Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels

Anecdotal reports of ultrasound use by flying squirrels have existed for decades, yet there has been little detailed analysis of their vocalizations. Here we demonstrate that two species of flying squirrel emit ultrasonic vocalizations. We recorded vocalizations from northern (Glaucomys sabrinus) an...

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Main Authors:	Murrant, Meghan N., Bowman, Jeff, Garroway, Colin J., Prinzen, Brian, Mayberry, Heather, Faure, Paul A.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2013
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757013/

id	pubmed-3757013
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-37570132013-09-05 Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels Murrant, Meghan N. Bowman, Jeff Garroway, Colin J. Prinzen, Brian Mayberry, Heather Faure, Paul A. Research Article Anecdotal reports of ultrasound use by flying squirrels have existed for decades, yet there has been little detailed analysis of their vocalizations. Here we demonstrate that two species of flying squirrel emit ultrasonic vocalizations. We recorded vocalizations from northern (Glaucomys sabrinus) and southern (G. volans) flying squirrels calling in both the laboratory and at a field site in central Ontario, Canada. We demonstrate that flying squirrels produce ultrasonic emissions through recorded bursts of broadband noise and time-frequency structured frequency modulated (FM) vocalizations, some of which were purely ultrasonic. Squirrels emitted three types of ultrasonic calls in laboratory recordings and one type in the field. The variety of signals that were recorded suggest that flying squirrels may use ultrasonic vocalizations to transfer information. Thus, vocalizations may be an important, although still poorly understood, aspect of flying squirrel social biology. Public Library of Science 2013-08-29 /pmc/articles/PMC3757013/ /pubmed/24009728 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0073045 Text en © 2013 Murrant et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Murrant, Meghan N. Bowman, Jeff Garroway, Colin J. Prinzen, Brian Mayberry, Heather Faure, Paul A.
spellingShingle	Murrant, Meghan N. Bowman, Jeff Garroway, Colin J. Prinzen, Brian Mayberry, Heather Faure, Paul A. Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels
author_facet	Murrant, Meghan N. Bowman, Jeff Garroway, Colin J. Prinzen, Brian Mayberry, Heather Faure, Paul A.
author_sort	Murrant, Meghan N.
title	Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels
title_short	Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels
title_full	Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels
title_fullStr	Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels
title_full_unstemmed	Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels
title_sort	ultrasonic vocalizations emitted by flying squirrels
description	Anecdotal reports of ultrasound use by flying squirrels have existed for decades, yet there has been little detailed analysis of their vocalizations. Here we demonstrate that two species of flying squirrel emit ultrasonic vocalizations. We recorded vocalizations from northern (Glaucomys sabrinus) and southern (G. volans) flying squirrels calling in both the laboratory and at a field site in central Ontario, Canada. We demonstrate that flying squirrels produce ultrasonic emissions through recorded bursts of broadband noise and time-frequency structured frequency modulated (FM) vocalizations, some of which were purely ultrasonic. Squirrels emitted three types of ultrasonic calls in laboratory recordings and one type in the field. The variety of signals that were recorded suggest that flying squirrels may use ultrasonic vocalizations to transfer information. Thus, vocalizations may be an important, although still poorly understood, aspect of flying squirrel social biology.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2013
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757013/
_version_	1612006843101478912

Ultrasonic Vocalizations Emitted by Flying Squirrels

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