Intra-syllabic acoustic signatures used by the king penguin in parent-chick recognition: an experimental approach.

• Main Authors: Lengagne, Thierry, Lauga, Jacques, Aubin, Thierry
• Other Authors: 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), Laboratoire d'Ecologie Terrestre (LET), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2001
• Subjects: MESH: Animals; MESH: Auditory Perception; MESH: Birds; MESH: Female; MESH: Male; MESH: Signal Detection; Psychological; MESH: Sound; 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; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02555326

International audience In king penguin colonies, several studies have shown that both parent-chick recognition and mate-pair recognition are achieved by acoustic signals. The call of king penguins consists of strong frequency modulations with added beats of varying amplitude induced by the two-voice generating process. Both the frequency modulation pattern and the two-voice system could play a role in the identification of the calling bird. We investigated the potential role of these features in individual discrimination. Experiments were conducted by playing back altered or reconstructed parental signals to the corresponding chick. The results proved that the king penguin performs a complex analysis of the call, using both frequency modulation and the two-voice system. Reversed or frequency-modulation-suppressed signals do not elicit any responses. Modifying the shape of the frequency modulation by 30 % also impairs the recognition process. Moreover, we have demonstrated for the first time that birds perform an analysis of the beat amplitude induced by the two-voice system to assess individual identity. These two features, which are well preserved during the propagation of the signal, seem to be a reliable strategy to ensure the accurate transmission of individual information in a noisy colonial environment.