DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n54g4
title: Data from: Meerkat close calling patterns are linked to sex, social category, season and wind, but not fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations

description: It is well established that animal vocalizations can encode information
 regarding a sender’s identity, sex, age, body size, social rank and group
 membership. However, the association between physiological parameters,
 particularly stress hormone levels, and vocal behavior is still not well
 understood. The cooperatively breeding African meerkats (Suricata
 suricatta) live in family groups with despotic social hierarchies. During
 foraging, individuals emit close calls that help maintain group cohesion.
 These contact calls are acoustically distinctive and variable in rate
 across individuals, yet, information on which factors influence close
 calling behavior is missing. The aim of this study was to identify
 proximate factors that influence variation in call rate and acoustic
 structure of meerkat close calls. Specifically, we investigated whether
 close calling behavior is associated with sex, age and rank, or stress
 hormone output (i.e., measured as fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM)
 concentrations) as individual traits of the caller, as well as with
 environmental conditions (weather) and reproductive seasonality. To
 disentangle the effects of these factors on vocal behavior, we analyzed
 sound recordings and assessed fGCM concentrations in 64 wild but
 habituated meerkats from 9 groups during the reproductive and
 non-reproductive seasons. Dominant females and one-year old males called
 at significantly higher rates compared to other social categories during
 the reproductive season. Additionally, dominant females produced close
 calls with the lowest mean fundamental frequencies (F0) and the longest
 mean pulse durations. Windy conditions were associated with significantly
 higher call rates during the non-reproductive season. FGCM concentrations
 were unrelated to close calling behavior. Our findings suggest that
 meerkat close calling behavior conveys information regarding the sex and
 social category of the caller, but shows no association with fGCM
 concentrations. The change in call rate in response to variation in the
 social and ecological environments individuals experience indicates some
 degree of flexibility in vocal production.
description: Glucocorticoid_primary
 data_faecal samplesThe feces of individual
 meerkats were collected in the field. Hormones were extracted and a
 3a,11ß- assay conducted to measure glucocorticoid metabolites. 3a,11ß
 (ng/g faeces) represent the glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations for
 organic matter or the entire feces.Meanacousticsstructure_for correlation_FGCShows the call structural parameters and the median fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels. IPI:Interpluse Interval, F0: Fundamental Frequency.rate_primarydataShows the data collected for close call rate of individual meerkats.structure_primarydataShows the data collected for close call structural analysis of individual meerkats. IPI: Interpulse Interval, F0: Fundamental Frequencysummarized_glucocorticoid_rate_primary_dataShows the data collected for close call rate and glucocorticoid metabolite levels of individual meerkats.