Adult male Australian sea lion barking calls reveal clear geographical variations

Heidi Ahonen*, Adam J. Stow, Robert G. Harcourt, Isabelle Charrier

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Vocalizing by males plays an important role in the reproductive activities of many species. Geographical variation in the characteristics of male vocalization is well studied in birds, but largely unexplored in mammals. This study quantified the extent of geographical variation in male Australian sea lion, Neophoca cinerea, barking calls and examined what drives vocal differences in this species. We recorded male barking calls from seven breeding colonies separated by ca. 5-2700. km enabling us to investigate acoustic differences on both micro- and macrogeographical scales. Our results revealed significant nonuniform geographical variation across colonies. Neither genetic nor geographical distances between colonies fully explained the observed acoustic variation. We suggest that environmental or morphological factors are likely to further contribute to differences in vocal characteristics.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)229-239
    Number of pages11
    JournalAnimal Behaviour
    Volume97
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2014

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Adult male Australian sea lion barking calls reveal clear geographical variations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this