Perceptual salience of individually distinctive features in the calls of adult king penguins

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Main Authors: Lengagne, Thierry, Aubin, Thierry, Jouventin, Pierre, Lauga, Jacques
• 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), Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Laboratoire d'Ecologie Terrestre (LET), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2000
• Subjects: MESH: Animal Communication; MESH: Animals; MESH: Auditory Perception; MESH: Behavior; Animal; MESH: Birds; MESH: Female; MESH: Male; MESH: Social Environment; [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-02555373; https://doi.org/10.1121/1.428319

International audience In the king penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, incubation and brooding duties are undertaken alternately by both partners of a pair. Birds returning from foraging at sea find their mate in the crowded colony using acoustic signals. Acoustic recognition of the mate maintains and strengthens the mate's fidelity and favors synchronization in the different stages of reproduction. In this study it was found that the king penguin vocalizes in response to the mate's playback calls, but not to those of neighbors or unfamiliar conspecific individuals. To study individual features used by the birds for individual recognition of mates, various experimental signals consisting of synthesized modifications of the mate' s call were played back to the incubating bird. Results indicated that birds attend to the FM profile of the call, in particular its initial inflexion. The frequency modulation shape of the syllable can be assimilated to a vocal signature repeated though the different syllables of the call. King penguins pay little attention to the call' s AM envelope or its absolute frequency.