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Comparing responses of four ungulate species to playbacks of baboon alarm calls

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Abstract

A growing body of evidence suggests that a wide range of animals can recognize and respond appropriately to calls produced by other species. Social learning has been implicated as a possible mechanism by which heterospecific call recognition might develop. To examine whether familiarity and/or shared vulnerability with the calling species might influence the ability of sympatric species to distinguish heterospecific alarm calls, we tested whether four ungulate species (impala: Aepyceros melampus; tsessebe: Damaliscus lunatus; zebra: Equus burchelli; wildebeest: Connochaetes taurinus) could distinguish baboon (Papio hamadryas ursinus) alarm calls from other loud baboon calls produced during intra-specific aggressive interactions (‘contest’ calls). Overall, subjects’ responses were stronger following playback of alarm calls than contest calls. Of the species tested, impala showed the strongest responses and the greatest difference in composite response scores, suggesting they were best able to differentiate call types. Compared with the other ungulate species, impala are the most frequent associates of baboons. Moreover, like baboons, they are susceptible to both lion and leopard attacks, whereas leopards rarely take the larger ungulates. Although it seems possible that high rates of association and/or shared vulnerability may influence impala’s greater ability to distinguish among baboon call types, our results point to a stronger influence of familiarity. Ours is the first study to compare such abilities among several community members with variable natural histories, and we discuss future experiments that would more systematically examine development of these skills in young ungulates.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Office of the President of the Republic of Botswana and the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks for permission to conduct this research. We thank J. Beehner, A. Mokupi, M. Mokupi, J. Rawle, C. McAllister and M. McAllister for support and assistance in the field, and four anonymous reviewers for suggestions. We are grateful to W. Smith, C. Shaw, I. Clark and the staff at Eagle Island Camp for use of vehicles and for friendship. Research was supported by National Science Foundation grant IBN 9514001, National Institute of Health Grant MH62249, The Leakey Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania, and The Ohio State University. This research adhered to the Animal Behavior Society Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research, the legal requirements of Republic of Botswana, and institutional guidelines.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 4034 Smith Laboratory, 174 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Dawn M. Kitchen

  2. The Ohio State University, Mansfield, OH, 44906, USA

    Dawn M. Kitchen & James R. Nicholson

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Thore J. Bergman

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Thore J. Bergman

  5. Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Dorothy L. Cheney

  6. Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Robert M. Seyfarth

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  1. Dawn M. Kitchen
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Correspondence to Dawn M. Kitchen.

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Kitchen, D.M., Bergman, T.J., Cheney, D.L. et al. Comparing responses of four ungulate species to playbacks of baboon alarm calls. Anim Cogn 13, 861–870 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-010-0334-9

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