Date of Award
2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Andrews, Anthony
Keywords
Red Ruffed Lemur, Vocal Repertoire, Vocalization
Area of Concentration
Anthropology
Abstract
The unusual vocalizations of our nonhuman primate relatives have long fascinated anthropologists and primatologists. To understand what these animals communicate, researchers have recorded and played back the calls of many species of primate. In the summer of 2012, I embarked on a five week study of five male captive red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) in order to create a behavioral vocal repertoire for this species. During this short study, I recorded 977 vocalizations and grouped over 800 of these into ten definitive categories: the bray, chatter, growl, growl-snort, grunt, mew, pulsed squawk, roar-shriek chorus, sniff, and squeal. A comparison of the contexts of these calls to the contexts of the closely related black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) revealed marked similarities and differences. Though I was able to confidently assign a function or context to most of these calls, I believe the results of this work would benefit from a year-long study of these lemurs.
Recommended Citation
Hudson, Daphne, "The Recording and Analysis of a Vocal Repertoire for the Red Ruffed Lemur, Varecia rubra" (2013). Theses & ETDs. 4802.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4802