence and quality or are simply expressions of elation or the ability to share food resources. Food call production is often sensitive to the presence of an audience, and individuals may be punished for failing to call when discovered. Both the structure and usage of food signals vary over development. Adults in some species use food calls to attract attention of their young to food resources; adults also change the rate and context of food calling as young develop increasing skill and competence in foraging behavior.
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^*: Present address: Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, U.S.A.

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Animal Behaviour

Abstract

References (19)

Manipulating foraging group size: spider monkey food calls at fruiting trees

Anim. Behav.

How vervet monkeys perceive their grunts: field playback experiments

Anim. Behav.

Assessment of meaning and detection of unreliable signals by vervet monkeys

Anim. Behav.

Toque macaque food calls: semantic communication concerning food distribution in the environment

Anim. Behav.

Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) screams: representational signalling in the recruitment of agonistic aid

Anim. Behav.

Food calling in the domestic fowl, Gallus gallus: the role of external referents and deception

Anim. Behav.

Vocal communication in the domestic chicken: I. Does a sender communicate information about the quality of a food to a receiver?

Anim. Behav.

Vocal communication in the domestic chicken. II. Is a sender sensitive to the presence and nature of a receiver

Anim. Behav.

Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free ranging primate

Anim. Behav.

Cited by (86)

Male chimpanzees communicate to mediate competition and cooperation during feeding

The impact of noise from open-cast mining on Atlantic forest biophony

With whom to dine? Ravens' responses to food-associated calls depend on individual characteristics of the caller

Food-associated vocalizations in mammals and birds: What do these calls really mean?

Food Signals

Animal Calling Behaviours and What This Can Tell Us about the Effects of Changing Soundscapes