Abstract
Many birds and mammals give alarm calls when they detect predators or other threats, and these calls have been used as classic models for understanding signal design. Here we consider signal design and usage, and how individuals acquire and use information from the alarm calls of other species. Alarm calls often encode detailed information on danger, such as the type of predator, its current behavior, size, or proximity. Alarm calls are sometimes very similar among species or can share generic acoustic features, and both help to explain recognition of heterospecific alarms. However, alarm calls can vary greatly among species, and taxonomically widespread eavesdropping also requires learning the association between calls and danger. Once heterospecifics eavesdrop on alarm calls, there is potentially selection on callers to modify their alarm calls or usage. If callers benefit from eavesdroppers’ responses to their alarm calls, they may be selected to enhance signal efficacy, leading to interspecific communication and mutual benefit. Alternatively, callers can be selected to manipulate eavesdroppers, using deceptive signaling, including mimicry, causing the eavesdropper to suffer a cost. If callers suffer a cost from eavesdroppers’ responses, their signaling can be modified to make eavesdropping harder, leading to cue denial. Overall, alarm signals provide an insight into the evolution of signal design, and the complex flow of information within and among species in natural communities.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adkisson CS, Conner RN (1978) Interspecific vocal imitation in white-eyed vireos. Auk 95:602–606
Aubin T (1989) The role of frequency modulation in the process of distress call recognition by the starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Behaviour 108:57–72
Aubin T (1991) Why do distress calls evoke interspecific responses? An experimental study applied to some species of birds. Behav Process 23:103–111
Aubin T, Brémond JC (1989) Parameters used for recognition of distress calls in two species: Larus argentatus and Sturnus vulgaris. Bioacoustics 2:22–33
Baylis JR (1982) Avian vocal mimicry: its function and evolution. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH, Ouellet H (eds) Acoustic communication in birds. Academic, New York, pp 51–83
Biedenweg TA, Parsons MH, Fleming PA, Blumstein DT (2011) Sounds scary? Lack of habituation following the presentation of novel sounds. PLoS One 6:e14549
Billings AC, Greene E, MacArthur-Waltz D (2017) Steller’s jays assess and communicate about predator risk using detection cues and identity. Behav Ecol 28:776–783
Blesdoe EK, Blumstein DT (2014) What is the sound of fear? Behavioral responses of white-crowned sparrows Zonotrichia leucophrys to synthesized nonlinear acoustic phenomena. Curr Zool 60:534–541
Blumstein DT, Chi YY (2012) Scared and less noisy: glucocorticoids are associated with alarm call entropy. Biol Lett 8:189–192
Blumstein DT, Munos O (2005) Individual, age and sex-specific information is contained in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls. Anim Behav 69:353–361
Blumstein DT, Récapet C (2009) The sound of arousal: the addition of novel non-linearities increases responsiveness in marmot alarm calls. Ethology 115:1074–1081
Bradbury JW, Vehrencamp SL (2011) Principles of animal communication, 2nd edn. Sinaur, Sunderland, MA
Branch CL, Freeberg TM (2012) Distress calls in tufted titmice (Baeolophus bicolor): are conspecifics or predators the target? Behav Ecol 23:854–862
Caro TM (2005) Antipredator defenses in birds and mammals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Chu M (2001a) Heterospecific responses to scream calls and vocal mimicry by Phainopeplas (Phainopepla nitens) in distress. Behaviour 138:775–787
Chu M (2001b) Vocal mimicry in distress calls of Phainopeplas. Condor 103:389–395
Clarke E, Reichard UH, Zuberbühler K (2006) The syntax and meaning of wild gibbon songs. PLoS One 1:e73
Cresswell W (1994) The function of alarm calls in redshanks, Tringa totanus. Anim Behav 47:736–738
Cunningham S, Magrath RD (2017) Functionally referential alarm calls in noisy miners communicate about predator behaviour. Anim Behav 129:171–179
Curio E, Ernst U, Vieth W (1978) Adaptive significance of avian mobbing II. Cultural transmission of enemy recognition in blackbirds-effectiveness and some constraints. Z Tierpsychol 48:184–202
Dabelsteen T (2005) Public, private or anonymous? Facilitating and countering eavesdropping. In: McGregor PK (ed) Animal communication networks. Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, pp 38–62
Dalziell AH, Magrath RD (2012) Fooling the experts: accurate vocal mimicry in the song of the superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae. Anim Behav 83:1401–1410
Dalziell AH, Welbergen JA (2016) Elaborate mimetic vocal displays by female Superb lyrebirds. Front Ecol Evol 4:34
Dalziell AH, Welbergen JA, Igic B, Magrath RD (2015) Avian vocal mimicry: a unified conceptual framework. Biol Rev 90:643–658
Darwin C (1872) The expression of emotions in man and animals, University of Chicago Press, 1965 edn. Murray, London
Dawson Pell FSE, Potvin DA, Ratnayake CP, Fernández-Juricic E, Magrath RD, Radford AN (2018) Birds orient their heads appropriately in response to functionally referential alarm calls of heterospecifics. Anim Behav 140:109–118
De Vos A, O’Riain J (2010) Sharks shape the geometry of a selfish seal herd: experimental evidence from seal decoys. Biol Lett 6:48–50
Dooling R (2004) Audition: can birds hear everything they sing? In: Marler P, Slabbekoorn H (eds) Nature’s music: the science of birdsong. Elsevier, San Diego, pp 206–225
Dutour M, Léna J-P, Lengagne T (2017) Mobbing calls: a signal transcending species boundaries. Anim Behav 131:3–11
Dutour M, Léna J-P, Dumet A, Gardette V, Mondy N, Lengagne T (2019) The role of associative learning process on the response of fledgling great tits (Parus major) to mobbing calls. Anim Cogn 22:1095–1103
Fallow PM, Magrath RD (2010) Eavesdropping on other species: mutual interspecific understanding of urgency information in avian alarm calls. Anim Behav 79:411–417
Fallow PM, Gardner JL, Magrath RD (2011) Sound familiar? Acoustic similarity provokes responses to unfamiliar heterospecific alarm calls. Behav Ecol 22:401–410
Fallow PM, Pitcher BJ, Magrath RD (2013) Alarming features: birds use specific acoustic properties to identify heterospecific alarm calls. Proc R Soc B 280:20122539
Farrow LF, Doohan SJ, McDonald PG (2017) Alarm calls of a cooperative bird are referential and elicit context-specific antipredator behavior. Behav Ecol 28:724–731
Feeney WE, Langmore NE (2013) Social learning of a brood parasite by its host. Biol Lett 9:20130443
Fichtel C, Kappeler PM (2002) Anti-predator behavior of group-living Malagasy primates: mixed evidence for a referential alarm call system. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 51:262–275
Ficken MS (1989) Are mobbing calls of Steller’s jays a “confusion chorus”? J Field Ornithol 60:52–55
Ficken MS, Popp J (1996) A comparative analysis of passerine mobbing calls. Auk 113:370–380
Fitch WT, Neubauer J, Herzel H (2002) Calls out of chaos: the adaptive significance of nonlinear phenomena in mammalian vocal production. Anim Behav 63:407–418
Flasskamp A (1994) The adaptive significance of avian mobbing V. An experimental test of the ‘move on’ hypothesis. Ethology 96:322–333
Flower TP (2011) Fork-tailed drongos use deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food. Proc R Soc B 278:1548–1555
Flower TP, Gribble M (2012) Kleptoparasitism by attacks versus false alarm calls in fork-tailed drongos. Anim Behav 83:403–410
Flower TP, Gribble M, Ridley AR (2014) Deception by flexible alarm mimicry in an African bird. Science 344:513–516
Gammon DE, Altizer CE (2011) Northern mockingbirds produce syntactical patterns of vocal mimicry that reflect taxonomy of imitated species. J Field Ornithol 82:158–164
Ghirlanda S, Enquist M (2003) A century of generalization. Anim Behav 66:15–36
Gill SA, Bierema AKM (2013) On the meaning of alarm calls: a review of functional reference in avian alarm calling. Ethology 119:449–461
Gill SA, Sealy SG (1996) Nest defence by yellow warblers: recognition of a brood parasite and an avian nest predator. Behaviour 133:263–282
Goodale E, Kotagama SW (2005) Alarm calling in Sri Lankan mixed-species bird flocks. Auk 122:108–120
Goodale E, Kotagama SW (2006) Context-dependent vocal mimicry in a passerine bird. Proc R Soc B 273:875–880
Goodale E, Kotagama SW (2008) Response to conspecific and heterospecific alarm calls in mixed-species bird flocks of a Sri Lankan rainforest. Behav Ecol 19:887–894
Goodale E, Beauchamp G, Magrath RD, Nieh JC, Ruxton GD (2010) Interspecific information transfer influences animal community structure. Trends Ecol Evol 25:354–361
Goodale E, Ratnayake CP, Kotagama SW (2014a) The frequency of vocal mimicry associated with danger varies due to proximity to nest and nesting stage in a passerine bird. Behaviour 151:73–88
Goodale E, Ratnayake CP, Kotagama SW (2014b) Vocal mimicry of alarm-associated sounds by a drongo elicits flee and mobbing responses from other species that participate in mixed-species bird flocks. Ethology 120:266–274
Greenlaw JS, Shackelford CE, Brown RE (1998) Call mimicry by eastern towhees and its significance in relation to auditory learning. Wilson Bull 110:431–434
Griesser M (2008) Referential calls signal predator behavior in a group-living bird species. Curr Biol 18:69–73
Griffin AS (2004) Social learning about predators: a review and prospectus. Learn Behav 32:131–140
Haff TM, Magrath RD (2012) Learning to listen? Nestling response to heterospecific alarm calls. Anim Behav 84:1401–1410
Haff TM, Magrath RD (2013) Eavesdropping on the neighbours: fledgling response to heterospecific alarm calls. Anim Behav 85:411–418
Hailman JP (2009) Context of blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) mimicking Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) cackle. Fla Field Nat 37:94–94
Hauser MD (1988) How infant Vervet monkeys learn to recognize starling alarm calls: the role of experience. Behaviour 105:187–201
Hetrick SA, Sieving KE (2012) Antipredator calls of tufted titmice and interspecific transfer of encoded threat information. Behav Ecol 23:83–92
Hindmarsh AM (1984) Vocal mimicry in starlings. Behaviour 90:302–324
Hirth DH, McCullough DR (1977) The evolution of alarm signals in ungulates with special reference to the white-tailed deer. Am Nat 111:31–42
Hollén LI, Radford AN (2009) The development of alarm call behaviour in mammals and birds. Anim Behav 78:791–800
Hurd PL, Wachtmeister C-A, Enquist M (1995) Darwin’s principle of antithesis revisted: a role for perceptual biases in the evolution of intraspecific signals. Proc R Soc B 259:201–205
Igic B, Magrath RD (2013) Fidelity of vocal mimicry: identification and accuracy of mimicry of heterospecific alarm calls by the brown thornbill. Anim Behav 85:593–603
Igic B, Magrath RD (2014) A songbird mimics different heterospecific alarm calls in response to different types of threat. Behav Ecol 25:538–548
Igic B, McLachlam J, Lehtinen I, Magrath RD (2015) Crying wolf to a predator: deceptive vocal mimicry by a bird protecting young. Proc R Soc B 282:20150798
Ito R, Mori A (2010) Vigilance against predators induced by eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls in a non-vocal lizard Oplurus cuvieri cuvieri (Reptilia: Iguania). Proc R Soc B 277:1275–1280
Ito R, Ikeuchi I, Mori A (2013) A day gecko darkens its body color in response to avian alarm calls. Curr Herpetol 32:26–33
Johnson FR, McNaughton EJ, Shelly CD, Blumstein DT (2003) Mechanisms of heterospecific recognition in avian mobbing calls. Aust J Zool 51:577–585
Jones KJ, Hill WL (2001) Auditory perception of hawks and owls for passerine alarm calls. Ethology 107:717–726
Jurisevic MA, Sanderson KJ (1994a) Alarm vocalisations in Australian birds: convergent characteristics and phylogenetic differences. Emu 94:69–77
Jurisevic MA, Sanderson KJ (1994b) The vocal repertoires of six honeyeater (Meliphagidae) species from Adelaide, South Australia. Emu 94:141–148
Jurisevic MA, Sanderson KJ (1998) A comparative analysis of distress call structure in Australian passerine and non-passerine species: influence of size and phylogeny. J Avian Biol 29:61–71
Karp D, Manser M, Wiley EM, Townsend SW (2014) Nonlinearities in meerkat alarm calls prevent receivers from habituating. Ethology 120:189–196
Kelley LA, Healy SD (2011) The mimetic repertoire of the spotted bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus maculatus. Naturwissenschaften 98:501–507
Kelley LA, Coe RL, Madden JR, Healy SD (2008) Vocal mimicry in songbirds. Anim Behav 76:521–528
Kirchhof J, Hammerschmidt K (2006) Functionally referential alarm calls in tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and Saguinus mystax) – evidence from playback experiments. Ethology 112:346–354
Klump GM, Shalter MD (1984) Acoustic behavior of birds and mammals in the predator context. 1. Factors affecting the structure of alarm signals. 2. The functional-significance and evolution of alarm signals. Z Tierpsychol 66:189–226
Klump GM, Kretzschmar E, Curio E (1986) The hearing of an avian predator and its avian prey. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 18:317–324
Kostan KM (2002) The evolution of mutualistic interspecific communication: assessment and management across species. J Comp Psychol 116:206–209
Krams I, Krama T (2002) Interspecific reciprocity explains mobbing behaviour of the breeding chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs. Proc R Soc B 269:2345–2350
Krams I, Krama T, Igaune K (2006) Mobbing behaviour: reciprocity-based co-operation in breeding pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca. Ibis 148:50–54
Leavesley AJ, Magrath RD (2005) Communicating about danger: urgency alarm calling in a bird. Anim Behav 70:365–373
Lindström L, Alatalo RV, Mappes J (1997) Imperfect Batesian mimicry—the effects of the frequency and the distastefulness of the model. Proc R Soc B 264:149–153
Magrath RD, Bennett T (2012) A micro-geography of fear: learning to eavesdrop on alarm calls of neighbouring heterospecifics. Proc R Soc B 279:902–909
Magrath RD, Pitcher BJ, Gardner JL (2009a) An avian eavesdropping network: alarm signal reliability and heterospecific response. Behav Ecol 20:745–752
Magrath RD, Pitcher BJ, Gardner JL (2009b) Recognition of other species’ aerial alarm calls: speaking the same language or learning another? Proc R Soc B 276:769–774
Magrath RD, Haff TM, Horn A, Leonard ML (2010) Calling in the face of danger: predation risk and acoustic communication by parent birds and their offspring. Adv Study Behav 41:187–253
Magrath RD, Haff TM, Fallow PM, Radford AN (2015a) Eavesdropping on heterospecific alarm calls: from mechanisms to consequences. Biol Rev 90:560–586
Magrath RD, Haff TM, McLachlan JR, Igic B (2015b) Wild birds learn to eavesdrop on heterospecific alarm calls. Curr Biol 25:1–4
Manser MB (2001) The acoustic structure of suricates’ alarm calls varies with predator type and the level of response urgency. Proc R Soc B 268:2315–2324
Manser MB, Bell MB, Fletcher LB (2001) The information that receivers extract from alarm calls in suricates. Proc R Soc B 268:2485–2491
Manser MB, Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL (2002) Suricate alarm calls signal predator class and urgency. Trends Cogn Sci 6:55–57
Marler P (1955) Characteristics of some animal calls. Nature 176:6–8
Marler P (1957) Specific distinctiveness in the communication signals of birds. Behaviour 11:13–37
Marshall AJ (1950) The function of vocal mimicry in birds. Emu 50:5–16
Martínez AE, Zenil RT (2012) Foraging guild influences dependence on heterospecific alarm calls in Amazonian bird flocks. Behav Ecol 23:544–550
Mateo JM (1996) Early auditory experience and the ontogeny of alarm-call discrimination in Belding’s ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi). J Comp Psychol 110:115–124
Maynard Smith J (1965) The evolution of alarm calls. Am Nat 99:59–63
Maynard Smith J, Harper D (2003) Animal signals. Oxford University Press, Oxford
McGregor PK, Dabelsteen T (1996) Communication networks. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Ecology and evolution of acoustic communication in birds. Cornell University press, Ithaca, pp 409–425
McLachlan JR, Ratnayake CP, Magrath RD (2019) Personal information about danger trumps social information from avian alarm calls. Proc R Soc B 286:20182945
McLachlan JR, Magrath RD (2020) Speedy revelations: how alarm calls can convey rapid, reliable information about urgent danger. Proc R Soc B. (in press)
Meise K, Franks DW, Bro-Jørgensen J (2018) Multiple adaptive and non-adaptive processes determine responsiveness to heterospecific alarm calls in African savannah herbivores. Proc R Soc B 285:20172676
Møller AP (1988) False alarm calls as a means of resource usurpation in the great tit Parus major. Ethology 79:25–30
Morton ES (1976) Vocal mimicry in the thick-billed Euphonia. Wilson Bull 88:485–486
Morton ES (1977) On the occurrence and significance of motivation-structural rules in some bird and mammal sounds. Am Nat 111:855–869
Morton ES (2017) Animal vocal communication: assessment and management roles. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Müller CA, Manser MB (2008) The information banded mongooses extract from heterospecific alarms. Anim Behav 75:897–904
Munn CA (1986) Birds that ‘cry wolf’. Nature 319:143–145
Murray TG, Magrath RD (2015) Does signal deterioration compromise eavesdropping on other species’ alarm calls? Anim Behav 108:33–41
Naguib M, Wiley RH (2001) Estimating the distance to a source of sound: mechanisms and adaptations for long-range communication. Anim Behav 62:825–837
Naguib M, Mundry R, Ostreiher R, Hultsch H, Schrader L, Todt D (1999) Cooperatively breeding Arabian babblers call differently when mobbing in different predator-induced situations. Behav Ecol 10:636–640
Neudorf DL, Sealy SG (2002) Distress calls of birds in a neotropical cloud forest. Biotropica 34:118–126
Nocera JJ, Ratcliffe LM (2010) Migrant and resident birds adjust antipredator behavior in response to social information accuracy. Behav Ecol 21:121–128
Oatley T (1969) The functions of vocal imitation by African Cossyphas. Ostrich 40:85–89
Oda R, Masataka N (1996) Interspecific responses of ringtailed lemurs to playback of antipredator alarm calls given by Verreaux’s sifakas. Ethology 102:441–453
Parejo D, Avilés JM, Rodríguez J (2012) Alarm calls modulate the spatial structure of a breeding owl community. Proc R Soc B 279:2135–2141
Peake TM (2005) Eavesdropping in communication networks. In: McGregor PK (ed) Animal communication networks. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 13–37
Pettifor RA (1990) The effects of avian mobbing on a potential predator, the European kestrel, Falco tinnunculus. Anim Behav 39:821–827
Potvin DA, Ratnayake CP, Radford AN, Magrath RD (2018) Birds learn socially to recognize heterospecific alarm calls by acoustic association. Curr Biol 28:2632–2637
Radford AN, Bell MBV, Hollen LI, Ridley AR (2011) Singing for your supper: sentinel calling by kleptoparasites can mitigate the cost to victims. Evolution 65:900–906
Rainey HJ, Züberbuhler K, Slater PJB (2004) Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls. Proc R Soc B 271:755–759
Ramakrishnan U, Coss RG (2000) Recognition of heterospecific alarm vocalizations by bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata). J Comp Psychol 114:3–12
Randler C, Förschler MI (2011) Heterospecifics do not respond to subtle differences in chaffinch mobbing calls: message is encoded in number of elements. Anim Behav 82:725–730
Ratnayake CP, Goodale E, Kotagama SW (2010) Two sympatric species of passerine birds imitate the same raptor calls in alarm contexts. Naturwissenchaften 97:103–108
Rendall D, Owren MJ, Ryan MJ (2009) What do animal signals mean? Anim Behav 78:233–240
Ridley AR, Child MF, Bell MBV (2007) Interspecific audience effects on the alarm-calling behaviour of a kleptoparasitic bird. Biol Lett 3:589–591
Ridley AR, Wiley EM, Thompson AM (2014) The ecological benefits of interceptive eavesdropping. Funct Ecol 28:197–205
Riegert J, Jůzlová Z (2018) Vocal mimicry in the song of Icterine warblers (Hippolais icterina): possible functions and sources of variability. Ethol Ecol Evol 30:430–446
Rooke IJ, Knight TA (1977) Alarm calls of honeyeaters with reference to locating sources of sound. Emu 77:193–198
Rydén O (1978) The significance of antecedent auditory experiences on later reactions to the ‘seeet’ alarm-call in great tit nestlings Parus major. Z Tierpsychol 47:396–409
Rydén O (1982) Selective resistance to approach: a precursor to fear responses to an alarm call in great tit nestlings Parus major. Dev Psychobiol 15:113–120
Schmidt KA, Dall SRX, van Gils JA (2010) The ecology of information: an overview on the ecological significance of making informed decisions. Oikos 119:304–316
Searcy WA, Nowicki S (2005) The evolution of animal communication: reliability and deception in signalling systems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Searcy WA, Yasukawa K (2017) Eavesdropping and cue denial in avian acoustic signals. Anim Behav 124:273–282
Seppänen A, Forsman JT (2007) Interspecific social learning: novel preference can be acquired from a competing species. Curr Biol 17:1248–1252
Seppänen JT, Forsman JT, Monkkonen M, Thomson RL (2007) Social information use is a process across time, space, and ecology, reaching heterospecifics. Ecology 88:1622–1633
Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P (1980a) Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 210:801–803
Seyfarth RM, Cheney DL, Marler P (1980b) Vervet monkey alarm calls: semantic communication in a free-ranging primate. Anim Behav 28:1070–1094
Sherman PW (1977) Nepotism and the evolution of alarm calls. Science 197:1246–1253
Sherman PW (1985) Alarm calls of Belding’s ground squirrels to aerial predators: nepotism or self-preservation? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 17:313–323
Shriner WM (1999) Antipredator responses to a previously neutral sound by free-living adult golden-mantled ground squirrels, Spermophilus lateralis (Sciuridae). Ethology 105:747–757
Slaughter EI, Berlin ER, Bower JT, Blumstein DT (2013) A test of the nonlinearity hypothesis in great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus). Ethology 119:309–315
Snow BK (1974) Vocal mimicry in violaceous Euphonia, Euphonia violacea. Wilson Bull 86:179–180
Sridhar H, Beauchamp G, Shanker K (2009) Why do birds participate in mixed-species foraging flocks? A large-scale synthesis. Anim Behav 78:337–347
Srinivasan U, Raza RH, Quadar S (2010) The nuclear question: rethinking species importance in multi-species animal groups. J Anim Ecol 79:948–954
Sullivan KA (1985) Selective alarm calling by downy woodpeckers in mixed-species flocks. Auk 102:184–187
Suzuki TN (2011) Parental alarm calls warn nestlings about different predatory threats. Curr Biol 21:R15–R16
Suzuki TN (2016) Semantic communication in birds: evidence from field research over the past two decades. Ecol Res 31:307–319
Suzuki TN, Wheatcroft D, Griesser M (2016) Experimental evidence for compositional syntax in bird calls. Nat Commun 7:10986
Tegtman N, Magrath RD (in press) Discriminating between similar alarm calls of contrasting function. Philos Trans R Soc B.
Templeton CN, Greene E (2007) Nuthatches eavesdrop on variations in heterospecific chickadee mobbing alarm calls. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:5479–5482
Templeton CN, Greene E, Davis K (2005) Allometry of alarm calls: black-capped chickadees encode information about predator size. Science 308:1934–1937
ten Cate C, Rowe C (2007) Biases in signal evolution: learning makes a difference. Trends Ecol Evol 22:380–387
Townsend SW, Manser M (2011) The function of nonlinear phenomena in meerkat alarm calls. Biol Lett 7:47–49
Townsend SW, Manser MB (2013) Functionally referential communication in mammals: the past, present and the future. Ethology 119:1–11
Vernon CJ (1973) Vocal imitation by South African birds. Ostrich 44:23–30
Vieth W, Curio E, Ernst U (1980) The adaptive significance of avian mobbing III. Cultural transmission of enemy recognition in blackbirds - cross-species tutoring and properties of learning. Anim Behav 28:1217–1229
Vitousek MN, Adelman JS, Gregory NC, St Clair JJH (2007) Heterospecific alarm call recognition in a non-vocal reptile. Biol Lett 3:632–634
Wheatcroft D (2015) Repetition rate of calls used in multiple contexts communicates presence of predators to nestlings and adult bird. Anim Behav 103:35–44
Wheatcroft D, Price T (2013) Learning and signal copying facilitate communication among bird species. Proc R Soc B 280:20123070
Wheatcroft D, Price TD (2015) Rates of signal evolution are associated with the nature of interspecific communication. Behav Ecol 26:83–90
Wiley RH (2015) Noise matters: the evolution of communication. Harvard, Cambridge, MA
Wiley RH, Richard DG (1982) Adaptations for acoustic communication in birds: sound transmission and signal detection. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH, Ouellet H (eds) Acoustic communication in birds, Production, perception, and design features of sound, vol 1. Academic, New York, pp 131–181
Wise KK, Conover MR, Knowlton FF (1999) Response of coyotes to avian distress calls: testing the startle-predator and predator-attraction hypotheses. Behaviour 136:935–949
Zann R, Dunstan E (2008) Mimetic song in superb lyrebirds: species mimicked and mimetic accuracy in different populations and age classes. Anim Behav 76:1043–1054
Zollinger SA, Suthers RA (2004) Motor mechanisms of a vocal mimic: implications for birdsong production. Proc R Soc B 271:483–491
Zuberbühler K (2000a) Causal knowledge of predators’ behaviour in wild Diana monkeys. Anim Behav 59:209–220
Zuberbühler K (2000b) Interspecies semantic communication in two forest primates. Proc R Soc B 267:713–718
Zuberbühler K (2009) Survivor signals: the biology and psychology of animal alarm calling. Adv Study Behav 40:277–322
Zuberbühler K, Noë R, Seyfarth RM (1997) Diana monkey long-distance calls: messages for conspecifics and predators. Anim Behav 53:589–604
Acknowledgments
We thank all our collaborators in our work on communication and eavesdropping in Australian birds. In recent years these have included Lauren Ascah, Tom Bennett, Andrew Cockburn, Sean Cunningham, Francesca Dawson Pell, Anastasia Dalziell, Pam Fallow, Janet Gardner, Esteban Fernández Juricic, Jessica McLachlan, Trevor Murray, Helen Osmond, Dominique Potvin, Andy Radford, Chaminda Ratnayake, Tom Rowell, Natalie Tegtman, You Zhou, and others who have helped in various ways. We are also grateful for financial support from the Australian Research Council and the Research School of Biology, ANU, and to the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme, Australian National Botanic Gardens, and ANU Ethics Committee permission to carry out the work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Magrath, R.D., Haff, T.M., Igic, B. (2020). Interspecific Communication: Gaining Information from Heterospecific Alarm Calls. In: Aubin, T., Mathevon, N. (eds) Coding Strategies in Vertebrate Acoustic Communication. Animal Signals and Communication, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39200-0_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39200-0_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39199-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39200-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)