The progression pattern of male hyrax songs and the role of climactic ending.

ABSTRACT: The study of animal vocal signals can either focus on the properties of distinct vocal elements or address the signal as a whole. Although some attention has been given to the continuous progression patterns of bird songs, such patterns in mammalian vocalisations have been largely overlooked. We examined temporal changes in structural and acoustic parameters in male rock hyrax songs. We found a gradual increase in call frequency and amplitude towards the song ending, as well as an abrupt increase in bout syntactic complexity, peaking in the last quintile of a song. In musical terms, such a pattern can be described as a crescendo (amplitude increase) with a terminal climax. In Western music, crescendos are used to maintain attention and direct the listeners towards a memorable highpoint of

SUBMITTER: Demartsev V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5459900 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature