Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology ( IF 2.3 ) Pub Date : 2022-06-29 , DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03193-7 Allison R. Lau, Maryam Zafar, Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Dena J. Clink
Abstract
Social animals use complex communication to maintain social bonds. For pair-bonded animals in particular, acoustic communication is vital to reinforcing bonds and coordinating various behaviors within the bonded pair. Pair consistency in duets can be influenced by the time since pairing and may serve multiple functions; two of note are pair-bond reinforcement and advertisement of the relationship to conspecifics. Here, we assess the potential for pair consistency and plasticity in timing of vocalizations in 50 wild Northern gray gibbons (Hylobates funereus) from seven sites in Sabah, Malaysia. Specifically, we looked at the timing of the female gibbon’s great call and the subsequent male coda, the male duet contribution that follows the female great call (coda timing), and the duration of the male coda (coda duration). We found that for coda timing, pair-level variance was the most important source of variance, as opposed to intra-individual or inter-site variance. In contrast, for coda duration, individual-level variance was the most important source of variance. We also found that variability in the duration of female calls was not correlated with the timing or duration of male codas. Our results are consistent with previous work showing pair consistency in other paired, duetting species and contribute to the growing body of literature indicating that primate vocalizations—rather than being inflexible and innate—have a high degree of plasticity. Future work should aim to understand both how gibbons coordinate their duets and what impact this coordination may have on quality of the pair’s bond.
Significance statement
Duetting is seen across a diverse range of taxa, but in only a few nonhuman primates including indris, tarsiers, titi monkeys, and gibbons. Duetting in primates co-occurs with a suite of behavioral traits that include territoriality and pair bonding. Although the functions of primate duets remain a topic of debate, it is clear that duets provide information to neighboring conspecifics about the calling animal(s). Our results indicate that gibbon duets may contain information about pair identity. Investigating how duration of the pair bond influences either pair-level signatures or consistency of male timing will be an important next step in understanding the proximate influences that shape gibbon duet structure.
中文翻译:
调查一对生活小猿二重唱贡献的时间协调
摘要
社会性动物使用复杂的交流来维持社会纽带。特别是对于成对结合的动物,声音交流对于加强结合和协调结合对内的各种行为至关重要。二重奏中的配对一致性会受到配对时间的影响,并且可能具有多种功能;值得注意的两个是对键的加强和与同种动物的关系的广告。在这里,我们评估了 50 只野生北方灰长臂猿 ( Hylobates funereus ) 发声时间的配对一致性和可塑性的潜力。) 来自马来西亚沙巴的七个地点。具体来说,我们查看了雌性长臂猿的大呼和随后的雄性尾声的时间、雌性大呼之后的雄性二重奏贡献(尾声时间)以及雄性尾声的持续时间(尾声持续时间)。我们发现,对于尾声时间,配对水平的差异是最重要的差异来源,而不是个体内或站点间的差异。相反,对于尾声持续时间,个体水平的差异是最重要的差异来源。我们还发现,女性呼叫持续时间的可变性与男性尾声的时间或持续时间无关。我们的结果与之前的工作一致,显示其他配对的配对一致性,二重唱物种并促成越来越多的文献表明灵长类动物的发声——而不是僵硬和天生的——具有高度的可塑性。未来的工作应该旨在了解长臂猿如何协调他们的二重奏以及这种协调可能对这对结合的质量产生什么影响。
意义陈述
在多种类群中都可以看到二重奏,但仅在少数非人类灵长类动物中出现,包括 indris、眼镜猴、长臂猿和长臂猿。灵长类动物的二重奏与一系列行为特征同时发生,包括地域性和配对结合。尽管灵长类二重唱的功能仍然是一个争论的话题,但很明显,二重唱向邻近的同类提供了有关召唤动物的信息。我们的结果表明长臂猿二重唱可能包含有关配对身份的信息。研究配对键的持续时间如何影响配对水平的特征或雄性时间的一致性将是了解形成长臂猿二重奏结构的直接影响的重要下一步。