IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Walsh, E.J.; Wang, L.M.; Armstrong, D.L.; Curro, T.; Simmons, L.G.; McGee, J. | |
| Acoustic communication in_ Panthera tigris_: A study of tiger vocalisation and auditory receptivity | |
| 2003 Conference Proceeding | |
To adults and children alike, tigers are one of the best-known members of the animal kingdom. It may be surprising, then, to learn that we have a lot to discover about their hearing and the acoustics of their vocalizations. To help fill in the gaps in our knowledge, we are in the midst of a study that is focused on the characterization of the vocal properties and hearing capabilities of a subset of surviving tiger subspecies, namely the Siberian, Bengal, Sumatran and the Indochinese tigers. We are hoping that our findings will not only add to a deeper understanding of these mysterious, solitary hunters, but will allow us to contribute to their preservation. However, this is not a small task given the seriousness of their endangerment. Successfully communicating with prospective mates and competitors in the field poses a significant challenge to solitary hunters like free-ranging tigers whose hunting territories can be extensive - especially in the case of the Siberian subspecies whose members occupy the deciduous forests of eastern Russia. In that regard, the environmental transmission characteristics of low frequency and infrasonic acoustical signals (acoustic events that contain energy below the frequency range of human hearing) are ideally suited to support long distance communication among widely separated individuals, and tigers have long been recognized as a group that may have developed a vocal repertoire allowing them to establish and maintain hunting territories, identify and associate with mates, and provide females of the species with dependent cubs the opportunity to escape the infanticidal intentions of non-paternal males. Although the results of middle and inner ear studies suggest that low frequency acoustic energy is preferentially processed by the inner ears of tigers, the capacity of individuals to perceive low frequency and infrasonic acoustic events has not been determined and the overall frequency range over which tigers successfully navigate their acoustic landscape has been largely unknown until recently. |
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