The biological significance of acoustic stimuli determines ear preference in the music frog.
Behavioral and neurophysiological studies support the idea that right ear advantage (REA) exists for perception of conspecific vocal signals in birds and mammals. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on anuran species that typically communicate through vocalization. The present study examined the direction and latencies of orientation behaviors in Emei music frogs (Babina daunchina) produced in response to six auditory stimuli emitted by a speaker placed directly behind the subjects. The stimuli included male advertisement calls produced from within burrow nests, which have been shown to be highly sexually attractive (HSA), calls produced from outside burrows, which are of low sexual attractiveness (LSA), screech calls produced when frogs are attacked by snakes, white noise, thunder and silence. For all sound stimuli except the screech, the frogs preferentially turned to the right. Right ear preference was strongest for HSA calls. For the screech and thunder stimuli, there was an increased tendency for subjects to move further from the speaker rather than turning. These results support the idea that in anurans, right ear preference is associated with perception of positive or neutral signals such as the conspecific advertisement call and white noise, while a left ear preference is associated with perception of negative signals such as predatory attack.
Key laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, Ministry of Education, School of life sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China Department of Herpetology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.9 Section 4, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China.
Fei
F
Xue
Department of Herpetology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.9 Section 4, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China fanggz@cib.ac.cn tangyz@cib.ac.cn.
Guangzhan
G
Fang
Department of Herpetology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.9 Section 4, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China.
Ping
P
Yang
Key laboratory of Bio-resources and Eco-environment, Ministry of Education, School of life sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610064, People's Republic of China Department of Herpetology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.9 Section 4, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China.
Ermi
E
Zhao
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Steven E
SE
Brauth
Department of Herpetology, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.9 Section 4, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China fanggz@cib.ac.cn tangyz@cib.ac.cn.
Yezhong
Y
Tang
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D008297:Male; D011898:Ranidae / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
Auditory perception; Conspecific calls; Emotion; Mating strategy; REA; Right ear advantage