Examining Atypical Vocal Production of Great Calls and Codas in White-handed Gibbons (Hylobates lar) — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

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Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
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James Ripley

Examining Atypical Vocal Production of Great Calls and Codas in White-handed Gibbons (Hylobates lar)

Name: Alexandra Steffen
Major: Biology
Hometown: Roseville
Faculty Sponsor: Angela Dassow
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

Abstract

White-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) are an endangered species of lesser ape from southeast Asia, and are known for their territorial behavioral displays. As part of these displays, female H. lar will produce a loud, stereotypical vocal sequence called a great call. The great call is followed by a male vocal sequence called a coda. Captive gibbons, similar to wild gibbons, are capable of producing great calls and codas; however the group dynamics of captive gibbons varies drastically from wild gibbons. Whether atypical group dynamics have any effect on the quality and duration of great calls and codas remains unclear. Our current study focuses on examining the production and usage of great calls and codas in wild and captive H. lar. It is hypothesized that captive gibbons will not produce stereotypical great calls and codas. In this study, vocalizations were recorded at a 44.1kHz sampling rate from 14 wild (6 F; 8M) and 4 captive (2 F; 2M) H. lar. Acoustical measurements were made on the duration of the great call and duration of the coda, using Adobe Audition CC 2015.2. We anticipate finding a statistically significant difference in the mean duration of the female great call and the mean duration of the male coda between wild and captive gibbons.

Poster file