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Pinelli C, Scandurra A, Giacoma C, Di Lucrezia A, D'Aniello B. In "Tone" with dogs: exploring canine musicality. Anim Cogn 2024; 27:38. [PMID: 38750339 PMCID: PMC11096221 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-024-01875-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
This study investigates the musical perception skills of dogs through playback experiments. Dogs were trained to distinguish between two different target locations based on a sequence of four ascending or descending notes. A total of 16 dogs of different breeds, age, and sex, but all of them with at least basic training, were recruited for the study. Dogs received training from their respective owners in a suitable environment within their familiar home settings. The training sequence consisted of notes [Do-Mi-Sol#-Do (C7-E7-G7#-C8; Hz frequency: 2093, 2639, 3322, 4186)] digitally generated as pure sinusoidal tones. The training protocol comprised 3 sequential training levels, with each level consisting of 4 sessions with a minimum of 10 trials per session. In the test phase, the sequence was transposed to evaluate whether dogs used relative pitch when identifying the sequences. A correct response by the dog was recorded as 1, while an incorrect response, occurring when the dog chose the opposite zone of the bowl, was marked as 0. Statistical analyses were performed using a binomial test. Among 16 dogs, only two consistently performed above the chance level, demonstrating the ability to recognize relative pitch, even with transposed sequences. This study suggests that dogs may have the ability to attend to relative pitch, a critical aspect of human musicality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Pinelli
- Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technologies, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, 81100, Italy
| | - Anna Scandurra
- Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80126, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Torino, Torino, 10123, Italy
| | - Alfredo Di Lucrezia
- Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80126, Italy
| | - Biagio D'Aniello
- Department of Biology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80126, Italy.
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2
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De Gregorio C, Valente D, Ferrario V, Carugati F, Cristiano W, Raimondi T, Torti V, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Who you live with and what you duet for: a review of the function of primate duets in relation to their social organization. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2024; 210:281-294. [PMID: 38285176 PMCID: PMC10995044 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-023-01689-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Duets are one of the most fascinating displays in animal vocal communication, where two animals fine-tune the timing of their emissions to create a coordinated signal. Duetting behavior is widespread in the animal kingdom and is present in insects, birds, and mammals. Duets are essential to regulate activities within and between social units. Few studies assessed the functions of these vocal emissions experimentally, and for many species, there is still no consensus on what duets are used for. Here, we reviewed the literature on the function of duets in non-human primates, investigating a possible link between the social organization of the species and the function of its duetting behavior. In primates and birds, social conditions characterized by higher promiscuity might relate to the emergence of duetting behavior. We considered both quantitative and qualitative studies, which led us to hypothesize that the shift in the social organization from pair living to a mixed social organization might have led to the emergence of mate defense and mate guarding as critical functions of duetting behavior. Territory/resource ownership and defense functions are more critical in obligate pair-living species. Finally, we encourage future experimental research on this topic to allow the formulation of empirically testable predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy.
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Valeria Ferrario
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Walter Cristiano
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
- Environment and Health Department, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
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Zanoli A, Raimondi T, De Gregorio C, Valente D, Carugati F, Torti V, Friard O, Miaretsoa L, Giacoma C, Gamba M. "The song remains the same": not really! Vocal flexibility in the song of the indris. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:2009-2021. [PMID: 37792125 PMCID: PMC10769932 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01826-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2022] [Revised: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/05/2023]
Abstract
In studying communicative signals, we can think of flexibility as a necessary correlate of creativity. Flexibility enables animals to find practical solutions and appropriate behaviors in mutable situations. In this study, we aimed to quantify the degree of flexibility in the songs of indris (Indri indri), the only singing lemur, using three different metrics: Jaro Distance, normalized diversity, and entropy. We hypothesized that the degree and the co-variation of the flexibility of indris singing together would vary according to their status and sex. We found that dominant females were more flexible than dominant males when concatenating elements into strings (element concatenation). The number of different elements in a song contribution normalized by the contribution length (contribution diversity) of dominant individuals positively co-varied for seven duetting pairs. Non-dominant individuals were more variable in element concatenation than dominant individuals, and they were more diverse in phrase type than dominant females. Independently from sex and status, individual contributions did not differ in entropy (a measure of the predictability of contributions). These results corroborate previous findings regarding the dimorphism by sex and by status of individual contributions to songs. Thus, they shed light on the presence and expression of flexibility in the behavior of a non-human primate species. Indeed, they potentially show an effect of social features in shaping vocal flexibility, which underlies many communication systems, including human language. We speculate that this degree of flexibility may account for creativity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Zanoli
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy.
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy.
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
- Parco Natura Viva Garda Zoological Park, Bussolengo, Verona, Italy
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
| | - Olivier Friard
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
- Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche Sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Turin, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Turin, Italy
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Cristiano W, Raimondi T, Valente D, De Gregorio C, Torti V, Ferrario V, Carugati F, Miaretsoa L, Mancini L, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Singing more, singing harsher: occurrence of nonlinear phenomena in a primate' song. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:1661-1673. [PMID: 37458893 PMCID: PMC10442282 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01809-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Nonlinear phenomena (NLP) in animal vocalizations arise from irregularities in the oscillation of the vocal folds. Various non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been put forward to explain the occurrence of NLP, from adaptive to physiological ones. Non-human primates often display NLP in their vocalizations, yet the communicative role of these features, if any, is still unclear. We here investigate the occurrence of NLP in the song of a singing primate, the indri (Indri indri), testing for the effect of sex, age, season, and duration of the vocal display on their emission. Our results show that NLP occurrence in indri depends on phonation, i.e., the cumulative duration of all the units emitted by an individual, and that NLP have higher probability to be emitted in the later stages of the song, probably due to the fatigue indris may experience while singing. Furthermore, NLP happen earlier in the vocal display of adult females than in that of the adult males, and this is probably due to the fact that fatigue occurs earlier in the former because of a greater contribution within the song. Our findings suggest, therefore, that indris may be subjected to physiological constraints during the singing process which may impair the production of harmonic sounds. However, indris may still benefit from emitting NLP by strengthening the loudness of their signals for better advertising their presence to the neighboring conspecific groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walter Cristiano
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy.
- Ecosystems and Health Unit, Environment and Health Department, Italian National Institute of Health, 00161, Rome, Italy.
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Valeria Ferrario
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), II M 78 BIS Antsakaviro, B.P 779, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Laura Mancini
- Ecosystems and Health Unit, Environment and Health Department, Italian National Institute of Health, 00161, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, 10123, Turin, Italy
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Raimondi T, Di Panfilo G, Pasquali M, Zarantonello M, Favaro L, Savini T, Gamba M, Ravignani A. Isochrony and rhythmic interaction in ape duetting. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222244. [PMID: 36629119 PMCID: PMC9832542 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
How did rhythm originate in humans, and other species? One cross-cultural universal, frequently found in human music, is isochrony: when note onsets repeat regularly like the ticking of a clock. Another universal consists in synchrony (e.g. when individuals coordinate their notes so that they are sung at the same time). An approach to biomusicology focuses on similarities and differences across species, trying to build phylogenies of musical traits. Here we test for the presence of, and a link between, isochrony and synchrony in a non-human animal. We focus on the songs of one of the few singing primates, the lar gibbon (Hylobates lar), extracting temporal features from their solo songs and duets. We show that another ape exhibits one rhythmic feature at the core of human musicality: isochrony. We show that an enhanced call rate overall boosts isochrony, suggesting that respiratory physiological constraints play a role in determining the song's rhythmic structure. However, call rate alone cannot explain the flexible isochrony we witness. Isochrony is plastic and modulated depending on the context of emission: gibbons are more isochronous when duetting than singing solo. We present evidence for rhythmic interaction: we find statistical causality between one individual's note onsets and the co-singer's onsets, and a higher than chance degree of synchrony in the duets. Finally, we find a sex-specific trade-off between individual isochrony and synchrony. Gibbon's plasticity for isochrony and rhythmic overlap may suggest a potential shared selective pressure for interactive vocal displays in singing primates. This pressure may have convergently shaped human and gibbon musicality while acting on a common neural primate substrate. Beyond humans, singing primates are promising models to understand how music and, specifically, a sense of rhythm originated in the primate phylogeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Giovanni Di Panfilo
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Matteo Pasquali
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Martina Zarantonello
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Livio Favaro
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Tommaso Savini
- Conservation Ecology Program, King Mongkut University of Technology Thonburi, School of Bioresources and Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Andrea Ravignani
- Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands,Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark
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6
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Ravaglia D, Ferrario V, De Gregorio C, Carugati F, Raimondi T, Cristiano W, Torti V, Hardenberg AV, Ratsimbazafy J, Valente D, Giacoma C, Gamba M. There You Are! Automated Detection of Indris' Songs on Features Extracted from Passive Acoustic Recordings. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13. [PMID: 36670780 DOI: 10.3390/ani13020241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The growing concern for the ongoing biodiversity loss drives researchers towards practical and large-scale automated systems to monitor wild animal populations. Primates, with most species threatened by extinction, face substantial risks. We focused on the vocal activity of the indri (Indri indri) recorded in Maromizaha Forest (Madagascar) from 2019 to 2021 via passive acoustics, a method increasingly used for monitoring activities in different environments. We first used indris’ songs, loud distinctive vocal sequences, to detect the species’ presence. We processed the raw data (66,443 10-min recordings) and extracted acoustic features based on the third-octave band system. We then analysed the features extracted from three datasets, divided according to sampling year, site, and recorder type, with a convolutional neural network that was able to generalise to recording sites and previously unsampled periods via data augmentation and transfer learning. For the three datasets, our network detected the song presence with high accuracy (>90%) and recall (>80%) values. Once provided the model with the time and day of recording, the high-performance values ensured that the classification process could accurately depict both daily and annual habits of indris‘ singing pattern, critical information to optimise field data collection. Overall, using this easy-to-implement species-specific detection workflow as a preprocessing method allows researchers to reduce the time dedicated to manual classification.
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Valente D, Torti V, De Gregorio C, Gamba M, Carugati F, Miaretsoa L, Pavoni F, Raimondi T, Ratsimbazafy J, Giacoma C, Norscia I. First evidence of contagious yawning in a wild lemur. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2023; 77:11. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03284-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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8
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De Gregorio C, Zanoli A, Carugati F, Raimondi T, Valente D, Torti V, Miaretsoa L, Rajaonson A, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Parent-offspring turn-taking dynamics influence parents’ song structure and elaboration in a singing primate. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.906322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Parent-offspring interactions are essential to interpret animal social evolution and behavior, but their role in mediating acoustic communication in animals that interact vocally is still unclear. Increasing evidence shows that primate vocal communication is way more flexible than previously assumed, and research on this topic can provide further information on how the social environment shaped vocal plasticity during the evolution of the Primate order. Indris communicate through elaborated vocal emissions, usually termed songs. Songs are interactive vocal displays in which all members of the family group alternate their emissions, taking turns during chorusing events. We aimed to understand whether specific rules regulate the turn-taking of different group members and investigate the flexibility of indris’ vocal behavior when co-singing with their offspring. We found that social factors can influence the turn-taking organization in a chorus, as offspring were more likely to drop out from the parents’ duet than join in, and we speculate that overlap might signal competition by members of the same-sex. The duet between the reproductive pair was the most common type of singing organization, followed by a duet between mothers and sons and the triadic interaction between mother, father, and son. Interestingly, parents’ solo singing seems to stimulate offspring to vocalize, and we also found that mothers and fathers simplify, at least in part, song elaboration when chorusing with offspring. Our results indicate that indris can perform short-time adjustments to the number of co-emitters and their identity: our approach is advantageous in highlighting the multilevel influences on primate vocal flexibility. Moreover, it provides evidence that some aspects of our vocal plasticity were already present in the lemur lineage.
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Girard-Buttoz C, Zaccarella E, Bortolato T, Friederici AD, Wittig RM, Crockford C. Chimpanzees produce diverse vocal sequences with ordered and recombinatorial properties. Commun Biol 2022; 5:410. [PMID: 35577891 PMCID: PMC9110424 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03350-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The origins of human language remains a major question in evolutionary science. Unique to human language is the capacity to flexibly recombine a limited sound set into words and hierarchical sequences, generating endlessly new sentences. In contrast, sequence production of other animals appears limited, stunting meaning generation potential. However, studies have rarely quantified flexibility and structure of vocal sequence production across the whole repertoire. Here, we used such an approach to examine the structure of vocal sequences in chimpanzees, known to combine calls used singly into longer sequences. Focusing on the structure of vocal sequences, we analysed 4826 recordings of 46 wild adult chimpanzees from Taï National Park. Chimpanzees produced 390 unique vocal sequences. Most vocal units emitted singly were also emitted in two-unit sequences (bigrams), which in turn were embedded into three-unit sequences (trigrams). Bigrams showed positional and transitional regularities within trigrams with certain bigrams predictably occurring in either head or tail positions in trigrams, and predictably co-occurring with specific other units. From a purely structural perspective, the capacity to organize single units into structured sequences offers a versatile system potentially suitable for expansive meaning generation. Further research must show to what extent these structural sequences signal predictable meanings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Girard-Buttoz
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France. .,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. .,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Emiliano Zaccarella
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tatiana Bortolato
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France.,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive Sciences, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Roman M Wittig
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France.,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Catherine Crockford
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, 67 Boulevard Pinel, 69675 BRON, Lyon, France. .,Taï Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientifique, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. .,Department of Human Behaviour, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
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Valente D, Miaretsoa L, Anania A, Costa F, Mascaro A, Raimondi T, De Gregorio C, Torti V, Friard O, Ratsimbazafy J, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Comparative Analysis of the Vocal Repertoires of the Indri (Indri indri) and the Diademed Sifaka (Propithecus diadema). INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00287-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
AbstractStrepsirrhine vocalisations are extraordinarily diverse and cross-species comparisons are needed to explore how this variability evolved. We contributed to the investigation of primate acoustic diversity by comparing the vocal repertoire of two sympatric lemur species, Propithecus diadema and Indri indri. These diurnal species belong to the same taxonomic family and have similar activity patterns but different social structures. These features make them excellent candidates for an investigation of the phylogenetic, environmental, and social influence on primate vocal behavior. We recorded 3 P. diadema groups in 2014 and 2016. From 1,872 recordings we selected and assigned 3814 calls to 9 a priori call types, on the basis of their acoustic structure. We implemented a reproducible technique performing an acoustic feature extraction relying on frequency bins, t-SNE data reduction, and a hard-clustering analysis. We first quantified the vocal repertoire of P. diadema, finding consistent results for the 9 putatively identified call types. When comparing this repertoire with a previously published repertoire of I. indri, we found highly species-specific repertoires, with only 2% of the calls misclassified by species identity. The loud calls of the two species were very distinct, while the low-frequency calls were more similar. Our results pinpoint the role of phylogenetic history, social and environmental features on the evolution of communicative systems and contribute to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary roots of primate vocal differentiation. We conclude by arguing that standardized and reproducible techniques, like the one we employed, allow robust comparisons and should be prioritized in the future.
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Adret P. Developmental Plasticity in Primate Coordinated Song: Parallels and Divergences With Duetting Songbirds. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.862196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Homeothermic animals (birds and mammals) are prime model systems for investigating the developmental plasticity and neural mechanisms of vocal duetting, a cooperative acoustic signal that prevails in family-living and pair-bonded species including humans. This review focuses on the nature of this trait and its nurturing during ontogeny and extending into adulthood. I begin by outlining the underpinning concepts of duet codes and pair-specific answering rules as used by birds to develop their learned coordinated song, driven by a complex interaction between self-generated and socially mediated auditory feedback. The more tractable avian model of duetting helps identify research gaps in singing primates that also use duetting as a type of intraspecific vocal interaction. Nevertheless, it has become clear that primate coordinated song—whether overlapping or antiphonal—is subject to some degree of vocal flexibility. This is reflected in the ability of lesser apes, titi monkeys, tarsiers, and lemurs to adjust the structure and timing of their calls through (1) social influence, (2) coordinated duetting both before and after mating, (3) the repair of vocal mistakes, (4) the production of heterosexual song early in life, (5) vocal accommodation in call rhythm, (6) conditioning, and (7) innovation. Furthermore, experimental work on the neural underpinnings of avian and mammalian antiphonal duets point to a hierarchical (cortico-subcortical) control mechanism that regulates, via inhibition, the temporal segregation of rapid vocal exchanges. I discuss some weaknesses in this growing field of research and highlight prospective avenues for future investigation.
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Markolf M, Zinowsky M, Keller JK, Borys J, Cillov A, Schülke O. Toward Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Lemurs: Using an Affordable Open-Source System to Monitor Phaner Vocal Activity and Density. INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00285-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
AbstractDeveloping new cost-effective methods for monitoring the distribution and abundance of species is essential for conservation biology. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has long been used in marine mammals and has recently been postulated to be a promising method to improve monitoring of terrestrial wildlife as well. Because Madagascar’s lemurs are among the globally most threatened taxa, this study was designed to assess the applicability of an affordable and open-source PAM device to estimate the density of pale fork-marked lemurs (Phaner pallescens). Using 12 playback experiments and one fixed transect of four automated acoustic recorders during one night of the dry season in Kirindy Forest, we experimentally estimated the detection space for Phaner and other lemur vocalizations. Furthermore, we manually annotated more than 10,000 vocalizations of Phaner from a single location and used bout rates from previous studies to estimate density within the detection space. To truncate detections beyond 150 m, we applied a sound pressure level (SPL) threshold filtering out vocalizations below SPL 50 (dB re 20 μPa). During the dry season, vocalizations of Phaner can be detected with confidence beyond 150 m by a human listener. Within our fixed truncated detection area corresponding to an area of 0.07 km2 (detection radius of 150 m), we estimated 10.5 bouts per hour corresponding to a density of Phaner of 38.6 individuals/km2. Our density estimates are in line with previous estimates based on individually marked animals conducted in the same area. Our findings suggest that PAM also could be combined with distance sampling methods to estimate densities. We conclude that PAM is a promising method to improve the monitoring and conservation of Phaner and many other vocally active primates.
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13
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Spezie G, Torti V, Bonadonna G, De Gregorio C, Valente D, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Evidence for acoustic discrimination in lemurs: a playback study on wild indris (Indri indri). Curr Zool 2022; 69:41-49. [PMID: 36974154 PMCID: PMC10039182 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Indris (Indri indri) are group-living lemurs which occupy stable territories over several years and perform remarkable long-distance vocal displays. Vocal exchanges between long-term territory neighbours may contribute to assessing reciprocal resource holding potentials, thus adaptively reducing the costs of territorial defence by limiting aggressive escalation. Previous work showed that indris' songs show distinctive acoustic features at individual and group level. However, the possibility that indris use such cues for individual or group-level recognition has never been investigated experimentally. We conducted a playback experiment to test whether indris discriminate between familiar and non-familiar songs. Our rationale lies in the hypothesis of the dear enemy phenomenon, which predicts that territorial animals will show reduced aggression levels towards familiar neighbours compared to novel rivals. We played back stimulus recordings to wild indris from their territory boundaries and examined their responses in terms of vocal and behavioural indicators of willingness to engage in a fight. In line with our predictions, focal animals responded more rapidly and approached more often the speaker in response to playback stimuli of non-familiar individuals than to stimuli of neighbouring groups. These results indicate that indris can discriminate between different classes of intruders based on distinctive acoustic features of their song choruses. We suggest that increased aggression directed towards unfamiliar intruders may be explained by higher threat levels associated with dispersal and group formation dynamics. We further discuss the relevance of these findings in a strepsirrhine primate model for comparative studies of vocal communication and sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Spezie
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, School of Nature Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Giovanna Bonadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, School of Nature Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, School of Nature Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, School of Nature Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, School of Nature Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, School of Nature Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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14
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De Gregorio C, Carugati F, Valente D, Raimondi T, Torti V, Miaretsoa L, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Notes on a tree: reframing the relevance of primate choruses, duets, and solo songs. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2021.2015451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Daria Valente
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
- Équipe de Neuro-Éthologie Sensorielle (ENES), Centre de Recherche En Neurosciences de Lyon 8 (CRNL), CNRL, INSERM, University of Lyon/Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Valeria Torti
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Marco Gamba
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italia
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15
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Clink DJ, Lau AR, Kanthaswamy S, Johnson LM, Bales KL. Moderate evidence for heritability in the duet contributions of a South American primate. J Evol Biol 2022; 35:51-63. [PMID: 34822207 PMCID: PMC9514391 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Acoustic signals are ubiquitous across mammalian taxa. They serve a myriad of functions related to the formation and maintenance of social bonds and can provide conspecifics information about caller condition, motivation and identity. Disentangling the relative importance of evolutionary mechanisms that shape vocal variation is difficult, and little is known about heritability of mammalian vocalizations. Duetting--coordinated vocalizations within male and female pairs--arose independently at least four times across the Primate Order. Primate duets contain individual- or pair-level signatures, but the mechanisms that shape this variation remain unclear. Here, we test for evidence of heritability in two call types (pulses and chirps) from the duets of captive coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus). We extracted four features--note rate, duration, minimum and maximum fundamental frequency--from spectrograms of pulses and chirps, and estimated heritability of the features. We also tested whether features varied with sex or body weight. We found evidence for moderate heritability in one of the features examined (chirp note rate), whereas inter-individual variance was the most important source of variance for the rest of the features. We did not find evidence for sex differences in any of the features, but we did find that body weight and fundamental frequency of chirp elements covaried. Kin recognition has been invoked as a possible explanation for heritability or kin signatures in mammalian vocalizations. Although the function of primate duets remains a topic of debate, the presence of moderate heritability in titi monkey chirp elements indicates duets may serve a kin recognition function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dena J. Clink
- K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850
| | - Allison R. Lau
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616,California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616
| | - Sreetharan Kanthaswamy
- School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Arizona State University (ASU) at the West Campus, Glendale, AZ, USA,California National Primate Research Center, University of California, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Lynn M. Johnson
- Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Karen L. Bales
- Animal Behavior Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616,California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616,Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA,Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
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16
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De Gregorio C, Carugati F, Estienne V, Valente D, Raimondi T, Torti V, Miaretsoa L, Ratsimbazafy J, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Born to sing! Song development in a singing primate. Curr Zool 2021; 67:585-596. [PMID: 34805535 PMCID: PMC8598991 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In animal vocal communication, the development of adult-like vocalization is fundamental to interact appropriately with conspecifics. However, the factors that guide ontogenetic changes in the acoustic features remain poorly understood. In contrast with a historical view of nonhuman primate vocal production as substantially innate, recent research suggests that inheritance and physiological modification can only explain some of the developmental changes in call structure during growth. A particular case of acoustic communication is the indris' singing behavior, a peculiar case among Strepsirrhine primates. Thanks to a decade of intense data collection, this work provides the first long-term quantitative analysis on song development in a singing primate. To understand the ontogeny of such a complex vocal output, we investigated juvenile and sub-adult indris' vocal behavior, and we found that young individuals started participating in the chorus years earlier than previously reported. Our results indicated that spectro-temporal song parameters underwent essential changes during growth. In particular, the age and sex of the emitter influenced the indris' vocal activity. We found that frequency parameters showed consistent changes across the sexes, but the temporal features showed different developmental trajectories for males and females. Given the low level of morphological sexual dimorphism and the marked differences in vocal behavior, we hypothesize that factors like social influences and auditory feedback may affect songs' features, resulting in high vocal flexibility in juvenile indris. This trait may be pivotal in a species that engages in choruses with rapid vocal turn-taking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Filippo Carugati
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Vittoria Estienne
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Teresa Raimondi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Jonah Ratsimbazafy
- Groupe d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), BP 779 – Antananarivo 101, Madagascar
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino 10125, Italy
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17
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Clink DJ, Zafar M, Ahmad AH, Lau AR. Limited Evidence for Individual Signatures or Site-Level Patterns of Variation in Male Northern Gray Gibbon (Hylobates funereus) Duet Codas. INT J PRIMATOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-021-00250-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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18
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de Reus K, Soma M, Anichini M, Gamba M, de Heer Kloots M, Lense M, Bruno JH, Trainor L, Ravignani A. Rhythm in dyadic interactions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200337. [PMID: 34420383 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
This review paper discusses rhythmic interactions and distinguishes them from non-rhythmic interactions. We report on communicative behaviours in social and sexual contexts, as found in dyads of humans, non-human primates, non-primate mammals, birds, anurans and insects. We discuss observed instances of rhythm in dyadic interactions, identify knowledge gaps and propose suggestions for future research. We find that most studies on rhythmicity in interactive signals mainly focus on one modality (acoustic or visual) and we suggest more work should be performed on multimodal signals. Although the social functions of interactive rhythms have been fairly well described, developmental research on rhythms used to regulate social interactions is still lacking. Future work should also focus on identifying the exact timing mechanisms involved. Rhythmic signalling behaviours are widespread and critical in regulating social interactions across taxa, but many questions remain unexplored. A multidisciplinary, comparative cross-species approach may help provide answers. This article is part of the theme issue 'Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koen de Reus
- Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Masayo Soma
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
| | - Marianna Anichini
- Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study, 'Brain' Research Area, Delmenhorst, Germany.,Division of Animal Physiology and Behaviour, Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Miriam Lense
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | | | - Laurel Trainor
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Andrea Ravignani
- Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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19
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Correa F, Torti V, Spiezio C, Checcucci A, Modesto M, Borruso L, Cavani L, Mimmo T, Cesco S, Luise D, Randrianarison RM, Gamba M, Rarojoson NJ, Sanguinetti M, Di Vito M, Bugli F, Mattarelli P, Trevisi P, Giacoma C, Sandri C. Disentangling the Possible Drivers of Indri indri Microbiome: A Threatened Lemur Species of Madagascar. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:668274. [PMID: 34421838 PMCID: PMC8378179 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.668274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Research on the gut microbiome may help with increasing our understanding of primate health with species' ecology, evolution, and behavior. In particular, microbiome-related information has the potential to clarify ecology issues, providing knowledge in support of wild primates conservation and their associated habitats. Indri (Indri indri) is the largest extant living lemur of Madagascar. This species is classified as "critically endangered" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, representing one of the world's 25 most endangered primates. Indris diet is mainly folivorous, but these primates frequently and voluntarily engage in geophagy. Indris have never been successfully bred under human care, suggesting that some behavioral and/or ecological factors are still not considered from the ex situ conservation protocols. Here, we explored gut microbiome composition of 18 indris belonging to 5 different family groups. The most represented phyla were Proteobacteria 40.1 ± 9.5%, Bacteroidetes 28.7 ± 2.8%, Synergistetes 16.7 ± 4.5%, and Firmicutes 11.1 ± 1.9%. Further, our results revealed that bacterial alpha and beta diversity were influenced by indri family group and sex. In addition, we investigated the chemical composition of geophagic soil to explore the possible ecological value of soil as a nutrient supply. The quite acidic pH and high levels of secondary oxide-hydroxides of the soils could play a role in the folivorous diet's gut detoxification activity. In addition, the high contents of iron and manganese found the soils could act as micronutrients in the indris' diet. Nevertheless, the concentration of a few elements (i.e., calcium, sulfur, boron, nickel, sodium, and chromium) was higher in non-geophagic than in geophagic soils. In conclusion, the data presented herein provide a baseline for outlining some possible drivers responsible for the gut microbiome diversity in indris, thus laying the foundations for developing further strategies involved in indris' conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Correa
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Caterina Spiezio
- Department of Animal Health Care and Management, Parco Natura Viva – Garda Zoological Park, Verona, Italy
| | - Alice Checcucci
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Monica Modesto
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Luigimaria Borruso
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Luciano Cavani
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Tanja Mimmo
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Stefano Cesco
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Diana Luise
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Rose M. Randrianarison
- Groupe d’Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar
- Mention d’Anthropobiologie et de Deìveloppement Durable, Université de Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Maurizio Sanguinetti
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio e Infettivologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Maura Di Vito
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Bugli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio e Infettivologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Mattarelli
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Paolo Trevisi
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
| | - Camillo Sandri
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Animal Health Care and Management, Parco Natura Viva – Garda Zoological Park, Verona, Italy
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20
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Rolle F, Torti V, Valente D, De Gregorio C, Giacoma C, Von Hardenberg A. Sex and age-specific survival and life expectancy in a free ranging population of Indri indri (Gmelin, 1788). The European Zoological Journal 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/24750263.2021.1947398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- F. Rolle
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy
| | - V. Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy
| | - D. Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy
| | - C. De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy
| | - C. Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Turin, Torino, Italy
| | - A. Von Hardenberg
- Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Chester, Chester, UK
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21
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Borruso L, Checcucci A, Torti V, Correa F, Sandri C, Luise D, Cavani L, Modesto M, Spiezio C, Mimmo T, Cesco S, Di Vito M, Bugli F, Randrianarison RM, Gamba M, Rarojoson NJ, Zaborra CA, Mattarelli P, Trevisi P, Giacoma C. I Like the Way You Eat It: Lemur (Indri indri) Gut Mycobiome and Geophagy. Microb Ecol 2021; 82:215-223. [PMID: 33471174 PMCID: PMC8282574 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-020-01677-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 12/28/2020] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Here, we investigated the possible linkages among geophagy, soil characteristics, and gut mycobiome of indri (Indri indri), an endangered lemur species able to survive only in wild conditions. The soil eaten by indri resulted in enriched secondary oxide-hydroxides and clays, together with a high concentration of specific essential micronutrients. This could partially explain the role of the soil in detoxification and as a nutrient supply. Besides, we found that soil subject to geophagy and indris' faeces shared about 8.9% of the fungal OTUs. Also, several genera (e.g. Fusarium, Aspergillus and Penicillium) commonly associated with soil and plant material were found in both geophagic soil and indri samples. On the contrary, some taxa with pathogenic potentials, such as Cryptococcus, were only found in indri samples. Further, many saprotrophs and plant-associated fungal taxa were detected in the indri faeces. These fungal species may be involved in the digestion processes of leaves and could have a beneficial role in their health. In conclusion, we found an intimate connection between gut mycobiome and soil, highlighting, once again, the potential consequent impacts on the wider habitat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigimaria Borruso
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Piazza Università 5, 39100, Bolzano-Bozen, Italy.
| | - Alice Checcucci
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Federico Correa
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Camillo Sandri
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
- Department of Animal Health Care and Management, Parco Natura Viva - Garda Zoological Park, Bussolengo, Verona, Italy
| | - Daine Luise
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Luciano Cavani
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Monica Modesto
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Caterina Spiezio
- Department of Animal Health Care and Management, Parco Natura Viva - Garda Zoological Park, Bussolengo, Verona, Italy
| | - Tanja Mimmo
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Piazza Università 5, 39100, Bolzano-Bozen, Italy
| | - Stefano Cesco
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen, Piazza Università 5, 39100, Bolzano-Bozen, Italy
| | - Maura Di Vito
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Bugli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biotecnologiche di Base, Cliniche Intensivologiche e Perioperatorie, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio e Infettivologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy
| | - Rose M Randrianarison
- Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Cité des Professeurs, Fort Duchesne, BP 779, 101, Antananarivo, Madagascar
- Mention d'Anthropobiologie et de Développement Durable (MADD), Université de Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Nianja J Rarojoson
- Laboratoire de Pédologie, FOFIFA à Tsimbazaza, BP.1690, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Cesare Avesani Zaborra
- Department of Animal Health Care and Management, Parco Natura Viva - Garda Zoological Park, Bussolengo, Verona, Italy
| | - Paola Mattarelli
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Paolo Trevisi
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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22
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Kalinowski K, Kozłowska A, Malesza M, Danel DP. Evolutionary origins of music. Classical and recent hypotheses. Anthropological Review 2021; 84:213-31. [DOI: 10.2478/anre-2021-0011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to review recent hypotheses on the evolutionary origins of music in Homo sapiens, taking into account the most influential traditional hypotheses. To date, theories derived from evolution have focused primarily on the importance that music carries in solving detailed adaptive problems. The three most influential theoretical concepts have described the evolution of human music in terms of 1) sexual selection, 2) the formation of social bonds, or treated it 3) as a byproduct. According to recent proposals, traditional hypotheses are flawed or insufficient in fully explaining the complexity of music in Homo sapiens. This paper will critically discuss three traditional hypotheses of music evolution (music as an effect of sexual selection, a mechanism of social bonding, and a byproduct), as well as and two recent concepts of music evolution - music as a credible signal and Music and Social Bonding (MSB) hypothesis.
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23
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Valente D, De Gregorio C, Favaro L, Friard O, Miaretsoa L, Raimondi T, Ratsimbazafy J, Torti V, Zanoli A, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Linguistic laws of brevity: conformity in Indri indri. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:897-906. [PMID: 33683508 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01495-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 01/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Vocal and gestural sequences of several primates have been found to conform to two general principles of information compression: the compensation between the duration of a construct and that of its components (Menzerath-Altmann law) and an inverse relationship between signal duration and its occurrence (Zipf's law of abbreviation). Even though Zipf's law of brevity has been proposed as a universal in animal communication, evidence on non-human primate vocal behavior conformity to linguistic laws is still debated, and information on strepsirrhine primates is lacking. We analyzed the vocal behavior of the unique singing lemur species (Indri indri) to assess whether the song of the species shows evidence for compression. As roars have a chaotic structure that impedes the recognition of each individual utterance, and long notes are usually given by males, we focused on the core part of the song (i.e., the descending phrases, composed of two-six units). Our results indicate that indris' songs conform to Zipf's and Menzerath-Altmann linguistic laws. Indeed, shorter phrases are more likely to be included in the song, and units' duration decrease at the increase of the size of the phrases. We also found that, despite a sexual dimorphism in the duration of both units and phrases, these laws characterize sequences of both males and females. Overall, we provide the first evidence for a trade-off between signal duration and occurrence in the vocal behavior of a strepsirrhine species, suggesting that selective pressures for vocal compression are more ancestral than previously assumed within primates.
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Zanoli A, De Gregorio C, Valente D, Torti V, Bonadonna G, Randrianarison RM, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Sexually dimorphic phrase organization in the song of the indris (Indri indri). Am J Primatol 2020; 82:e23132. [PMID: 32277718 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Animal acoustic communication often takes the form of complex sequences, composed of multiple distinct acoustic units, which can vary in their degree of stereotypy. Studies of sequence variation may contribute to our understanding of the structural flexibility of primates' songs, which can provide essential ecological and behavioral information about variability at the individual, population, and specific level and provide insights into the mechanisms and drivers responsible for the evolutionary change of communicative traits. Several methods have been used for investigating different levels of structural information and sequence similarity in acoustic displays. We studied intra and interindividual variation in the song structuring of a singing primate, the indri (Indri indri), which inhabits the montane rain forests of Madagascar. Indri groups emit duets and choruses in which they combine long notes, short single units, and phrases consisting of a variable number of units (from two to six) with slightly descending frequency. Males' and females' contributions to the song differ in the temporal and frequency structure of song units and repertoire size. We calculated the similarity of phrase organization across different individual contributions using the Levenshtein distance, a logic distance that expressed the minimum cost to convert a sequence into another and can measure differences between two sequences of data. We then analyzed the degree of similarity within and between individuals and found that: (a) the phrase structure of songs varied between reproductive males and females: female structuring of the song showed a higher number of phrases if compared to males; (b) male contributions to the song were overall more similar to those of other males than were female contributions to the song of other females; (c) male contributions were more stereotyped than female contributions, which showed greater individual flexibility. The picture emerging from phrase combinatorics in the indris is in agreement with previous findings of rhythmic features and song repertoire size of the indris, which also suggested that female songs are potentially less stereotyped than those of males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Zanoli
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Giovanna Bonadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Rose Marie Randrianarison
- Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar.,Mention d'Anthropobiologie et de Développement Durable (MADD), Université d'Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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Bonadonna G, Zaccagno M, Torti V, Valente D, De Gregorio C, Randrianarison RM, Tan C, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Intra- and Intergroup Spatial Dynamics of a Pair-Living Singing Primate, Indri indri: A Multiannual Study of Three Indri Groups in Maromizaha Forest, Madagascar. INT J PRIMATOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-019-00127-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Filippi P, Hoeschele M, Spierings M, Bowling DL. Temporal modulation in speech, music, and animal vocal communication: evidence of conserved function. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2019; 1453:99-113. [DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2019] [Revised: 08/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Piera Filippi
- Laboratoire Parole et Langage, LPL UMR 7309, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAix‐Marseille Université Aix‐en‐Provence France
- Institute of Language, Communication and the Brain, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAix‐Marseille Université Aix‐en‐Provence France
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive LPC UMR 7290, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAix‐Marseille Université Marseille France
| | - Marisa Hoeschele
- Acoustics Research InstituteAustrian Academy of Science Vienna Austria
- Department of Cognitive BiologyUniversity of Vienna Vienna Austria
| | | | - Daniel L. Bowling
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral SciencesStanford University School of Medicine Stanford California
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Abstract
Music and language are universal human abilities with many apparent similarities relating to their acoustics, structure, and frequent use in social situations. We might therefore expect them to be understood and processed similarly, and indeed an emerging body of research suggests that this is the case. But the focus has historically been on the individual, looking at the passive listener or the isolated speaker or performer, even though social interaction is the primary site of use for both domains. Nonetheless, an important goal of emerging research is to compare music and language in terms of acoustics and structure, social interaction, and functional origins to develop parallel accounts across the two domains. Indeed, a central aim of both of evolutionary musicology and language evolution research is to understand the adaptive significance or functional origin of human music and language. An influential proposal to emerge in recent years has been referred to as the social bonding hypothesis. Here, within a comparative approach to animal communication systems, I review empirical studies in support of the social bonding hypothesis in humans, non-human primates, songbirds, and various other mammals. In support of this hypothesis, I review six research fields: (i) the functional origins of music; (ii) the functional origins of language; (iii) mechanisms of social synchrony for human social bonding; (iv) language and social bonding in humans; (v) music and social bonding in humans; and (vi) pitch, tone and emotional expression in human speech and music. I conclude that the comparative study of complex vocalizations and behaviors in various extant species can provide important insights into the adaptive function(s) of these traits in these species, as well as offer evidence-based speculations for the existence of "musilanguage" in our primate ancestors, and thus inform our understanding of the biology and evolution of human music and language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan Oesch
- Music and Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication and Hearing (CoNCH) Lab, Department of Psychology, The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
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Bonadonna G, Torti V, Gregorio C, Valente D, Randrianarison RM, Pozzi L, Gamba M, Giacoma C. Evidence of genetic monogamy in the lemur Indri (Indri indri). Am J Primatol 2019; 81:e22993. [DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2018] [Revised: 04/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanna Bonadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems BiologyUniversity of TorinoTorino Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems BiologyUniversity of TorinoTorino Italy
| | - Chiara Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems BiologyUniversity of TorinoTorino Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems BiologyUniversity of TorinoTorino Italy
| | - Rose Marie Randrianarison
- Research and Training DivisionGroup d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP)Antananarivo Madagascar
| | - Luca Pozzi
- Department of AnthropologyThe University of Texas at San AntonioSan Antonio Texas
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems BiologyUniversity of TorinoTorino Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems BiologyUniversity of TorinoTorino Italy
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Torti V, Valente D, De Gregorio C, Comazzi C, Miaretsoa L, Ratsimbazafy J, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Call and be counted! Can we reliably estimate the number of callers in the indri's (Indri indri) song? PLoS One 2018; 13:e0201664. [PMID: 30075022 PMCID: PMC6075759 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Estimating the number of animals participating in a choral display may contribute reliable information on animal population estimates, particularly when environmental or behavioral factors restrict the possibility of visual surveys. Difficulties in providing a reliable estimate of the number of singers in a chorus are many (e.g., background noise masking, overlap). In this work, we contributed data on the vocal chorusing of the indri lemurs (Indri indri), which emit howling cries, known as songs, uttered by two to five individuals. We examined whether we could estimate the number of emitters in a chorus by screening the fundamental frequency in the spectrograms and the total duration of the songs, and the reliability of those methods when compared to the real chorus size. The spectrographic investigation appears to provide reliable information on the number of animals participating in the chorusing only when this number is limited to two or three singers. We also found that the Acoustic Complexity Index positively correlated with the real chorus size, showing that an automated analysis of the chorus may provide information about the number of singers. We can state that song duration shows a correlation with the number of emitters but also shows a remarkable variation that remains unexplained. The accuracy of the estimates can reflect the high variability in chorus size, which could be affected by group composition, season and context. In future research, a greater focus on analyzing frequency change occurring during these collective vocal displays should improve our ability to detect individuals and allow a finer tuning of the acoustic methods that may serve for monitoring chorusing mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Carlo Comazzi
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Longondraza Miaretsoa
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Jonah Ratsimbazafy
- Group d’Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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De Gregorio C, Zanoli A, Valente D, Torti V, Bonadonna G, Randrianarison RM, Giacoma C, Gamba M. Female indris determine the rhythmic structure of the song and sustain a higher cost when the chorus size increases. Curr Zool 2018; 65:89-97. [PMID: 30697244 PMCID: PMC6347063 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoy058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2018] [Accepted: 07/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Among the behavioral traits shared by some nonhuman primate species and humans there is singing. Unfortunately, our understanding of animals’ rhythmic abilities is still in its infancy. Indris are the only lemurs who sing and live in monogamous pairs, usually forming a group with their offspring. All adult members of a group usually participate in choruses that are emitted regularly and play a role in advertising territorial occupancy and intergroup spacing. Males and females emit phrases that have similar frequency ranges but may differ in their temporal structure. We examined whether the individuals’ contribution to the song may change according to chorus size, the total duration of the song or the duration of the individual contribution using the inter-onset intervals within a phrase and between phrases. We found that the rhythmic structure of indri’s songs depends on factors that are different for males and females. We showed that females have significantly higher variation in the rhythm of their contribution to the song and that, changes according to chorus size. Our findings indicate that female indris sustain a higher cost of singing than males when the number of singers increases. These results suggest that cross-species investigations will be crucial to understanding the evolutionary frame in which such sexually dimorphic traits occurred.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara De Gregorio
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina, Torino, Italia
| | - Anna Zanoli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università di Parma, Parma, Italia
| | - Daria Valente
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina, Torino, Italia
| | - Valeria Torti
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina, Torino, Italia
| | - Giovanna Bonadonna
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina, Torino, Italia
| | - Rose Marie Randrianarison
- Group d'Etude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar.,Département de Anthropobiologie et Développement Durable, Université d'Antananarivo, Faculté des Sciences, Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina, Torino, Italia
| | - Marco Gamba
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Università di Torino, via Accademia Albertina, Torino, Italia
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Torti V, Bonadonna G, De Gregorio C, Valente D, Randrianarison RM, Friard O, Pozzi L, Gamba M, Giacoma C. An intra-population analysis of the indris' song dissimilarity in the light of genetic distance. Sci Rep 2017; 7:10140. [PMID: 28860569 PMCID: PMC5579264 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-10656-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The increasing interest in the evolution of human language has led several fields of research to focus on primate vocal communication. The 'singing primates', which produce elaborated and complex sequences of vocalizations, are of particular interest for this topic. Indris (Indri indri) are the only singing lemurs and emit songs whose most distinctive portions are "descending phrases" consisting of 2-5 units. We examined how the structure of the indris' phrases varied with genetic relatedness among individuals. We tested whether the acoustic structure could provide conspecifics with information about individual identity and group membership. When analyzing phrase dissimilarity and genetic distance of both sexes, we found significant results for males but not for females. We found that similarity of male song-phrases correlates with kin in both time and frequency parameters, while, for females, this information is encoded only in the frequency of a single type. Song phrases have consistent individual-specific features, but we did not find any potential for advertising group membership. We emphasize the fact that genetic and social factors may play a role in the acoustic plasticity of female indris. Altogether, these findings open a new perspective for future research on the possibility of vocal production learning in these primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Giovanna Bonadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Chiara De Gregorio
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Rose Marie Randrianarison
- Département de Paléontologie et d'Anthropologie Biologique, Faculté des Sciences, Université d'Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar
- Groupe d'étude et de recherche sur les primates de Madagascar (GERP), Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Olivier Friard
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - Luca Pozzi
- Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX, 78249, United States of America
| | - Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology (DBIOS), University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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Bonadonna G, Torti V, Sorrentino V, Randrianarison RM, Zaccagno M, Gamba M, Tan CL, Giacoma C. Territory exclusivity and intergroup encounters in the indris (Mammalia: Primates: Indridae: Indri indri) upon methodological tuning. The European Zoological Journal 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/24750263.2017.1318184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- G. Bonadonna
- Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - V. Torti
- Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - V. Sorrentino
- Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - R. M. Randrianarison
- GERP (Group d’Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar), Antananarivo, Madagascar
| | - M. Zaccagno
- Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - M. Gamba
- Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
| | - C. L. Tan
- San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, Escondido, CA, USA
| | - C. Giacoma
- Department of Life Science and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy
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Gamba M, Torti V, Estienne V, Randrianarison RM, Valente D, Rovara P, Bonadonna G, Friard O, Giacoma C. The Indris Have Got Rhythm! Timing and Pitch Variation of a Primate Song Examined between Sexes and Age Classes. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:249. [PMID: 27378834 PMCID: PMC4908265 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2016] [Accepted: 05/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A crucial, common feature of speech and music is that they show non-random structures over time. It is an open question which of the other species share rhythmic abilities with humans, but in most cases the lack of knowledge about their behavioral displays prevents further studies. Indris are the only lemurs who sing. They produce loud howling cries that can be heard at several kilometers, in which all members of a group usually sing. We tested whether overlapping and turn-taking during the songs followed a precise pattern by analysing the temporal structure of the individuals' contribution to the song. We found that both dominants (males and females) and non-dominants influenced the onset timing one another. We have found that the dominant male and the dominant female in a group overlapped each other more frequently than they did with the non-dominants. We then focused on the temporal and frequency structure of particular phrases occurring during the song. Our results show that males and females have dimorphic inter-onset intervals during the phrases. Moreover, median frequencies of the unit emitted in the phrases also differ between the sexes, with males showing higher frequencies when compared to females. We have not found an effect of age on the temporal and spectral structure of the phrases. These results indicate that singing in indris has a high behavioral flexibility and varies according to social and individual factors. The flexible spectral structure of the phrases given during the song may underlie perceptual abilities that are relatively unknown in other non-human primates, such as the ability to recognize particular pitch patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Gamba
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Valeria Torti
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Vittoria Estienne
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyLeipzig, Germany
| | - Rose M. Randrianarison
- Département de Paléontologie et d'Anthropologie Biologique, Faculté des Sciences, Université d'AntananarivoAntananarivo, Madagascar
| | - Daria Valente
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Paolo Rovara
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Giovanna Bonadonna
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Olivier Friard
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
| | - Cristina Giacoma
- Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of TorinoTorino, Italy
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlo Comazzi
- Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, via Celoria 10, Milano, Italy
- Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italy
| | - Silvana Mattiello
- Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, via Celoria 10, Milano, Italy
| | - Olivier Friard
- Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italy
| | - Stefano Filacorda
- Università degli Studi di Udine, Dipartimento di Scienze AgroAlimentari, Ambientali e Animali, via Sondrio 2/a, Udine, Italy
| | - Marco Gamba
- Università di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, via Accademia Albertina 13, Torino, Italy
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Ramanankirahina R, Joly M, Scheumann M, Zimmermann E. The role of acoustic signaling for spacing and group coordination in a nocturnal, pair-living primate, the western woolly lemur (Avahi occidentalis). Am J Phys Anthropol 2015; 159:466-77. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2015] [Revised: 10/29/2015] [Accepted: 11/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Marine Joly
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Buenteweg 17; Hannover D-30559 Germany
- Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology; Department of Psychology; University of Portsmouth; United Kingdom
| | | | - Elke Zimmermann
- Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Buenteweg 17; Hannover D-30559 Germany
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Gamba M, Friard O, Riondato I, Righini R, Colombo C, Miaretsoa L, Torti V, Nadhurou B, Giacoma C. Comparative Analysis of the Vocal Repertoire of Eulemur: A Dynamic Time Warping Approach. INT J PRIMATOL 2015; 36:894-910. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-015-9861-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Abstract
Rare in mammals but more common in primates, there remains a considerable controversy concerning whether primate species traditionally described as monogamous actually express this highly specialized breeding pattern. Unfortunately the definition of "monogamy" varies greatly, inhibiting our understanding of this trait and two related traits with which monogamy is often conflated: pair-living and pair-bonding. Strepsirrhine primates are useful models to study factors that select for pair-living, pair-bonding, and monogamy because this taxon exhibits high incidences of each trait, in addition to species that exhibit behaviors that reflect combinations of these traits. Several hypotheses have been articulated to help explain the evolution of "monogamy," but again, these hypotheses often conflate pair-living, pair-bonding, and/or monogamy. In this review, we (1) propose clear, discrete, and logical definitions for each trait; (2) review variation in strepsirrhines with respect to these three traits; (3) clarify which of these traits can be explained by existing hypotheses; and (4) provide an example of the applicability of the Resource Defense Hypothesis (RDH) to understand two of these traits, pair-living and pair-bonding, in the red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer). Available data support the RDH for pair-living in red-bellied lemurs. They live in stable family groups with one adult pair. Both sexes actively codefend territories that overlap little with other pairs' territories. Agonism is extremely rare within groups and intergroup and interspecific agonism varies with food availability. Available data also support the RDH for pair-bonding. Pair-bonds are cohesive year-round. Pairs coordinate behaviors to defend territories with auditory and olfactory signals. Cohesion increases with food abundance and both sexes reinforce bonds. We indicate where additional data will help to more rigorously test the RDH for each trait and encourage others to test alternative hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stacey R Tecot
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.,Centre ValBio, BP 33, Ranomafana, Ifanadiana, Madagascar.,Laboratory for the Evolutionary Endocrinology of Primates, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
| | | | - Elizabeth Eadie
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.,Laboratory for the Evolutionary Endocrinology of Primates, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
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