Vocal strategies to express emotion, intention and motivation in elephant calls (Loxodonta africana)

Autor(en)

Angela S. Stoeger-Horwath, Simon Stoeger, Harald M. Schwammer, Helmut Kratochvil

Abstrakt

A basic aspect of vocal communication is that listeners decode information contained in the vocalizations of con-specifics. Signals need to vary if much information needs to be transmitted and decoded. The vocal repertoire of elephants is composed of structurally distinct call types, they are capable of long distance vocal recognition of conspecifics1, and transmit individual-, age- and gender dependent information with their calls. Elephants have the capability of vocal learning2, which is not seen in our closest living relatives, the monkeys and apes, and are therefore the only terrestrial nonhuman mammal of the disjointed group of vocal learners3.

 

 

 

In our talk we will specifically discuss the vocal strategies of elephants to express emotion, intention and motivation in a given context. The elephant call system in general is a graded one, the classification of signals is often difficult, and much of these gradation within a given call type arises due to varying emotion and motivation of the caller. The alternatives of expressing such situational information are the grading of signals4,5, the varying of sound intensity5 and the changing of voice quality4. We additionally show that particularly elephant calves use combinative vocalizations to indicate increased motivation and intention in a given context. We outline that these combinative signals are a form of contextual modification and act as intensification of the context of component calls. Expressing needs and the emotional state is crucial for the survival of an elephant calf. The combination of structurally distinct call types to a more complex utterance is an additional way for elephants to increase decodeable information in their vocalizations.

 

 

 

LITERATURE CITED

 

 

 

1. 1McComb, K. et al. (2003) Anim. Behav. 65: 317-329.

 

2. 2Poole J. et al. (2005) Nature. 434, 355-356.

 

3. 3Janik, V.M. & Slater, P.J.B. (1997) Adv.Stud.Behav. 26, 59-99.

 

4. 4Sotis et al. 2005. Anim. Behav. 70(3): 589-99.

 

5. 5Stoeger-Horwath et al. (2007) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 121 (6), 3922-3931.

Organisation(en)

Externe Organisation(en)

Tiergarten Schönbrunn

Publikationsdatum

2007

ÖFOS 2012

106054 Zoologie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/2733b6b2-d301-48f9-a2d4-55aad7a1fc61