Call order within vocal sequences of meerkats contains temporary contextual and individual information.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The ability to recombine smaller units to produce infinite structures of higher-order phrases is unique to human language, yet evidence of animals to combine multiple acoustic units into meaningful combinations increases constantly. Despite increasing evidence for meaningful call combinations across contexts, little attention has been paid to the potential role of temporal variation of call type composition in longer vocal sequences in conveying information about subtle changes in the environment or individual differences. Here, we investigated the composition and information content of sentinel call sequences in meerkats (Suricata suricatta). While being on sentinel guard, a coordinated vigilance behaviour, meerkats produce long sequences composed of six distinct sentin

SUBMITTER: Rauber R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7488032 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature