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Abstract
Vocal production learning (VPL), or the ability to modify vocalizations through the imitation of sounds, is a rare trait in the animal kingdom. While humans are exceptional vocal learners, few other mammalian species share this trait. Owing to their singular ecology and lifestyle, bats are highly specialized for the precise emission and reception of acoustic signals. This specialization makes them ideal candidates for the study of vocal learning, and several bat species have previously shown evidence supportive of vocal learning. Here we use a sophisticated automated set-up and a contingency training paradigm to explore the vocal learning capacity of pale spear-nosed bats. We show that these bats are capable of directional change of the fundamental frequency of their calls according to an auditory target. With this study, we further highlight the importance of bats for the study of vocal learning and provide evidence for the VPL capacity of the pale spear-nosed bat.
Highlights
Bats are highly specialized in the use of their auditory system, which allows them to orientate in the dark, and to discriminate prey and surface structures and identify conspecifics with a high temporal and spectral resolution [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Bats have attracted increased attention owing to their capacity for vocal production learning (VPL), defined as the capacity to modify vocalizations ‘in form as a result of experience with those of other individuals’ [16, p. 59]
VPL is related to vocal plasticity in that a change from baseline vocal parameters must occur; it goes beyond plasticity as it involves acoustic perception to induce a learned change towards or away from a target sound [16]
Summary
Bats are highly specialized in the use of their auditory system, which allows them to orientate in the dark, and to discriminate prey and surface structures and identify conspecifics with a high temporal and spectral resolution [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Bats have attracted increased attention owing to their capacity for vocal production learning (VPL), defined as the capacity to modify vocalizations ‘in form as a result of experience with those of other individuals’ [16, p. VPL is related to vocal plasticity in that a change from baseline vocal parameters must occur; it goes beyond plasticity as it involves acoustic perception to induce a learned change towards or away from a target sound [16]. While gradual vocal parameter changes towards an acoustic target have been described as a limited form of VPL, the acquisition of artificial or heterospecific vocalizations is described as complex VPL [17,19]. VPL is distinct from vocal usage learning, which involves learning to use vocalizations in new contexts, regardless of whether they are learned or innate [16,19]
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