ABSTRACT Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii), the largest extant carnivorous marsupials, often congregate at carcasses when feeding, where they produce vocalisations onomatopoetically termed ‘arffs’. Our aims were to quantify and determine: 1) arff acoustic structure, 2) if arffs are associated with feeding success, agonistic behaviours, and/or cooperation, c) if arffs encode identity. We observed 26 captive adults and measured the acoustic structure of 298 arff calls from 10 devils. Arffs are low amplitude, short duration, low frequency calls with tonal and harsh forms. During group-feeding events, increased utterances of arffs were associated with increased individual feeding success, decreased agonistic behaviours and increased cooperation (n = 16 devils). Arffs increased when devils were tugging in synchrony on a large food item, apparently to reduce it into manageable portions. Thus, arffs may play a role in this form of by-product mutualism. We classified 90–91% of arffs to the correct individual (nine acoustic characteristics and PCA; n = 9 devils), indicating that arffs encode identity. Devil Facial Tumour Disease is transmitted through bite wounds from bitten to the biter. Tumours that form inside the mouths of infected devils, eventually causing death by starvation, may prevent devils from uttering recognisable arffs, resulting in them being bitten, thereby transmitting the disease.

中文翻译：

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塔斯马尼亚恶魔的召唤编码了身份并减少了激动行为

摘要 袋獾 (Sarcophilus harrisii) 是现存最大的食肉有袋动物，在觅食时经常聚集在尸体旁，在那里它们发出拟声词，被称为“arffs”。我们的目标是量化和确定：1) arff 声学结构，2) arffs 是否与喂养成功、激动行为和/或合作有关，c) arffs 是否编码身份。我们观察了 26 只圈养成虫，并测量了 10 只魔鬼的 298 次 arff 呼叫的声学结构。Arffs 是低振幅、短持续时间、具有音调和刺耳形式的低频呼叫。在群体喂养事件中，arffs 的表达增加与个体喂养成功率的增加、对抗行为的减少和合作的增加（n = 16 恶魔）有关。当恶魔同步拉扯大型食物时，Arffs 会增加，显然是为了将其减少为可管理的部分。因此，arffs 可能在这种形式的副产品共生中发挥作用。我们将 90-91% 的 arffs 归类为正确的个体（九个声学特征和 PCA；n = 9 魔鬼），表明 arffs 编码身份。魔鬼面部肿瘤疾病通过咬伤从咬伤传播到咬伤者。在被感染的恶魔嘴里形成的肿瘤，最终导致饥饿死亡，可能会阻止恶魔发出可识别的声音，导致它们被咬伤，从而传播疾病。魔鬼面部肿瘤疾病通过咬伤从咬伤传播到咬伤者。在被感染的恶魔嘴里形成的肿瘤，最终导致饥饿死亡，可能会阻止恶魔发出可识别的声音，导致它们被咬伤，从而传播疾病。魔鬼面部肿瘤疾病通过咬伤从咬伤传播到咬伤者。在被感染的恶魔嘴里形成的肿瘤，最终导致饥饿死亡，可能会阻止恶魔发出可识别的声音，导致它们被咬伤，从而传播疾病。