The Ontogeny of the Great Call in Female Southern Yellow-Cheeked Gibbons (Nomascus gabriellae)

Bibliographic Data

ID11279696
AuthorsMartina Přikrylová (0009-0002-0146-2322, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague), Gudrun Illmann (0000-0001-7858-7516, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague), Hana Vostrá-Vydrová (0000-0002-3443-964X, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague), Michal Hradec (0000-0002-0961-9921, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume47
Issue2
Pages453-473
Publication date2026-03-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Primatology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0164-0291 • E-ISSN: 1573-8604
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10764-026-00545-2
OpenAlexW7135385804
LanguageEN
References cited44

The study of vocal development in non-human primates is crucial to understanding developmental trajectories and distinguishing innate from acquired vocal traits. Recent studies show that young female gibbons co-sing with their mothers, but these interactions decline as females become more independent. We studied the development of the great call, including notes and twitter sounds, in five captive female southern yellow-cheeked gibbons ( Nomascus gabriellae ) from 7 months to 7 years 11 months of age and compared their great calls with those of their adult mothers. We recorded 424 great calls, of which 386 included co-singing between mothers-daughters and 38 were only mothers’ great calls. We found that features of notes (duration, number and maximum frequency) developed gradually with increasing age until females reached 6 years old (subadult), when the number of notes, maximum frequency, and total call duration did not differ significantly from those of mothers, but the twitter sound was shorter. The occurrence of twitter sounds increased from 0.7 months to 4 years of age then declined until the end of the observation period at 7 years 11 months of age. However, we did not record regular emittance of the twitter sound at any age. Co-singing interactions remained at a high level across age-classes but the time difference between between the first notes of mothers and daughters decreased in subadult females. These longitudinal findings suggest that female gibbons acquire adult great calls only after 6 years of age

Animal ecology · Duration (music) · Ontogeny · Period (music) · Sound (geography) · Sound production · Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Primate Behavior and Ecology

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