Browsing by Subject "Animal Communication"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Baby on board: olfactory cues indicate pregnancy and fetal sex in a non-human primate.
    (Biol Lett, 2015-02) Crawford, JC; Drea, CM
    Olfactory cues play an integral, albeit underappreciated, role in mediating vertebrate social and reproductive behaviour. These cues fluctuate with the signaller's hormonal condition, coincident with and informative about relevant aspects of its reproductive state, such as pubertal onset, change in season and, in females, timing of ovulation. Although pregnancy dramatically alters a female's endocrine profiles, which can be further influenced by fetal sex, the relationship between gestation and olfactory cues is poorly understood. We therefore examined the effects of pregnancy and fetal sex on volatile genital secretions in the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), a strepsirrhine primate possessing complex olfactory mechanisms of reproductive signalling. While pregnant, dams altered and dampened their expression of volatile chemicals, with compound richness being particularly reduced in dams bearing sons. These changes were comparable in magnitude with other, published chemical differences among lemurs that are salient to conspecifics. Such olfactory 'signatures' of pregnancy may help guide social interactions, potentially promoting mother-infant recognition, reducing intragroup conflict or counteracting behavioural mechanisms of paternity confusion; cues that also advertise fetal sex may additionally facilitate differential sex allocation.
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    Bottlenose dolphins exchange signature whistles when meeting at sea.
    (Proc Biol Sci, 2012-07-07) Quick, Nicola J; Janik, Vincent M
    The bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, is one of very few animals that, through vocal learning, can invent novel acoustic signals and copy whistles of conspecifics. Furthermore, receivers can extract identity information from the invented part of whistles. In captivity, dolphins use such signature whistles while separated from the rest of their group. However, little is known about how they use them at sea. If signature whistles are the main vehicle to transmit identity information, then dolphins should exchange these whistles in contexts where groups or individuals join. We used passive acoustic localization during focal boat follows to observe signature whistle use in the wild. We found that stereotypic whistle exchanges occurred primarily when groups of dolphins met and joined at sea. A sequence analysis verified that most of the whistles used during joins were signature whistles. Whistle matching or copying was not observed in any of the joins. The data show that signature whistle exchanges are a significant part of a greeting sequence that allows dolphins to identify conspecifics when encountering them in the wild.
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    Considering the role of social dynamics and positional behavior in gestural communication research.
    (Am J Primatol, 2013-09) Smith, Lindsey W; Delgado, Roberto A
    While the hominin fossil record cannot inform us on either the presence or extent of social and cognitive abilities that may have paved the way for the emergence of language, studying non-vocal communication among our closest living relatives, the African apes, may provide valuable information about how language originated. Although much has been learned from gestural signaling in non-human primates, we have not yet established how and why gestural repertoires vary across species, what factors influence this variation, and how knowledge of these differences can contribute to an understanding of gestural signaling's contribution to language evolution. In this paper, we review arguments surrounding the theory that language evolved from gestural signaling and suggest some important factors to consider when conducting comparative studies of gestural communication among African apes. Specifically, we propose that social dynamics and positional behavior are critical components that shape the frequency and nature of gestural signaling across species and we argue that an understanding of these factors could shed light on how gestural communication may have been the basis of human language. We outline predictions for the influence of these factors on the frequencies and types of gestures used across the African apes and highlight the importance of including these factors in future gestural communication research with primates.
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    Decoding an olfactory mechanism of kin recognition and inbreeding avoidance in a primate.
    (BMC Evol Biol, 2009-12-03) Boulet, Marylène; Charpentier, Marie JE; Drea, Christine M
    BACKGROUND: Like other vertebrates, primates recognize their relatives, primarily to minimize inbreeding, but also to facilitate nepotism. Although associative, social learning is typically credited for discrimination of familiar kin, discrimination of unfamiliar kin remains unexplained. As sex-biased dispersal in long-lived species cannot consistently prevent encounters between unfamiliar kin, inbreeding remains a threat and mechanisms to avoid it beg explanation. Using a molecular approach that combined analyses of biochemical and microsatellite markers in 17 female and 19 male ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), we describe odor-gene covariance to establish the feasibility of olfactory-mediated kin recognition. RESULTS: Despite derivation from different genital glands, labial and scrotal secretions shared about 170 of their respective 338 and 203 semiochemicals. In addition, these semiochemicals encoded information about genetic relatedness within and between the sexes. Although the sexes showed opposite seasonal patterns in signal complexity, the odor profiles of related individuals (whether same-sex or mixed-sex dyads) converged most strongly in the competitive breeding season. Thus, a strong, mutual olfactory signal of genetic relatedness appeared specifically when such information would be crucial for preventing inbreeding. That weaker signals of genetic relatedness might exist year round could provide a mechanism to explain nepotism between unfamiliar kin. CONCLUSION: We suggest that signal convergence between the sexes may reflect strong selective pressures on kin recognition, whereas signal convergence within the sexes may arise as its by-product or function independently to prevent competition between unfamiliar relatives. The link between an individual's genome and its olfactory signals could be mediated by biosynthetic pathways producing polymorphic semiochemicals or by carrier proteins modifying the individual bouquet of olfactory cues. In conclusion, we unveil a possible olfactory mechanism of kin recognition that has specific relevance to understanding inbreeding avoidance and nepotistic behavior observed in free-ranging primates, and broader relevance to understanding the mechanisms of vertebrate olfactory communication.
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    Listening in.
    (Elife, 2015-10-21) Jarvis, Erich D
    Zebra finches communicate with each other in ways that are more complex than previously thought.
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    Molecular mapping of movement-associated areas in the avian brain: a motor theory for vocal learning origin.
    (PLoS One, 2008-03-12) Feenders, Gesa; Liedvogel, Miriam; Rivas, Miriam; Zapka, Manuela; Horita, Haruhito; Hara, Erina; Wada, Kazuhiro; Mouritsen, Henrik; Jarvis, Erich D
    Vocal learning is a critical behavioral substrate for spoken human language. It is a rare trait found in three distantly related groups of birds-songbirds, hummingbirds, and parrots. These avian groups have remarkably similar systems of cerebral vocal nuclei for the control of learned vocalizations that are not found in their more closely related vocal non-learning relatives. These findings led to the hypothesis that brain pathways for vocal learning in different groups evolved independently from a common ancestor but under pre-existing constraints. Here, we suggest one constraint, a pre-existing system for movement control. Using behavioral molecular mapping, we discovered that in songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds, all cerebral vocal learning nuclei are adjacent to discrete brain areas active during limb and body movements. Similar to the relationships between vocal nuclei activation and singing, activation in the adjacent areas correlated with the amount of movement performed and was independent of auditory and visual input. These same movement-associated brain areas were also present in female songbirds that do not learn vocalizations and have atrophied cerebral vocal nuclei, and in ring doves that are vocal non-learners and do not have cerebral vocal nuclei. A compilation of previous neural tracing experiments in songbirds suggests that the movement-associated areas are connected in a network that is in parallel with the adjacent vocal learning system. This study is the first global mapping that we are aware for movement-associated areas of the avian cerebrum and it indicates that brain systems that control vocal learning in distantly related birds are directly adjacent to brain systems involved in movement control. Based upon these findings, we propose a motor theory for the origin of vocal learning, this being that the brain areas specialized for vocal learning in vocal learners evolved as a specialization of a pre-existing motor pathway that controls movement.
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    Mouse vocal communication system: are ultrasounds learned or innate?
    (Brain Lang, 2013-01) Arriaga, Gustavo; Jarvis, Erich D
    Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) are often used as behavioral readouts of internal states, to measure effects of social and pharmacological manipulations, and for behavioral phenotyping of mouse models for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. However, little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms of rodent USV production. Here we discuss the available data to assess whether male mouse song behavior and the supporting brain circuits resemble those of known vocal non-learning or vocal learning species. Recent neurobiology studies have demonstrated that the mouse USV brain system includes motor cortex and striatal regions, and that the vocal motor cortex sends a direct sparse projection to the brainstem vocal motor nucleus ambiguous, a projection previously thought be unique to humans among mammals. Recent behavioral studies have reported opposing conclusions on mouse vocal plasticity, including vocal ontogeny changes in USVs over early development that might not be explained by innate maturation processes, evidence for and against a role for auditory feedback in developing and maintaining normal mouse USVs, and evidence for and against limited vocal imitation of song pitch. To reconcile these findings, we suggest that the trait of vocal learning may not be dichotomous but encompass a broad spectrum of behavioral and neural traits we call the continuum hypothesis, and that mice possess some of the traits associated with a capacity for limited vocal learning.
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    Social context-dependent singing-regulated dopamine.
    (J Neurosci, 2006-08-30) Sasaki, Aya; Sotnikova, Tatyana D; Gainetdinov, Raul R; Jarvis, Erich D
    Like the mammalian striatum, the songbird striatum receives dense dopaminergic input from the midbrain ventral tegmental area-substantia nigra pars compacta complex. The songbird striatum also contains a unique vocal nucleus, Area X, which has been implicated in song learning and social context-dependent song production. Area X shows increased neural firing and activity-dependent gene expression when birds sing, and the level of activation is higher and more variable during undirected singing relative to directed singing to other birds. Here we show in the first report of in vivo microdialysis in awake, behaving songbirds that singing is associated with increased dopamine levels in Area X. Dopamine levels are significantly higher with directed relative to undirected singing. This social context-dependent difference in dopamine levels requires the dopamine transporter, because local in vivo blockade of the transporter caused dopamine levels for undirected singing to increase to levels similar to that for directed singing, eliminating the social context-dependent difference. The increase in dopamine is presumably depolarization and vesicular release dependent, because adding of high K+ increased and removal of Ca2+ increased and decreased extracellular DA levels. Our findings implicate DA and molecules that control DA kinetics in singing behavior and social context-dependent brain function.
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    The roar of the lionfishes Pterois volitans and Pterois miles.
    (J Fish Biol, 2017-06) Beattie, M; Nowacek, DP; Bogdanoff, AK; Akins, L; Morris, JA
    Through the analysis of acoustic recordings of captive Pterois spp., this study has confirmed anecdotal evidence that Pterois spp. are soniferous. This report of sound production in Pterois spp. provides the foundation for future research into their specific acoustic capabilities including sound production mechanisms, the role of social behaviour and applied techniques for controlling and monitoring invasive Pterois spp. in the tropical and temperate western Atlantic Ocean.
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    Threshold assessment, categorical perception, and the evolution of reliable signaling.
    (Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, 2020-12) Peniston, James H; Green, Patrick A; Zipple, Matthew N; Nowicki, Stephen
    Animals often use assessment signals to communicate information about their quality to a variety of receivers, including potential mates, competitors, and predators. But what maintains reliable signaling and prevents signalers from signaling a better quality than they actually have? Previous work has shown that reliable signaling can be maintained if signalers pay fitness costs for signaling at different intensities and these costs are greater for lower quality individuals than higher quality ones. Models supporting this idea typically assume that continuous variation in signal intensity is perceived as such by receivers. In many organisms, however, receivers have threshold responses to signals, in which they respond to a signal if it is above a threshold value and do not respond if the signal is below the threshold value. Here, we use both analytical and individual-based models to investigate how such threshold responses affect the reliability of assessment signals. We show that reliable signaling systems can break down when receivers have an invariant threshold response, but reliable signaling can be rescued if there is variation among receivers in the location of their threshold boundary. Our models provide an important step toward understanding signal evolution when receivers have threshold responses to continuous signal variation.