CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VOCALIZATIONS OF RED DEER CERVUS ELAPHUS HINDS AND CALVES

ABSTRACT

The voices of 8 hinds and their 7 offspring were analysed spectrographically. They were transformed into sonograms and the following parameters were measured: duration, fundamental frequency and frequency bands with high amplitudes. The animals emitted single calls or a series of sounds at irregular intervals. The single calls were monosyllabic and the series were homotypical sequences. The hind voices were deep and bleatlike, ranging in frequency from 70 to 3000 Hz. The fundamental frequency was 108.35 ± 15.21 Hz and the duration was 0.27 ±0.14 sec. There were 1 to 8 frequency bands with high amplitudes created. Differences between individual voices were found in all characteristics of vocalization tested. The variation between voices was a result of the combination of these characteristics. The most important factor seemed to be the pattern of main frequency bands with high amplitudes. The calf voices were high, whiny and tonal, ranging in frequency from 320 to 7000 Hz. The fundamental frequency was 736.97 ± 177.67 Hz and the duration was 0.26 ± 0.12 sec. They were similar to each other, and inter-individual variation was not very apparent. This suggests that while hinds can be recognized individually by voice, it is probably not possible to distinguish the calves by voice alone. This is in accordance with parallel findings, that hinds did not seem to recognise their own calfs voice.

Key words:

• red deer
• Cervus elaplius
• vocalization
• individual differences
• sonograph
• communication