In-air acoustic repertoire and associated behaviour of wild juvenile crabeater seals during rehabilitation ...

• Main Authors: Shabangu, Fannie W., Hofmeyr, G. J. Greg, Probert, Rachel, Connan, Maëlle, Buhrmann, Corrine A., Gridley, Tess
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2022
• Subjects: Neuroscience; 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified; FOS Earth and related environmental sciences; Ecology; FOS Biological sciences; Sociology; FOS Sociology; 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified; Inorganic Chemistry; FOS Chemical sciences; Moan; Crabeater Seals
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20514014.v1; https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/In-air_acoustic_repertoire_and_associated_behaviour_of_wild_juvenile_crabeater_seals_during_rehabilitation/20514014/1

In-air sounds of pinnipeds are important for interactions with conspecifics and threat displays. However, little is known about the in-air acoustic repertoire and associated behaviour of crabeater seals Lobodon carcinophaga . We investigated the in-air acoustic repertoire and associated behaviour of two male and one female wild juvenile crabeater seals that beached separately, and were rehabilitated in Durban and Gqeberha, South Africa. In-air sounds were visually identified and categorised into five classes validated via random forest model classification: brief, intermediate, and long moan calls, croaks, and hisses. Hisses were common (n = 25,105 sounds from 136 hrs of acoustic recordings) and detected during heightened arousal states and interactions with animal care staff and a conspecific. Furthermore, hisses were also recorded in low arousal states during exhalation. Moan calls (n = 241) were only detected from two of the three seals. During rehabilitation, the female seal ceased producing moan calls ...