Maternal behavior influences vocal practice and learning processes in the greater sac-winged bat.

ABSTRACT: Learning, particularly vocal learning, is often a social process. In human infants, it is well-established that social interactions influence speech acquisition and are hypothesized to modulate attentiveness and sensory processes, thereby affecting the speech-learning process. However, our understanding of how social interactions shape vocal ontogenetic processes in non-human mammals, particularly those which vocally learn, remains limited. In the bat Saccopteryx bilineata, pups acquire the adult vocal repertoire through a distinctive babbling behavior that shows interesting similarities to human infant babbling. While babbling encompasses many different syllable types, it is particularly noteworthy that pups learn song syllables by imitating adult singing males. The pups' social en

SUBMITTER: Fernandez AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12074634 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature