Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles
Summary: Recognizing conspecifics is vital for differentiating mates, offspring, and social threats. Individual recognition is often reliant upon chemical or visual cues but can also be facilitated by vocal signatures in some species. In common laboratory rodents, playback studies have uncovered com...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-02-01
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| Series: | iScience |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225000550 |
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| author | Megan R. Warren Jenny Zha Larry J. Young Robert C. Liu |
| author_facet | Megan R. Warren Jenny Zha Larry J. Young Robert C. Liu |
| author_sort | Megan R. Warren |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Recognizing conspecifics is vital for differentiating mates, offspring, and social threats. Individual recognition is often reliant upon chemical or visual cues but can also be facilitated by vocal signatures in some species. In common laboratory rodents, playback studies have uncovered communicative functions of vocalizations, but scant behavioral evidence exists for individual vocal recognition. Here, we find that the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) emits behavior-dependent vocalizations that can communicate individual identity. Vocalizations of individual males change after bonding with a female; however, acoustic variation across individuals is greater than within-individual variation. Critically, females behaviorally discriminate their partner’s vocalizations from a stranger’s, even if emitted to another stimulus female. These results establish the acoustic and behavioral foundation for individual vocal recognition in prairie voles, where neurobiological tools enable future studies revealing its causal neural mechanisms. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5990f4bdd41c46c791ab2fc55f4b99de |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj-art-5990f4bdd41c46c791ab2fc55f4b99de2025-01-26T05:04:36ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-02-01282111796Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie volesMegan R. Warren0Jenny Zha1Larry J. Young2Robert C. Liu3Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, USADepartment of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USACenter for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USADepartment of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory National Primate Research Center, Atlanta, GA, USA; Corresponding authorSummary: Recognizing conspecifics is vital for differentiating mates, offspring, and social threats. Individual recognition is often reliant upon chemical or visual cues but can also be facilitated by vocal signatures in some species. In common laboratory rodents, playback studies have uncovered communicative functions of vocalizations, but scant behavioral evidence exists for individual vocal recognition. Here, we find that the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster) emits behavior-dependent vocalizations that can communicate individual identity. Vocalizations of individual males change after bonding with a female; however, acoustic variation across individuals is greater than within-individual variation. Critically, females behaviorally discriminate their partner’s vocalizations from a stranger’s, even if emitted to another stimulus female. These results establish the acoustic and behavioral foundation for individual vocal recognition in prairie voles, where neurobiological tools enable future studies revealing its causal neural mechanisms.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225000550Rodent behaviorBioacousticsEvolutionary biology |
| spellingShingle | Megan R. Warren Jenny Zha Larry J. Young Robert C. Liu Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles iScience Rodent behavior Bioacoustics Evolutionary biology |
| title | Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles |
| title_full | Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles |
| title_fullStr | Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles |
| title_short | Vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles |
| title_sort | vocal recognition of partners by female prairie voles |
| topic | Rodent behavior Bioacoustics Evolutionary biology |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225000550 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT meganrwarren vocalrecognitionofpartnersbyfemaleprairievoles AT jennyzha vocalrecognitionofpartnersbyfemaleprairievoles AT larryjyoung vocalrecognitionofpartnersbyfemaleprairievoles AT robertcliu vocalrecognitionofpartnersbyfemaleprairievoles |