Acoustic and behavioral repertoires of the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius).

Abstract

This study describes the acoustic and behavioral repertoires of the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). Simultaneous audio and video recordings were collected of male and female hippos at Disney's Animal Kingdom(®). Visual inspection of spectrograms resulted in classifying signals into three main categories (burst of air, tonal, and pulsed) produced in-air, underwater, or simultaneously in both mediums. Of the total acoustic signals, most were produced underwater (80%), and the majority of the total signals were tonal (54%). Using multivariate analysis of the acoustic parameters, 11 signal types were described and differentiated. In the burst of air category, chuffs and snorts were distinguished by minimum and peak frequency, and bubble displays were described. In the tonal category, grunts, groans, screams, and whines were distinguished by several frequency measures (e.g., minimum, maximum, fundamental, peak frequency). Wheeze honks were tonal signals that often involved a chorus of overlapping calls. In the pulsed category, click trains, croaks, and growls were distinguished by frequency and duration. Video analysis demonstrated that chuffs, groans, and whines were associated with submissive contexts, while snorts, grunts, and growls were associated with dominance contexts. These results provide further information about the acoustic signals and concurrent behavior of hippos.