Acoustic cues to size and quality in the vocalizations of male North American bison, Bison bison
Source-filter theory provides a framework to interpret the acoustic structure of vertebrate vocalizations in relation to biophysical production, and it predicts that specific acoustic parameters can encode information about callers. Because formant frequencies are determined by vocal tract dimensions, with longer vocal tracts producing lower formants, they can be reliable indicators of body size, as […]
Female koalas prefer bellows in which lower formants indicate larger males
Despite an extensive literature on the role of acoustic cues in mate choice little is known about the specific vocal traits that female mammals prefer. We used resynthesis techniques and playback experiments to examine the behavioural responses of oestrous female koalas, Phascolarctos cinereus, to male bellows in which a specific acoustic cue to body size, […]