TY - JOUR

T1 - The role of neighbour proximity and context on meerkat close call acoustic structure

AU - Driscoll, Isabel

AU - Briefer, Elodie

AU - Manser, Marta B.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - In many animal species, including humans, producer arousal state is considered a key modifier of vocal production and structure. Encoding of affective arousal state in vocalizations provides a rapid means of information transfer about an individual's internal state, potentially reflecting its response to external stimuli. Meerkats, Suricata suricatta, are a highly vocal species. They use close calls to maintain group cohesion while foraging. Due to their patchily distributed prey, motivation for neighbour proximity varies; being too close results in competition (increased arousal–aggression), while too far results in risks of losing the group and predation threats (increased arousal–fear). We investigated how neighbour proximity and behavioural, social and environmental context influence the acoustic structure of wild meerkats’ close calls. We found little effect of neighbour distance on the majority of the acoustic parameters measured, although close calls were longer and had a higher fundamental frequency when in very close proximity. However, there was a consistent effect of the behavioural context in which the call was given across several acoustic parameters. Overall, meerkat close calls potentially convey information on current behaviour, highlighting a potential mechanism in the diversification of acoustic signals.

AB - In many animal species, including humans, producer arousal state is considered a key modifier of vocal production and structure. Encoding of affective arousal state in vocalizations provides a rapid means of information transfer about an individual's internal state, potentially reflecting its response to external stimuli. Meerkats, Suricata suricatta, are a highly vocal species. They use close calls to maintain group cohesion while foraging. Due to their patchily distributed prey, motivation for neighbour proximity varies; being too close results in competition (increased arousal–aggression), while too far results in risks of losing the group and predation threats (increased arousal–fear). We investigated how neighbour proximity and behavioural, social and environmental context influence the acoustic structure of wild meerkats’ close calls. We found little effect of neighbour distance on the majority of the acoustic parameters measured, although close calls were longer and had a higher fundamental frequency when in very close proximity. However, there was a consistent effect of the behavioural context in which the call was given across several acoustic parameters. Overall, meerkat close calls potentially convey information on current behaviour, highlighting a potential mechanism in the diversification of acoustic signals.

KW - animal emotion

KW - contact call

KW - signal diversity

KW - vocalization

U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.03.021

DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.03.021

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85191345545

VL - 212

SP - 113

EP - 126

JO - Animal Behaviour

JF - Animal Behaviour

SN - 0003-3472

ER -