Vocal Learning in Mammals

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INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we survey the occurrence of vocal learning in mammals and discuss possible reasons it has evolved. But first it is important to be clear about what we mean by “vocal learning.” The term has been used to describe the influence of learning on a variety of different aspects of vocal communication. Learning can affect the generation of sounds, their usage, and their comprehension. While modifications in sound generation as a result of experience can be described as learning sounds,

EVIDENCE FOR VOCAL LEARNING

There are several pitfalls in trying to show vocal learning in a particular species. A fundamental problem is the question of whether a particular call was in an animal’s repertoire before it was first noted. Apparent changes in the call repertoire of an animal often relate to other changes in its environment. Examples are alterations in social context, because of the introduction of foreign animals or a change in status, changes in the habitat that alter its sound transmission characteristics,

BATS

In many bat species the isolation calls of pups exhibit vocal “signatures” (significant individual differences that remain constant over time) and these are used by mothers to find their offspring when they return to the colony to suckle them. Variation in the isolation calls of young big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) is as great within as between colonies, and between twins as between less close relatives (Rasmuson and Barclay, 1992). The production of a completely new call could be achieved

FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE AND ORIGIN

In this section we will consider possible reasons why vocal learning evolved in mammals. In discussing this it is important to bear in mind two separate problems. First is the question of why vocal learning arose in the first place, the answer to which may be far back in time and within a different functional context to that in which it occurs today. Second is the more accessible question of why vocal learning persists in certain species. Similar hypotheses may be relevant to both contexts, so

FLEXIBILITY IN VOCAL LEARNING

We have identified several different levels of complexity in vocal learning. The most simple, in which animals can be trained to alter the overall duration and amplitude of a sound, seems to be a relatively common feature of mammalian communication systems (e.g., bottlenose dolphin, Lilly, 1965; domestic cat, Molliver, 1963; rhesus monkey, Sutton et al., 1973). It is likely that this form of sound alteration is closely linked to contextual learning of sounds. If an animal has learned to

SUMMARY

Vocal learning, as we discuss it in this review, refers to instances where vocalizations are modified in form as a result of experience with those of other individuals. While many birds are capable of vocal learning, unequivocal evidence for it is rare in mammals. The most versatile mammalian vocal learners are cetaceans, harbor seals, and humans, all of which are able to imitate new sounds. Greater horseshoe bats learn the main frequency of their echolocation calls from their mothers and are

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Karen McComb, Laela S. Sayigh, Robert M. Seyfarth, and Charles T. Snowdon for helpful comments on the manuscript. V. M. Janik is a fellow of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes and was supported by a DAAD-Doktorandenstipendium aus Mitteln des zweiten Hochschulsonderprogramms.

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