Vocal learning by greater spear-nosed bats
Vocal learning by greater spear-nosed bats
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.1998.0286
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发表时间：
1998-02-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Boughman, JW
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Boughman, JW
鸟类和鹦鹉的发声学习是众所周知的，但大多数关于哺乳动物的数据都是模棱两可的。对于大多数物种来说，发声学习的具体好处还知之甚少。有一种情况下，发声学习应该受到选择的青睐，那就是呼叫表明了群体成员身份和群体伙伴是无关的。雌性较大的长吻蝙蝠，即竹嘴蝠，生活在由不相关的蝙蝠组成的稳定群体中，并使用响亮的宽带呼叫来协调社会群体成员的觅食活动。蝙蝠从群体觅食中受益。雌性群体和洞穴群体的叫声不同，回放实验表明蝙蝠能感知到这些声音差异。在这里，我展示了群体独特的叫声结构是通过声乐学习产生的。当群体组成发生变化时，雌性会改变叫声结构，导致新的社会群体成员之间的相似性增加。与年龄匹配的半同胞的转移比较表明，呼叫的变化不仅仅是由于成熟、物理环境或遗传。这些结果表明，测试哺乳动物发声学习的研究可以通过关注代表群体成员的发声来受益。
Vocal learning is well known among passerine and psittacine birds, but most data on mammals are equivocal. Specific benefits of vocal learning are poorly understood for most species. One case where vocal learning should be favoured by selection is where calls indicate group membership and group mates are unrelated. Female greater spear-nosed bats, Phyllostomus hastatus, live in stable groups of unrelated bats and use loud, broadband calls to coordinate foraging movements of social group mates. Bats benefit from group foraging. Calls differ between female social groups and cave colonies, and playback experiments demonstrate that bats perceive these acoustic differences. Here I show that the group distinctive structure of calls arises through vocal learning. Females change call structure when group composition changes, resulting in increased similarity among new social group mates. Comparisons of transfers with age-matched half-sibs indicate that call changes are not simply due to maturation, the physical environment or heredity. These results suggest that studies testing vocal learning in mammals could profit by focusing on vocalizations that signify group membership.