Smirnova Darya S, Volodin Ilya A, Demina Tatyana S, Volodina Elena V
Department of Animal Science, Russian State Agrarian University-Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow, Russia.
Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.
PLoS One. 2016 Jun 30;11(6):e0158546. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158546. eCollection 2016.
The vocal repertoire of captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and the specific role of meow vocalizations in communication of this species attract research interest about two dozen years. Here, we expand this research focus for the contextual use of call types, sex differences and individual differences at short and long terms. During 457 trials of acoustic recordings, we collected calls (n = 8120) and data on their contextual use for 13 adult cheetahs (6 males and 7 females) in four Russian zoos. The cheetah vocal repertoire comprised 7 call types produced in 8 behavioural contexts. Context-specific call types (chirr, growl, howl and hiss) were related to courting behaviour (chirr) or to aggressive behaviour (growl, howl and hiss). Other call types (chirp, purr and meow) were not context-specific. The values of acoustic variables differed between call types. The meow was the most often call type. Discriminant function analysis revealed a high potential of meows to encode individual identity and sex at short terms, however, the vocal individuality was unstable over years. We discuss the contextual use and acoustic variables of call types, the ratios of individual and sex differences in calls and the pathways of vocal ontogeny in the cheetah with relevant data on vocalization of other animals.
圈养猎豹（Acinonyx jubatus）的发声曲目以及喵叫声在该物种交流中的特定作用在大约二十多年来一直吸引着研究兴趣。在此，我们将这一研究重点扩展到叫声类型的情境使用、短期和长期的性别差异以及个体差异。在457次声学记录试验中，我们收集了俄罗斯四个动物园中13只成年猎豹（6只雄性和7只雌性）的叫声（n = 8120）及其情境使用数据。猎豹的发声曲目包括在8种行为情境中产生的7种叫声类型。特定情境的叫声类型（唧唧叫、咆哮、嚎叫和嘶嘶声）与求偶行为（唧唧叫）或攻击行为（咆哮、嚎叫和嘶嘶声）有关。其他叫声类型（啁啾声、咕噜声和喵叫声）并非特定于情境。声学变量的值在不同叫声类型之间存在差异。喵叫声是最常出现的叫声类型。判别函数分析表明，喵叫声在短期内具有编码个体身份和性别的高潜力，然而，多年来声音个体特征并不稳定。我们结合其他动物发声的相关数据，讨论了猎豹叫声类型的情境使用和声学变量、叫声中个体和性别差异的比例以及发声个体发育的途径。
