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Koala bellows and their association with the spatial dynamics of free-ranging koalas
journal contribution
posted on 2017-12-06, 00:00 authored by William EllisWilliam Ellis, F Bercovitch, S FitzGibbon, P Roe, J Wimmer, Alistair Melzer, R WilsonAcoustic communication mediates sociality in a variety of animals. One of the more ubiquitous vocal signals to have evolved is the sexual advertisement call of males. Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) males emit a sonorous bellow call during the breeding season, but no detailed studies of the calling context appear to have been published. We used a novel remote sound detection network to monitor koala bellowing while simultaneously collecting koala behavioral data using collar-mounted GPS units. Our approach enabled us to examine fine scale temporal variation in vocalization and spatial movements of free-ranging koalas without direct behavioral observations. Bellow occurrence was susceptible to weather conditions, with fewer calls occurring when wind speed and temperatures were high. The number of bellow vocalizations recorded during an annual period mirrored breeding activity, with nearly all male bellows recorded during peak mating season. The distance traveled by koalas and the occurrence of koala bellows both peaked around midnight, but only female travel distance during the breeding season was temporally correlated with bellow occurrence. We conclude that environmental factors might trigger male bellowing to launch the breeding season and that these male vocal signals function more to attract females than to repel males. Female mate selection is probably an important component of male reproductive success in koalas, which is partly mediated by male bellow characteristics.
Funding
Category 1 - Australian Competitive Grants (this includes ARC, NHMRC)
History
Volume
22Issue
2Start Page
372End Page
377Number of Pages
6eISSN
1465-7279ISSN
1045-2249Location
United StatesPublisher
Oxford University PressPublisher DOI
Full Text URL
Language
en-ausPeer Reviewed
- Yes
Open Access
- No
External Author Affiliations
Centre for Environmental Management; Institute for Conservation Research; Koala Research Centre of Central Queensland; Queensland University of Technology; TBA Research Institute; University of Queensland;Era Eligible
- Yes