Spectral characteristics and sex differences in the song of Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing)

GUO Tingyan; MA Haigang; HAN Pu; WANG Zidi; ZHU Changyue; CHU Yuanmengran; ZHANG Lixiang; LI Ruxue; QI Jiaru; LI Jiahua; FAN Pengfei

doi:10.16829/j.slxb.150870

ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA >

2024 , Vol. 44 >Issue 1: 14 - 25

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16829/j.slxb.150870

ORIGINAL PAPERS

Spectral characteristics and sex differences in the song of Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing)

GUO Tingyan ,
MA Haigang ,
HAN Pu ,
WANG Zidi ,
ZHU Changyue ,
CHU Yuanmengran ,
ZHANG Lixiang ,
LI Ruxue ,
QI Jiaru ,
LI Jiahua ,
FAN Pengfei

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1 School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518000, China;
2 School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
3 Baoshan Management and Protection Bureau of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Baoshan 678000, China;
4 Management and Protection Bureau of Tongbiguan Provincial Nature Reserve, Dehong 678400, China;
5 Cloud Mountain Conservation, Dali 671000, China;
6 Longyang Branch of Baoshan Management and Protection Bureau of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Baoshan 678000, China

Received date: 2023-10-20

Revised date: 2023-12-11

Online published: 2024-01-25

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Abstract

Species of the genus Hoolock were previously thought to lack sexual dimorphism. Identifying sexual dimorphism in vocalizations is helpful for their population dynamics monitoring and behavioral research. In this study, we annotate the song bouts of 11 Hoolock tianxing individuals. We employed k-medoids clustering to divide note types, and we classified phrase types based on the length and note composition of phrases. We also compared sexual dimorphism in notes and phrases. We identified 5 note types: wa, oo, whoop, ow and eek. The range and rate of frequency modulation of wa and ow notes of females were higher than those of males, the frequency features of oo notes were lower than those of males, the range and rate of frequency modulation of whoop notes were lower than those of males. For the phrases use, solitary apes were more similar to the parts contributed by their respective genders during a chorus. Males seldom sing phrase G mainly composed of the whoop note and the ow note, females seldom sing phrase B (wa-whoop) and phrase C (wa-oo-wa-whoop). Our study demonstrated sexual dimorphism in the vocalizations of Hoolock tianxing, which is not only helpful for the monitoring of Hoolock tianxing, but also important for understanding the function of different note types and sex differences.

Key words： Hoolock gibbon; Spectrogram analysis; Vocal communication; Loud call; Sexual dimorphism

Cite this article

GUO Tingyan , MA Haigang , HAN Pu , WANG Zidi , ZHU Changyue , CHU Yuanmengran , ZHANG Lixiang , LI Ruxue , QI Jiaru , LI Jiahua , FAN Pengfei . Spectral characteristics and sex differences in the song of Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing)[J]. ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA, 2024 , 44(1) : 14 -25 . DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150870

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