Claudia Fichtel

Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany

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Publications (18)43.59 Total impact

  • Article: Determinants and Outcomes of Decision-Making, Group Coordination and Social Interactions during a Foraging Experiment in a Wild Primate.
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    ABSTRACT: Social animals have to coordinate joint movements to maintain group cohesion, but the latter is often compromised by diverging individual interests. A widespread behavioral mechanism to achieve coordination relies on shared or unshared consensus decision-making. If consensus costs are high, group fission represents an alternative tactic. Exploring determinants and outcomes of spontaneous group decisions and coordination of free-ranging animals is methodologically challenging. We therefore conducted a foraging experiment with a group of wild redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) to study decision outcomes, coordination of movements, individual foraging benefits and social interactions in response to the presentation of drinking platforms with varying baiting patterns. Behavioral observations were complemented with data from recordings of motion detector cameras installed at the platforms. The animal's behavior in the experimental conditions was compared to natural group movements. We could not determine the type of consensus decision-making because the group visited platforms randomly. The group fissioned during 23.3% of platform visits, and fissioning resulted in more individuals drinking simultaneously. As under natural conditions, adult females initiated most group movements, but overtaking by individuals of different age and sex classes occurred in 67% of movements to platforms, compared to only 18% during other movements. As a result, individual resource intake at the platforms did not depend on departure position, age or sex, but on arrival order. Aggression at the platforms did not affect resource intake, presumably due to low supplanting rates. Our findings highlight the diversity of coordination processes and related consequences for individual foraging benefits in a primate group living under natural conditions.
    PLoS ONE 01/2013; 8(1):e53144. · 4.09 Impact Factor
  • Chapter: A 15-Year Perspective on the Social Organization and Life History of Sifaka in Kirindy Forest
    Peter M. Kappeler, Claudia Fichtel
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    ABSTRACT: In this chapter, we summarize some fundamental demographic and morphometric data from the first 15 years of a long-term study of Verreaux’s sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) at Kirindy Forest in Western Madagascar. We first describe this research site, its history, and infrastructure, as well as the methods employed to study a local sifaka population. Regular censuses, behavioral observations, and systematic captures of members of up to 11 groups began in 1995 and yielded a data set on demography and life history that can contribute comparative insights about sifaka life history. Our analyses revealed that average group size fluctuated very little around a mean of six individuals across years. Group composition was modified by dispersal (mostly male transfers) or disappearances, births, and deaths. Predation and female transfer were the main mechanisms triggering group extinctions and foundation of new groups (N=5 cases in 149 group years). These exceptional cases of female transfer were most likely motivated by female competition or inbreeding avoidance. One female was a member of at least four different groups. Median age at first birth was 5 years. All females gave birth to single infants, but the proportion of adult females reproducing varied between 25 and 85% across years. The mean interval between 112 births was 15.1 months. Loss of an infant before weaning reduced the subsequent inter-birth interval only by about 1 month. The probability that individual females reproduced successfully decreased as the number of adult females per group increased, implying that subtle forms of female competition limit group size. Mortality is especially high (62%) in the first 2 years of life. Predation by the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is the main cause of death. Maximum female reproductive lifespan is at least 15 years, but longevity is still impossible to estimate. These analyses revealed new insights into female reproductive strategies and their interaction with social organization that were only possible because of the long-term nature of the study, but problems of small sample size still limit the analysis of many vital statistics.
    12/2011: pages 101-121;
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    Article: Reaching a Consensus: Terminology and Concepts Used in Coordination and Decision-Making Research.
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    ABSTRACT: Research on coordination and decision-making in humans and nonhuman primates has increased considerably throughout the last decade. However, terminology has been used inconsistently, hampering the broader integration of results from different studies. In this short article, we provide a glossary containing the central terms of coordination and decision-making research. The glossary is based on previous definitions that have been critically revised and annotated by the participants of the symposium "Where next? Coordination and decision-making in primate groups" at the XXIIIth Congress of the International Primatological Society (IPS) in Kyoto, Japan. We discuss a number of conceptual and methodological issues and highlight consequences for their implementation. In summary, we recommend that future studies on coordination and decision-making in animal groups do not use the terms "combined decision" and "democratic/despotic decision-making." This will avoid ambiguity as well as anthropocentric connotations. Further, we demonstrate the importance of 1) taxon-specific definitions of coordination parameters (initiation, leadership, followership, termination), 2) differentiation between coordination research on individual-level process and group-level outcome, 3) analyses of collective action processes including initiation and termination, and 4) operationalization of successful group movements in the field to collect meaningful and comparable data across different species.
    International Journal of Primatology 12/2011; 32(6):1268-1278. · 1.54 Impact Factor
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    Article: Coordination of Group Movements in Wild Red-fronted Lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons): Processes and Influence of Ecological and Reproductive Seasonality.
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    ABSTRACT: Group-living species have to coordinate collective actions to maintain cohesion. In primates, spatial movements represent a meaningful model to study group coordination processes across different socio-ecological contexts. We studied 4 groups of red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) in Kirindy Forest, Madagascar, between 2008 and 2010 across different ecological and reproductive seasons. We collected data on ranging patterns using GPS collars and observational data on different predefined parameters of group movements, including initiation, leadership, followership, overtaking events, termination, and travel distances. Cohesion of these relatively small, egalitarian lemur groups was high year-round, but daily path length and home range size varied considerably between ecological seasons, presumably due to long-distance migrations of some groups at the beginning of the rainy season. Individuals of different age and sex classes successfully initiated group movements. However, stable female leadership prevailed year-round, irrespective of ecological and reproductive season, which might be due to higher or more specific energetic requirements of reproduction. In contrast to lemur species with a more despotic social structure, female red-fronted lemurs did not recruit more followers than males. Adult leaders recruited more followers than subadult ones. Further, recruitment success was higher during the peak of the dry season, when predation risk appeared to be higher. Distances of single group movements did not depend on the initiator's sex and age or on ecological seasons. Our results provide new insights into seasonal variability of coordination processes and the role of social dominance in lemur group movements, thereby contributing to a comparative perspective from a primate radiation that evolved group living independently of anthropoids.
    International Journal of Primatology 12/2011; 32(6):1325-1347. · 1.54 Impact Factor
  • Article: Female reproductive competition in Eulemur rufifrons: eviction and reproductive restraint in a plurally breeding Malagasy primate.
    Peter M Kappeler, Claudia Fichtel
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    ABSTRACT: In mammals with female philopatry, co-resident females inevitably compete with each other for resources or reproductive opportunities, thereby reducing the kin-selected benefits of altruism towards relatives. These counteracting forces of cooperation and competition among kin should be particularly pronounced in plurally breeding species with limited alternative breeding opportunities outside the natal group. However, little is still known about the costs of reproductive competition on females' fitness and the victims' potential counter-strategies. Here we summarize long-term behavioural, demographic and genetic data collected on a plurally breeding primate from Madagascar to illuminate mechanisms and effects of female reproductive competition, focusing on forcible eviction and potential reproductive restraint. The main results of our study indicate that females in groups of redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) above a critical size suffer from competition from their close relatives: females in larger groups face an increased probability of not giving birth as well as a higher probability of being evicted, especially during the annual mating and birth seasons. Eviction is not predicted by the number of adult females, the number of close female relatives, female age or inter-annual variation in rainfall but only by total group size. Thus, eviction in this species is clearly linked with reproductive competition, it cannot be forestalled by reproductive restraint or having many relatives in the group, and it occurs in the absence of a clear dominance hierarchy. Our study therefore also underscores the notion that potential inclusive fitness benefits from living with relatives may have been generally over-rated and should not be taken for granted.
    Molecular Ecology 08/2011; 21(3):685-98. · 5.52 Impact Factor
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    Article: Variation in the Meaning of Alarm Calls in Verreaux's and Coquerel's Sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi, P. coquereli).
    Claudia Fichtel, Peter M Kappeler
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    ABSTRACT: The comprehension and usage of primate alarm calls appear to be influenced by social learning. Thus, alarm calls provide flexible behavioral mechanisms that may allow animals to develop appropriate responses to locally present predators. To study this potential flexibility, we compared the usage and function of 3 alarm calls common to 2 closely related sifaka species (Propithecus verreauxi and P. coquereli), in each of 2 different populations with different sets of predators. Playback studies revealed that both species in both of their respective populations emitted roaring barks in response to raptors, and playbacks of this call elicited a specific anti-raptor response (look up and climb down). However, in Verreaux's sifakas, tchi-faks elicited anti-terrestrial predator responses (look down, climb up) in the population with a higher potential predation threat by terrestrial predators, whereas tchi-faks in the other population were associated with nonspecific flight responses. In both populations of Coquerel's sifakas, tchi-fak playbacks elicited anti-terrestrial predator responses. More strikingly, Verreaux's sifakas exhibited anti-terrestrial predator responses after playbacks of growls in the population with a higher threat of predation by terrestrial predators, whereas Coquerel's sifakas in the raptor-dominated habitat seemed to associate growls with a threat by raptors; the 2 other populations of each species associated a mild disturbance with growls. We interpret this differential comprehension and usage of alarm calls as the result of social learning processes that caused changes in signal content in response to changes in the set of predators to which these populations have been exposed since they last shared a common ancestor.
    International Journal of Primatology 04/2011; 32(2):346-361. · 1.54 Impact Factor
  • Article: Conceptual and methodological issues in the comparative study of collective group movements.
    Lennart Pyritz, Claudia Fichtel, Peter Kappeler
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    ABSTRACT: In our commentary, we highlight several conceptual and methodological problems that have hampered broader integration of studies of collective group movements. Specifically, we argue that studies of captive animals should only be used to elucidate behavioural mechanisms. Moreover, the diversity of physical environments in which group movements occur as well as the social diversity of groups deserve more consideration in integrative studies. Furthermore, tests of predictions based on modelling studies are often hampered by the fact that models include variables that are difficult or impossible to measure in real animals. We also advocate the use of an empirical, rather than subjective establishment of operational definitions of group movements and the associated individual roles. Finally, we emphasize the utility of controlled experiments in the study of collective decision-making and group movements and encourage their wider application.
    Behavioural processes 03/2010; 84(3):681-4. · 1.53 Impact Factor
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    Article: Spatial memory in the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus).
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    ABSTRACT: Wild animals face the challenge of locating feeding sites distributed across broad spatial and temporal scales. Spatial memory allows animals to find a goal, such as a productive feeding patch, even when there are no goal-specific sensory cues available. Because there is little experimental information on learning and memory capabilities in free-ranging primates, the aim of this study was to test whether grey mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus), as short-term dietary specialists, rely on spatial memory in relocating productive feeding sites. In addition, we asked what kind of spatial representation might underlie their orientation in their natural environment. Using an experimental approach, we set eight radio-collared grey mouse lemurs a memory task by confronting them with two different spatial patterns of baited and non-baited artificial feeding stations under exclusion of sensory cues. Positional data were recorded by focal animal observations within a grid system of small foot trails. A change in the baiting pattern revealed that grey mouse lemurs primarily used spatial cues to relocate baited feeding stations and that they were able to rapidly learn a new spatial arrangement. Spatially concentrated, non-random movements revealed preliminary evidence for a route-based restriction in mouse lemur space; during a subsequent release experiment, however, we found high travel efficiency in directed movements. We therefore propose that mouse lemur spatial memory is based on some kind of mental representation that is more detailed than a route-based network map.
    Animal Cognition 04/2009; 12(4):599-609. · 3.09 Impact Factor
  • Article: What is it going to be? Pattern and potential function of natal coat change in sexually dichromatic redfronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus).
    Julia Barthold, Claudia Fichtel, Peter Kappeler
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    ABSTRACT: In some primate species, pelage colorations at birth contrast with adult colorations. The intensity of natal coats and their phylogenetic distribution is highly variable within primates. Natal coat coloration seems to change to adult coloration in most species when infants become independent from their mothers, but an accepted functional explanation for natal coats is not available. Here we describe pelage coloration change in sexually dichromatic redfronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus) in Kirindy Forest, and propose a new functional hypothesis for this phenomenon. In this species, infants are born with adult male coloration and female infants subsequently undergo a change in coloration. Using digital pictures and behavioral data collected on eight mother-offspring dyads from birth until the end of the coloration change, we 1) described timing and pattern of pelage developmentin redfronted lemur infants and 2) examined behavioral developmental correlates of the coloration change. The color change took place between 7 and 17 weeks of age and coincided with advanced physical independence; a pattern also found in monochromatic primate species with natal coats. No behavioral differences between male and female infants were found. Hypotheses about the ultimate function of natal coats focusing on enhanced infant care or reduced infanticide risk did not explain the pelage change in redfronted lemurs. The natal pelage pattern in this species may instead serve as sexual mimicry. Accordingly, female infants may mimic males during the most vulnerable developmental phase to avoid sex-specific aggression by adult females in a species with intense female-female aggression and competition.
    American Journal of Physical Anthropology 08/2008; 138(1):1-10. · 2.82 Impact Factor
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    Article: Intergroup relations and home range use in Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi).
    Gita Benadi, Claudia Fichtel, Peter Kappeler
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    ABSTRACT: Relationships between neighboring groups feature prominently in socioecological theory, but few empirical studies have focused on the effects of neighbors on the behavior of primates. Interactions between neighboring groups are most conspicuous during intergroup encounters, but the likelihood of encounters with neighbors can also affect ranging and activity patterns indirectly, and, as a result, behavioral patterns in areas of exclusive use may differ from those in overlap areas of adjacent home ranges. The aim of this study was to examine intergroup relations and spatial variation in home range use in Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi) during the annual mating season. Based on 230 hr of focal animal data collected from ten members of five adjacent groups, we found that behavioral patterns and patterns of resource utilization were not markedly different between areas of exclusive use and overlap areas of adjacent home ranges. Group cohesion tended to be higher in overlap than in core areas, but the proportion of time spent resting and foraging did not differ between these two areas. However, dominant males exhibited a higher scent-marking rate in overlap areas. Observations during intergroup encounters revealed that chases between males occurred frequently, whereas fights involving physical contact were not observed. We also found that the intergroup dominance hierarchy depended on the relative group size or the number of males in each group, with groups of lower dominance rank exhibiting a tendency to sleep proportionally more often in their core areas. The results of this study suggest that in primate species with a moderate level of intergroup aggression, such as Verreaux's sifaka, the possibility of encountering neighbors in areas of home range overlap does not exert strong influence on their behavior and resource utilization.
    American Journal of Primatology 08/2008; 70(10):956-65. · 2.22 Impact Factor
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    Article: Ontogeny of conspecific and heterospecific alarm call recognition in wild Verreaux's sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi).
    Claudia Fichtel
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    ABSTRACT: The production of vocalizations in nonhuman primates is predominantly innate, whereas learning influences the usage and comprehension of vocalizations. In this study, I examined the development of alarm call recognition in free-ranging infant Verreaux's sifakas. Specifically, I investigated their ability to recognize conspecific alarm calls as well as those of sympatric redfronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus) in Kirindy forest, western Madagascar. Both species have functionally referential alarm calls for aerial predators and give general alarm calls for both aerial and general predators and also other kinds of threats, such as intergroup encounters with conspecifics. I conducted playback experiments with members of two birth cohorts (nine and ten individuals) to determine the age at which infant Verreaux's sifakas discriminate between conspecific alarm calls, heterospecific alarm calls, and non-alarm vocalizations (parrot song). Most 3-4 months old infants fled toward adults after hearing any playback stimuli, whereas 4-5-month-old infants did so only after presentation of alarm calls. Moreover, all infants of these age classes showed a longer latency to flee after the parrot song indicating their emerging ability to discriminate between alarm calls and non-alarm stimuli. At an age of about 6 months, infants switched from fleeing toward adults to performing adult-like escape responses after presentation of conspecific and heterospecific alarm calls. Thus, the ability to discriminate between alarm from non-alarm stimuli precedes the appearance of adult-like responses. The transition to adult-like escape behavior was coincident with the physical independence of infants from their mothers.
    American Journal of Primatology 03/2008; 70(2):127-35. · 2.22 Impact Factor
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    Article: Avoiding predators at night: antipredator strategies in red-tailed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus).
    Claudia Fichtel
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    ABSTRACT: Although about one-third of all primate species are nocturnal, their antipredator behavior has rarely been studied directly. Crypsis and a solitary lifestyle have traditionally been considered to be the main adaptive antipredator strategies of nocturnal primates. However, a number of recent studies have revealed that nocturnal primates are not as cryptic and solitary as previously suggested. Thus, the antipredator strategies available for diurnal primates that rely on early detection and warning of approaching predators may also be available to nocturnal species. In order to shed additional light on the antipredator strategies of nocturnal primates, I studied pair-living red-tailed sportive lemurs (Lepilemur ruficaudatus) in Western Madagascar. In an experimental field study I exposed adult sportive lemurs that lived in pairs and had offspring to playbacks of vocalizations of their main aerial and terrestrial predators, as well as to their own mobbing calls (barks) given in response to disturbances at their tree holes. I documented the subjects' immediate behavioral responses, including alarm calls, during the first minute following a playback. The sportive lemurs did not give alarm calls in response to predator call playbacks or to playbacks with barks. Other behavioral responses, such as gaze and escape directions, corresponded to the hunting strategies of the two classes of predators, suggesting that the corresponding vocalizations were correctly categorized. In response to barks, they scanned the ground and fled. Because barks do not indicate any specific threats, they are presumably general alarm calls. Thus, sportive lemurs do not rely on early warning of acoustically simulated predators; rather, they show adaptive escape strategies and use general alarm calls that are primarily directed toward the predator but may also serve to warn kin and pair-partners.
    American Journal of Primatology 07/2007; 69(6):611-24. · 2.22 Impact Factor
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    Article: Influence of reproductive season and rank on fecal glucocorticoid levels in free-ranging male Verreaux's sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi).
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    ABSTRACT: Studies in anthropoid primates and other mammals suggest that reproductive season, rank, reproductive skew, aggression received, and social support are the major factors influencing glucocorticoid output. In which way these are also affecting adrenal function in lemurid primates has been studied rarely. Here, we examine the influence of reproductive season and rank on glucocorticoid output in male sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi), a species characterized by high breeding seasonality, a hierarchy among males and extreme reproductive skew towards dominant males. We established a fecal assay for non-invasively monitoring adrenal activity and collected 315 fecal samples during the reproductive and birth season from 10 male sifakas living in 5 groups in Western Madagascar. We found a significant effect of season on glucocorticoid output, with males exhibiting higher fecal glucocorticoid levels during the reproductive compared to the birth season in conjunction with an increase in overall aggression rates during the former period. Moreover, our data indicate a significant effect of rank on adrenocortical activity with dominant males exhibiting higher glucocorticoid levels than subordinate males in the reproductive season. However, dominant males did not differ significantly in rates of initiated or received aggression and rates of affiliative behavior from subordinates but showed significantly lower rates of submission. Given their highly formalized dominance relationships, we conclude that higher glucocorticoid output in dominant males during the 4-month reproductive season is likely related to higher energetic demands necessary to cope with the challenges of male reproduction rather than to physical demands of increased fighting frequency to maintain dominance status. High rank in sifakas may thus carry high costs, which, however, may be outweighed by monopolization of almost all paternities. In sum, our data generally support the findings on the relationship between environmental and social factors and glucocorticoid output found in non-lemurid primates.
    Hormones and Behavior 06/2007; 51(5):640-8. · 3.87 Impact Factor
  • Article: Reciprocal recognition of sifaka ( Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi) and redfronted lemur ( Eulemur fulvus rufus) alarm calls.
    Claudia Fichtel
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    ABSTRACT: Redfronted lemurs ( Eulemur fulvus rufus) and Verreaux's sifakas ( Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi) occur sympatrically in western Madagascar. Both species exhibit a so-called mixed alarm call system with functionally referential alarm calls for raptors and general alarm calls for carnivores and raptors. General alarm calls also occur in other contexts associated with high arousal, such as inter-group encounters. Field playback experiments were conducted to investigate whether interspecific recognition of alarm calls occurs in both species, even though the two species rarely interact. In a crossed design, redfronted lemur and sifaka alarm calls were broadcast to individuals of both species, using the alarm call of chacma baboons ( Papio cynocephalus) as a control. Both species responded with appropriate escape strategies and alarm calls after playbacks of heterospecific aerial alarm calls. Similarly, they reacted appropriately to playbacks of heterospecific general alarm calls. Playbacks of baboon alarm calls elicited no specific responses in either lemur species, indicating that an understanding of interspecific alarm calls caused the responses and not alarm calls in general. Thus, the two lemur species have an understanding of each other's aerial as well as general alarm calls, suggesting that even in species that do not form mutualistic associations and rarely interact, common predator pressure has been sufficient for the development of heterospecific call recognition.
    Animal Cognition 02/2004; 7(1):45-52. · 3.09 Impact Factor
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    Article: Responses of squirrel monkeys to their experimentally modified mobbing calls.
    Claudia Fichtel, Kurt Hammerschmidt
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    ABSTRACT: Previous acoustic analyses suggested emotion-correlated changes in the acoustic structure of squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) vocalizations. Specifically, calls given in aversive contexts were characterized by an upward shift in frequencies, often accompanied by an increase in amplitude. In order to test whether changes in frequencies or amplitude are indeed relevant for conspecific listeners, playback experiments were conducted in which either frequencies or amplitude of mobbing calls were modified. Latency and first orienting response were measured in playback experiments with six adult squirrel monkeys. After broadcasting yaps with increased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a longer orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding control stimuli. Furthermore, after broadcasting yaps with decreased frequencies or amplitude, squirrel monkeys showed a shorter orienting response towards the speaker than after the corresponding manipulated calls with higher frequencies or amplitude. These results suggest that changes in frequencies or amplitude were perceived by squirrel monkeys, indicating that the relationship between call structure and the underlying affective state of the caller agreed with the listener's assessment of the calls. However, a simultaneous increase in frequencies and amplitude did not lead to an enhanced response, compared to each single parameter. Thus, from the receiver's perspective, both call parameters may mutually replace each other.
    The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 06/2003; 113(5):2927-32. · 1.55 Impact Factor
  • Article: Responses of Redfronted Lemurs to Experimentally Modified Alarm Calls: Evidence for Urgency‐Based Changes in Call Structure
    Claudia Fichtel, Kurt Hammerschmidt
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    ABSTRACT: Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate how information about the affective state is expressed in vocalizations. Alarm calls can serve as model systems with which to study this general question. Therefore, we examined the information content of terrestrial predator alarm calls of redfronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus), group-living Malagasy primates. Redfronted lemurs give specific alarm calls only towards raptors, whereas calls given in response to terrestrial predators (woofs) are also used in other situations characterized by high arousal. Woofs may therefore have the potential to express the perceived risk of a given threat. In order to examine whether different levels of arousal are expressed in call structure, we analysed woofs given during inter-group encounters or in response to playbacks of a barking dog, assuming that animals engaged in inter-group encounters experience higher arousal than during the playbacks of dog barks. A multivariate acoustic analysis revealed that calls given during group encounters were characterized by higher frequencies than calls given in response to playbacks of dog barks. In order to examine whether this change in call structure is salient to conspecifics, we conducted playback experiments with woofs, modified in either amplitude or frequencies. Playbacks of calls with increased frequency or amplitude elicited a longer orienting response, suggesting that different levels of arousal are expressed in call structure and provide meaningful information for listeners. In conclusion, the results of our study indicate that the information about the sender's affective state is expressed in the structure of vocalizations.
    Ethology 09/2002; 108(9):763 - 778. · 2.01 Impact Factor
  • Article: Anti-predator behavior of group-living Malagasy primates: mixed evidence for a referential alarm call system
    Claudia Fichtel, Peter M. Kappeler
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    ABSTRACT: Many mammals warn conspecifics with alarm calls about detected predators. These alarm calls are either functionally referential, urgency based, or they can have multiple functions, including predator deterrence. The taxonomic distribution of these alarm call systems is uneven, with primates providing the best-known examples for a functionally referential system and rodents most examples of an urgency-based system. Reports of different alarm call systems in lemurid primates prompted us to examine the anti-predator behavior of two additional lemur species. In an experimental field study we exposed adult redfronted lemurs (Eulemur fulvus rufus) and white sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi) to playbacks of vocalizations of their main aerial and terrestrial predators, as well as to their own alarm calls given in response to the presentation of these predators. We scored the subjects' immediate behavioral responses, including alarm calls, from video recordings made during the first minute following a playback. We found that both species gave specific alarm calls only in response to raptor playbacks and the corresponding alarm calls, whereas calls given in response to carnivores and the corresponding alarm calls were also observed in other situations characterized by high arousal. Other behavioral responses, such as gaze and escape directions, corresponded to the hunting strategies of the two predator classes, suggesting that the corresponding vocalizations were categorized correctly. These two lemur species, which represent different families, have therefore independently evolved a mixed alarm call system, characterized by functionally referential calls for diurnal raptors, but not for carnivores. Electronic supplementary material to this paper can be obtained by using the Springer LINK server located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-001-0436-0
    Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 01/2002; 51(3):262-275. · 3.18 Impact Factor
  • Article: ON THE VOCAL EXPRESSION OF EMOTION. A MULTI-PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT STATES OF AVERSION IN THE SQUIRREL MONKEY
    Claudia Fichtel, Kurt Hammerschmidt, Uwe Jürgens
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    ABSTRACT: There is general agreement that in non-human primates, the emotional state of a caller is reflected in the vocal structure. But only few studies describe call features characterizing such correlates. This is mainly due to the fact that it is difficult to identify the emotional state of a caller. In the present study, we analysed calls from a study (Jürgens, 1979) in which squirrel monkeys had been given the opportunity to control vocalization-eliciting brain stimulation. In this way, the aversive or hedonistic quality of the emotional state underlying the production of specific calls could be determined. 758 of the recorded calls, representing 8 different call types, given by 25 subjects, were analysed in order to find out whether differences in the degree of aversion are reflected by specific acoustic parameters. It was found that an increase in aversion is parallelled, depending upon the call type, by an upward shift of maximal energy in the power spectrum, an increase in frequency range and/or an increase in the ratio of nonharmonic to harmonic energy.
    Behaviour 12/2000; 138(1):97-116. · 1.57 Impact Factor

Institutions

  • 2000–2013
    • Deutsches Primatenzentrum
      • Abteilung Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie
      Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
  • 2008–2009
    • Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
      Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
    • Universität Würzburg
      • Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology (Zoology III)
      Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany
  • 2003
    • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
      München, Bavaria, Germany
  • 2002
    • Universitätsklinikum Tübingen
      Tübingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany