title: Context-specific close-range "hoo" calls in wild gibbons (Hylobates lar).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Close range calls are produced by many animals during intra-specific interactions, such as during home range defence, playing, begging for food, and directing others. In this study, we investigated the most common close range vocalisation of lar gibbons (Hylobates lar), the 'hoo' call. Gibbons and siamangs (family Hylobatidae) are known for their conspicuous and elaborate songs, while quieter, close range vocalisations have received almost no empirical attention, perhaps due to the difficult observation conditions in their natural forest habitats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that 'hoo' calls were emitted by both sexes in a variety of contexts, including feeding, separation from group members, encountering predators, interacting with neighbours, or as part of duet songs by the mated pair. Acoustic analyses revealed that 'hoo' calls varied in a number of spectral parameters as a function of the different contexts. Males' and females' 'hoo' calls showed similar variation in these context-specific parameter differences, although there were also consistent sex differences in frequency across contexts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides evidence that lar gibbons are able to generate significant, context-dependent acoustic variation within their main social call, which potentially allows recipients to make inferences about the external events experienced by the caller. Communicating about different events by producing subtle acoustic variation within some call types appears to be a general feature of primate communication, which can increase the expressive power of vocal signals within the constraints of limited vocal tract flexibility that is typical for all non-human primates. In this sense, this study is of direct relevance for the on-going debate about the nature and origins of vocally-based referential communication and the evolution of human speech.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Anthropology Research Group, Dawson Building, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK. e.a.clarke@durham.ac.uk.|School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JP, UK. e.a.clarke@durham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology and left for Ecology, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, USA. ureich@siu.edu.
authors.forename: Ulrich H
authors.initials: UH
authors.lastname: Reichard
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9JP, UK. klaus.zuberbuehler@unine.ch.|Cognitive Science Centre, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. klaus.zuberbuehler@unine.ch.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zuberbühler
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006922:Hylobates / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012919:Social Behavior; D014828:Vocalization, Animal