Who＇s your neighbor？ Acoustic cues to individual identity in red squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus rattle calls  

作　　者：Shannon M. DIGWEED Drew RENDALL Teana IMBEAU 

机构地区：[1]Departments of Psychology and Biological Science, Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 2P2, Canada [2]Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, T1K 3M4, Canada [3]Department of Biological Science, Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 2P2, Canada

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2012年第5期758-764,共7页动物学报（英文版）

摘　　要：North American red squirrels Tamiasciurus hudsonicus often produce a loud territorial rattle call when conspecifics enter or invade a territory. Previous playback experiments suggest that the territorial rattle call may indicate an invader＇s identity as squirrels responded more intensely to calls played from strangers than to calls played from neighbors. This dear-enemy effect is well known in a variety of bird and mammal species and functions to reduce aggressive interactions between known neighbors. However, although previous experiments on red squirrels suggest some form of individual differentiation and thus recognition, detailed acoustic analysis of potential acoustic cues in rattle calls have not been conducted. If calls function to aid in conspecific identifi- cation in order to mitigate aggressive territorial interactions, we would expect that individual recognition cues would be acoustically represented. Our work provides a detailed analysis of acoustic cues to identity within rattle calls. A total of 225 calls across 32 in- dividual squirrels from Sheep River Provincial Park, Kananaskis, AB, Canada, were analyzed with discriminant function analysis for potential acoustic cues to individual identity. Initial analysis of all individuals revealed a reliable acoustic differentiation across individuals. A more detailed analysis of clusters of neighboring squirrels was performed and results again indicated a statistically significant likelihood that calls were assigned correctly to specific squirrels （55%-75% correctly assigned）; in other words squirrels have distinct voices that should allow for individual identification and discrimination by conspecifics [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 758-764, 2012].

关 键 词：Vocal communication Territory calls Red squirrel Dear-enemy Individual identity 

分 类 号：TN912.2[电子电信—通信与信息系统] Q959.837[电子电信—信息与通信工程]