Playback experiments were conducted with a pack of captive Iberian wolves. We used a habituation–discrimination paradigm to test wolves’ ability to discriminate howls based on: (1) artificial manipulation of acoustic parameters of howls and (2) the identity of howling individuals. Manipulations in fundamental frequency and frequency modulation within the natural range of intra-individual howl variation did not elicit dishabituation, while manipulation of modulation pattern did produce dishabituation. With respect to identity, across trials wolves habituated to unfamiliar howls by a familiar wolf (i.e., no direct contact, but previous exposure to howls by this wolf), but not to unfamiliar howls from unfamiliar wolves (i.e., no direct contact and no previous exposure to howls by these wolves). Modulation pattern seems to be an important bioacoustic feature for individual recognition. Overall, our results provide the first experimental evidence that wolves can discriminate individuals based on the acoustic structure of their howls.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Bee M.A., Gerhardt H.C.C. (2001). Neighbour-stranger discrimination by territorial male bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana): II. Perceptual basis. — Anim. Behav. 62: 1129-1140.
Blumstein D.T., Daniel J.C. (2004). Yellow-bellied marmots discriminate between the alarm calls of individuals and are more responsive to calls from juveniles. — Anim. Behav. 68: 1257-1265.
Boitani L. (2000). Action plan for the conservation of the wolves (Canis lupus) in Europe, Nature and environment, No. 113. — Council of Europe, Strasbourg.
Bradbury J.W., Vehrencamp S.L. (2010). Principles of animal communication, 2nd edn. — Sinnauer Associates, Sutherland, MA.
Charlton B.D., Huang Y., Swaisgood R.R. (2009). Vocal discrimination of potential mates by female giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). — Biol. Lett. 5: 597-599.
Charrier I., Mathevon N., Jouventin P. (2003). Vocal signature recognition of mothers by fur seal pups. — Anim. Behav. 65: 543-550.
Demma D.J., Mech L.D. (2009). Wolf use of summer territory in Northeastern Minnesota. — J. Wildl. Managem. 73: 380-384.
Falls J.B. (1982). Individual recognition by sounds in birds. — In: Acoustic communication in birds, Vol. 2 ( Kroodsma D.H., Miller E.H., eds). Academic Press, New York, NY, p. 237-278.
Fitch W.T., Kelley P. (2000). Perception of vocal tract resonances by whooping cranes Grus americana. — Ethology 106: 559-574.
Friedman S. (1972). Habituation and recovery of visual response in the alert human newborn. — J. Exp. Child Psychol. 13: 339-349.
Frommolt K.-H.H., Goltsman M.E., Macdonald D.W. (2003). Barking foxes, Alopex lagopus: field experiments in individual recognition in a territorial mammal. — Anim. Behav. 65: 509-518.
Gazzola A., Avanzinelli E., Mauri L., Scandura M., Apollonio M. (2002). Temporal changes of howling in south European wolf packs. — Ital. J. Zool. 69: 157-161.
Goodmann P.A., Klinghammer E., Willard J. (2002). Wolf ethogram (Revised 2002). — Eckhard H. Hess Institute of Ethology, Battle Ground, IN.
Harrington F.H. (1986). Timber wolf howling playback studies: discrimination of pup from adult howls. — Anim. Behav. 34: 1575-1577.
Harrington F.H. (1987). Agressive howling in wolves. — Anim. Behav. 35: 1575-1577.
Harrington F.H., Asa C.S. (2003). Wolf communication. — In: Wolves: behavior, ecology, and conservation ( Mech L.D., Boitani L., eds). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, p. 66-103.
Harrington F.H., Mech L.D. (1978). Wolf vocalization. — In: Wolf and man: evolution in parallel ( Hall R.L., Sharp H.S., eds). Academic Press, New York, NY, p. 109-132.
Harrington F.H., Mech L.D. (1979). Wolf howling and its role in territory maintenance. — Behaviour 68: 207-249.
Kazial K.A., Kenny T.L., Burnett S.C. (2008). Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) recognize individual identity of conspecifics using sonar calls. — Ethology 114: 469-478.
Knörnschild M., Feifel M., Kalko E.K.V. (2013). Mother-offspring recognition in the bat Carollia perspicillata. — Anim. Behav. 86: 941-948.
Kroodsma D.E., Byers B.E., Goodale E., Johnson S., Liu W.-C.C. (2001). Pseudoreplication in playback experiments, revisited a decade later. — Anim. Behav. 61: 1029-1033.
LaDage L., Ferkin M. (2006). Male leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) can discriminate between two familiar females. — Behaviour 143: 1033-1049.
Lehner P.N. (1996). Handbook of ethological methods. — Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
McComb K., Moss C., Sayialel S., Baker L. (2000). Unusually extensive networks of vocal recognition in African elephants. — Anim. Behav. 59: 1103-1109.
McGregor P.K. (2000). Playback experiments: design and analysis. — Acta Ethol. 3: 3-8.
Mech L.D. (1970). The wolf: the ecology and behavior of an endangered species. — The Natural History Press, Garden City, NY.
Mech L.D., Boitani L. (2003). Wolf social ecology. — In: Wolves: behavior, ecology, and conservation ( Mech L.D., Boitani L., eds). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, p. 1-34.
Molles L.E., Vehrencamp S.L. (2001). Neighbour recognition by resident males in the banded wren, Thryothorus pleurostictus, a tropical songbird with high song type sharing. — Anim. Behav. 61: 119-127.
Molnár C., Pongrácz P., Faragó T., Dóka A., Miklosi A. (2009). Dogs discriminate between barks: the effect of context and identity of the caller. — Behav. Proc. 82: 198-201.
Packard J.M. (2003). Wolf behavior: reproductive, social, and intelligent. — In: Wolves: behavior, ecology, and conservation ( Mech L.D., Boitani L., eds). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, p. 35-65.
Palacios V., Mech L.D. (2011). Problems with studying wolf predation on small prey in summer via global positioning system collars. — Eur. J. Wildlife Res. 57: 149-156.
Palacios V., Font E., Márquez R. (2007). Iberian wolf howls: acoustic structure, individual variation, and a comparison with North American populations. — J. Mammal. 88: 606-613.
R Development Core Team (2010). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. — R Development Core Team, Vienna.
Raemaekers J.J., Raemaekers P.M. (1985). Field playback of loud calls to gibbons (Hylobates lar): territorial, sex-specific and species-specific responses. — Anim. Behav. 33: 481-493.
Reby D., Hewison M., Izquierdo M., Pepin D. (2001). Red deer (Cervus elaphus) hinds discriminate between the roars of their current harem-holder stag and those of neighbouring stags. — Ethology 107: 951-959.
Rendall D., Rodman P.S., Emond R.E. (1996). Vocal recognition of individuals and kin in free-ranging rhesus monkeys. — Anim. Behav. 51: 1007-1015.
Searby A., Jouventin P. (2003). Mother-lamb acoustic recognition in sheep: a frequency coding. — Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 270: 1765-1771.
Searby A., Jouventin P., Aubin T. (2004). Acoustic recognition in macaroni penguins: an original signature system. — Anim. Behav. 67: 615-625.
Searcy W.A. (1989). Pseudoreplication, external validity and the design of playback experiments. — Anim. Behav. 38: 715-717.
Shalter M.D., Fentress J.C., Young G.W. (1977). Determinants of response of wolf pups to auditory signals. — Behaviour 60: 98-114.
Sharpe L.L., Hill A., Cherry M.I. (2013). Individual recognition in a wild cooperative mammal using contact calls. — Anim. Behav. 86: 893-900.
Shettleworth S.J. (2010). Cognition, evolution, and behavior, 2nd edn. — Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
Slabbekoorn H., ten Cate C. (1998). Perceptual tuning to frequency characteristics of territorial signals in collared doves. — Anim. Behav. 56: 847-857.
Sousa-Lima R.S., Paglia A.P., Da Fonseca G.A.B. (2002). Signature information and individual recognition in the isolation calls of Amazonian manatees, Trichechus inunguis (Mammalia: Sirenia). — Anim. Behav. 63: 301-310.
Thom M.D., Hurst J.L. (2004). Individual recognition by scent. — Ann. Zool. Fenn. 41: 765-787.
Tibbetts E.A., Dale J. (2007). Individual recognition: it is good to be different. — Trends Ecol. Evol. 22: 529-537.
Tibbetts E.A., Sheehan M.J., Dale J. (2008). A testable definition of individual recognition. — Trends Ecol. Evol. 23: 356.
Tooze Z.J., Harrington F.H., Fentress J.C. (1990). Individually distinct vocalizations in timber wolves, Canis lupus. — Anim. Behav. 40: 723-730.
Weiss D.J., Hauser M.D. (2002). Perception of harmonics in the combination long call of cottontop tamarins, Saguinus oedipus. — Anim. Behav. 64: 415-426.
Wilson D.R., Mennill D.J. (2010). Black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus, can use individually distinctive songs to discriminate among conspecifics. — Anim. Behav. 79: 1267-1275.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 618 | 165 | 3 |
Full Text Views | 248 | 24 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 68 | 31 | 0 |
Playback experiments were conducted with a pack of captive Iberian wolves. We used a habituation–discrimination paradigm to test wolves’ ability to discriminate howls based on: (1) artificial manipulation of acoustic parameters of howls and (2) the identity of howling individuals. Manipulations in fundamental frequency and frequency modulation within the natural range of intra-individual howl variation did not elicit dishabituation, while manipulation of modulation pattern did produce dishabituation. With respect to identity, across trials wolves habituated to unfamiliar howls by a familiar wolf (i.e., no direct contact, but previous exposure to howls by this wolf), but not to unfamiliar howls from unfamiliar wolves (i.e., no direct contact and no previous exposure to howls by these wolves). Modulation pattern seems to be an important bioacoustic feature for individual recognition. Overall, our results provide the first experimental evidence that wolves can discriminate individuals based on the acoustic structure of their howls.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 618 | 165 | 3 |
Full Text Views | 248 | 24 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 68 | 31 | 0 |