title: The traits of the great calls in the juvenile and adolescent gibbon males Nomascus gabriellae.
abstract: Knowledge about vocal ontogeny and vocal plasticity during ontogeny in primate species is central to understanding the evolution of human speech. Vocalizations in gibbons (Hominoidea) are very interesting and contain complex species- and sex-specific patterns. However, ontogeny of gibbon songs is little studied. Here, we document regular production and ontogenetic changes of female-specific "great call" in 4 immature (2 juvenile-c.a. 3 years old; and 2 adolescent-c.a. 5 years old) males of southern yellow-cheeked gibbon (N. gabriellae) over nine months. None of the males produced fully developed adult-like "great call" and little ontogenetic changes to "great calls" occurred. "Great calls" of sons were shorter, started higher and ended lower than those of their mothers. Regular production of twitter part of great call likely appears around 4th year as it was observed in adolescent but not in juvenile males.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Ethology, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha - Suchdol, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hradec
authors.affiliation: Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Praha Uhříněves, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Linhart
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Ethology, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha - Suchdol, Czech Republic.|Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Praha Uhříněves, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Luděk
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bartoš
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science and Ethology, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Praha - Suchdol, Czech Republic.|Zoo Liberec, Liberec, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bolechová
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006922:Hylobates / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male