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Vocal discrimination of potential mates by female giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 13:24 authored by Benjamin D Charlton, Yan Huang, Ronald R Swaisgood
In the current study, we used male giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) bleats in a habituation–discrimination paradigm to determine whether females discriminate between the vocalizations of different males. We found that females habituated to the bleats of a specific male showed a significant dishabituation when they were presented with bleats from a novel male. Further playbacks, in which we standardized the mean fundamental frequency (pitch) and amplitude modulation of male bleats, indicated that amplitude modulation is the key feature that females attend to when discriminating between male callers. Our results show that female giant pandas can discriminate between the vocalizations of potential mates and provide a platform for further studies investigating the functional role of caller identity in giant panda sexual communication

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Biology Letters

ISSN

1744-9561

Issue

5

Volume

5

Page range

597-599

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-11-14

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