Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation?
International audience The ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar calls may play a key role in pinnipeds’ communication and survival, as in the case of mother-pup interactions. Vocal discrimination abilities have been suggested to be more developed in pinniped species with the highe...
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108/document https://hal.science/hal-03617108/file/Varola_etal_PeerJ_2021.pdf https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12431 |
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ftuniparissaclay:oai:HAL:hal-03617108v1 2023-12-03T10:23:45+01:00 Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? Varola, Mila Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene Gunda Ursel Villanueva, Stella Charrier, Isabelle Ravignani, Andrea Comparative Bioacoustics Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster = University of Münster (WWU) Research Department, Sealcentre Pieterburen Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI) Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2021-11-15 https://hal.science/hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108/document https://hal.science/hal-03617108/file/Varola_etal_PeerJ_2021.pdf https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12431 en eng HAL CCSD PeerJ info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.7717/peerj.12431 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/34820184 hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108/document https://hal.science/hal-03617108/file/Varola_etal_PeerJ_2021.pdf doi:10.7717/peerj.12431 PUBMED: 34820184 PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC8601051 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 2167-8359 PeerJ https://hal.science/hal-03617108 PeerJ, 2021, 9, pp.e12431. ⟨10.7717/peerj.12431⟩ Harbor seals Long-term memory Phoca vitulina Pinnipeds Playback presentation Vocal recognition [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 2021 ftuniparissaclay https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12431 2023-11-04T22:31:17Z International audience The ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar calls may play a key role in pinnipeds’ communication and survival, as in the case of mother-pup interactions. Vocal discrimination abilities have been suggested to be more developed in pinniped species with the highest selective pressure such as the otariids; yet, in some group-living phocids, such as harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ), mothers are also able to recognize their pup’s voice. Conspecifics’ vocal recognition in pups has never been investigated; however, the repeated interaction occurring between pups within the breeding season suggests that long-term vocal discrimination may occur. Here we explored this hypothesis by presenting three rehabilitated seal pups with playbacks of vocalizations from unfamiliar or familiar pups. It is uncommon for seals to come into rehabilitation for a second time in their lifespan, and this study took advantage of these rare cases. A simple visual inspection of the data plots seemed to show more reactions, and of longer duration, in response to familiar as compared to unfamiliar playbacks in two out of three pups. However, statistical analyses revealed no significant difference between the experimental conditions. We also found no significant asymmetry in orientation (left vs . right) towards familiar and unfamiliar sounds. While statistics do not support the hypothesis of an established ability to discriminate familiar vocalizations from unfamiliar ones in harbor seal pups, further investigations with a larger sample size are needed to confirm or refute this hypothesis. Article in Journal/Newspaper harbor seal Phoca vitulina Archives ouvertes de Paris-Saclay PeerJ 9 e12431 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Archives ouvertes de Paris-Saclay |
op_collection_id |
ftuniparissaclay |
language |
English |
topic |
Harbor seals Long-term memory Phoca vitulina Pinnipeds Playback presentation Vocal recognition [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 |
Harbor seals Long-term memory Phoca vitulina Pinnipeds Playback presentation Vocal recognition [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 Varola, Mila Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene Gunda Ursel Villanueva, Stella Charrier, Isabelle Ravignani, Andrea Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
topic_facet |
Harbor seals Long-term memory Phoca vitulina Pinnipeds Playback presentation Vocal recognition [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 ability to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar calls may play a key role in pinnipeds’ communication and survival, as in the case of mother-pup interactions. Vocal discrimination abilities have been suggested to be more developed in pinniped species with the highest selective pressure such as the otariids; yet, in some group-living phocids, such as harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ), mothers are also able to recognize their pup’s voice. Conspecifics’ vocal recognition in pups has never been investigated; however, the repeated interaction occurring between pups within the breeding season suggests that long-term vocal discrimination may occur. Here we explored this hypothesis by presenting three rehabilitated seal pups with playbacks of vocalizations from unfamiliar or familiar pups. It is uncommon for seals to come into rehabilitation for a second time in their lifespan, and this study took advantage of these rare cases. A simple visual inspection of the data plots seemed to show more reactions, and of longer duration, in response to familiar as compared to unfamiliar playbacks in two out of three pups. However, statistical analyses revealed no significant difference between the experimental conditions. We also found no significant asymmetry in orientation (left vs . right) towards familiar and unfamiliar sounds. While statistics do not support the hypothesis of an established ability to discriminate familiar vocalizations from unfamiliar ones in harbor seal pups, further investigations with a larger sample size are needed to confirm or refute this hypothesis. |
author2 |
Comparative Bioacoustics Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster = University of Münster (WWU) Research Department, Sealcentre Pieterburen Institut des Neurosciences Paris-Saclay (NeuroPSI) Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Varola, Mila Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene Gunda Ursel Villanueva, Stella Charrier, Isabelle Ravignani, Andrea |
author_facet |
Varola, Mila Verga, Laura Sroka, Marlene Gunda Ursel Villanueva, Stella Charrier, Isabelle Ravignani, Andrea |
author_sort |
Varola, Mila |
title |
Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
title_short |
Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
title_full |
Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
title_fullStr |
Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Can harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
title_sort |
can harbor seals ( phoca vitulina ) discriminate familiar conspecific calls after long periods of separation? |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108/document https://hal.science/hal-03617108/file/Varola_etal_PeerJ_2021.pdf https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12431 |
genre |
harbor seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbor seal Phoca vitulina |
op_source |
ISSN: 2167-8359 PeerJ https://hal.science/hal-03617108 PeerJ, 2021, 9, pp.e12431. ⟨10.7717/peerj.12431⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.7717/peerj.12431 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/34820184 hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108 https://hal.science/hal-03617108/document https://hal.science/hal-03617108/file/Varola_etal_PeerJ_2021.pdf doi:10.7717/peerj.12431 PUBMED: 34820184 PUBMEDCENTRAL: PMC8601051 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12431 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
9 |
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e12431 |
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1784272008746369024 |