Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other
International audience The sound-producing structure in birds is the syrinx, which is usually a two-part organ located at the junction of the bronchi. As each branch of the syrinx produces sound independently, many birds have two acoustic sources. Thirty years ago, we had anatomical, physiological a...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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HAL CCSD
2000
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Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02555352 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 |
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Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
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English |
topic |
MESH: Animals MESH: Birds MESH: Female MESH: Male MESH: Recognition Psychology MESH: Social Behavior MESH: Vocalization Animal [SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences |
spellingShingle |
MESH: Animals MESH: Birds MESH: Female MESH: Male MESH: Recognition Psychology MESH: Social Behavior MESH: Vocalization Animal [SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences Aubin, Thierry Jouventin, Pierre Hildebrand, C. Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
topic_facet |
MESH: Animals MESH: Birds MESH: Female MESH: Male MESH: Recognition Psychology MESH: Social Behavior MESH: Vocalization Animal [SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences |
description |
International audience The sound-producing structure in birds is the syrinx, which is usually a two-part organ located at the junction of the bronchi. As each branch of the syrinx produces sound independently, many birds have two acoustic sources. Thirty years ago, we had anatomical, physiological and acoustical evidence of this two-voice phenomenon but no function was known. In songbirds, often these two voices with their respective harmonics are not activated simultaneously but they are obvious in large penguins and generate a beat pattern which varies between individuals. The emperor penguin breeds during the Antarctic winter, incubating and carrying its egg on its feet. Without the topographical cue of a nest, birds identify each other only by vocal means when switching duties during incubation or chick rearing. To test whether the two-voice system contains the identity code, we played back the modified call of their mate to both adults and also the modified call of their parents to chicks. Both the adults and the chicks replied to controls (two voices) but not to modified signals (one voice being experimentally suppressed). Our experiments demonstrate that the beat generated by the interaction of these two fundamental frequencies conveys information about individual identity and also propagates well through obstacles, being robust to sound degradation through the medium of bodies in a penguin colony. The two-voice structure is also clear in the call of other birds such as the king penguin, another non-nesting species, but not in the 14 other nesting penguins. We concluded that the two-voice phenomenon functions as an individual recognition system in species using few if any landmarks to meet. In penguins, this coding process, increasing the call complexity and resisting sound degradation, has evolved in parallel with the loss of territoriality. |
author2 |
Neurobiologie de l'apprentissage, de la mémoire et de la communication (NAMC) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro) Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Aubin, Thierry Jouventin, Pierre Hildebrand, C. |
author_facet |
Aubin, Thierry Jouventin, Pierre Hildebrand, C. |
author_sort |
Aubin, Thierry |
title |
Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
title_short |
Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
title_full |
Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
title_fullStr |
Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
title_full_unstemmed |
Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
title_sort |
penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02555352 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
ISSN: 0962-8452 EISSN: 1471-2954 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02555352 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Royal Society, The, 2000, 267 (1448), pp.1081-1087. ⟨10.1098/rspb.2000.1112⟩ |
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op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 |
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Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences |
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267 |
container_issue |
1448 |
container_start_page |
1081 |
op_container_end_page |
1087 |
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spelling |
ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-02555352v1 2023-05-15T13:57:08+02:00 Penguins use the two–voice system to recognize each other Aubin, Thierry Jouventin, Pierre Hildebrand, C. Neurobiologie de l'apprentissage, de la mémoire et de la communication (NAMC) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro) Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ) 2000-06-07 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02555352 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 en eng HAL CCSD Royal Society, The info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/10885512 hal-02555352 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02555352 doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 PUBMED: 10885512 ISSN: 0962-8452 EISSN: 1471-2954 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02555352 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Royal Society, The, 2000, 267 (1448), pp.1081-1087. ⟨10.1098/rspb.2000.1112⟩ MESH: Animals MESH: Birds MESH: Female MESH: Male MESH: Recognition Psychology MESH: Social Behavior MESH: Vocalization Animal [SDV.NEU.NB]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Neurobiology [SDV.NEU.PC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Psychology and behavior [SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2000 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1112 2021-11-21T00:52:58Z International audience The sound-producing structure in birds is the syrinx, which is usually a two-part organ located at the junction of the bronchi. As each branch of the syrinx produces sound independently, many birds have two acoustic sources. Thirty years ago, we had anatomical, physiological and acoustical evidence of this two-voice phenomenon but no function was known. In songbirds, often these two voices with their respective harmonics are not activated simultaneously but they are obvious in large penguins and generate a beat pattern which varies between individuals. The emperor penguin breeds during the Antarctic winter, incubating and carrying its egg on its feet. Without the topographical cue of a nest, birds identify each other only by vocal means when switching duties during incubation or chick rearing. To test whether the two-voice system contains the identity code, we played back the modified call of their mate to both adults and also the modified call of their parents to chicks. Both the adults and the chicks replied to controls (two voices) but not to modified signals (one voice being experimentally suppressed). Our experiments demonstrate that the beat generated by the interaction of these two fundamental frequencies conveys information about individual identity and also propagates well through obstacles, being robust to sound degradation through the medium of bodies in a penguin colony. The two-voice structure is also clear in the call of other birds such as the king penguin, another non-nesting species, but not in the 14 other nesting penguins. We concluded that the two-voice phenomenon functions as an individual recognition system in species using few if any landmarks to meet. In penguins, this coding process, increasing the call complexity and resisting sound degradation, has evolved in parallel with the loss of territoriality. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Antarctic The Antarctic Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 267 1448 1081 1087 |