Reproductive state alters vocal characteristics of female North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) ...

• Main Author: Hare, Alexander
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2023
• Subjects: Tamiasciurus hudsonicus; Bioacoustics; Animal behavior; FOS Biological sciences; Aishihik; Champagne; Yukon; First Nations; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqp4; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.qjq2bvqp4

Female advertisement of reproductive state and receptivity has the potential to play a large role in the mating systems of many taxa, but investigations of this phenomenon are underrepresented in the literature. North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are highly territorial and engage in scramble competition mating, with males converging from spatially disparate territories to engage in mating chases. Given the narrow estrus window exhibited in this species, the ubiquitous use of vocalizations to advertise territory ownership, and the high synchronicity of males arriving from distant territories, we hypothesized that female vocalizations contain cues relating to their estrous state. To test this hypothesis, we examined the spectral and temporal properties of female territorial rattle vocalizations collected from females of known reproductive condition over 3 years. While we found no distinct changes associated with estrus specifically, we did identify significant changes in the spectral ... : Methods listed below are from: Hare, McAdam, Dantzer, Lane, Boutin, and Newman (2024). Reproductive state alters vocal characteristics of female North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). Journal of Mammalogy (In Press). "Study systemWe studied a wild population of T. hudsonicus associated with the Kluane Red Squirrel Project (KRSP) from 2018 – 2020 in southwestern Yukon (61˚N, 138˚W) within the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations’ traditional territory (Dantzer et al. 2020). Audio recordings were collected from 108 individual female squirrels at 6 separate study sites spaced 5 km apart along the Alaska Highway. Each individual in the study was tagged with unique alphanumeric ear tags in each ear (Monel #1 National Band & Tag Co., Newport, KY, USA). We also threaded colored wires through ear tags for visual identification from a distance (McAdam et al. 2007). As part of the KRSP, all individuals were routinely trapped and handled to establish territory ownership, assess body mass and ...