bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

1 Characterising the vocal repertoire of the Indian

2 ( lupus pallipes)

3 Sougata Sadhukhana, Lauren Hennellyb and Bilal Habiba*

4 a Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of , 5 Dehradun, India;

6 b Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, 7 University of California, Davis, USA

8 * Corresponding Author

9 Dr Bilal Habib, Scientists-E, Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, 10 Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun-248001, India, Email ID- [email protected]

11

1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

13 Characterising the vocal repertoire of the Indian wolf

14 (Canis lupus pallipes)

15 Vocal communication in social plays a crucial role in mate choice, 16 maintaining social structure, and foraging strategy. The Indian grey wolf, among 17 the less studied subspecies, is a social carnivore that lives in groups called packs 18 and has many types of vocal communication. In this study, we characterise 19 harmonic vocalisation types in the Indian wolf using howl survey responses and 20 opportunistic recordings from captive and nine packs (each pack contains 2-9 21 individuals) of free-ranging Indian . Using principal component analysis, 22 hierarchical clustering, and discriminant function analysis, we found four vocal 23 types using 270 recorded vocalisations (Average Silhouette width Si = 0.598) 24 which include howls and howl-bark (N=238), whimper (N=2), social squeak 25 (N=28), and whine (N=2). Although having a smaller body size, Indian wolf 26 howls have an average mean fundamental frequency of 0.422KHz (±0.126), 27 which is similar to other Holarctic clade subspecies. The whimper showed the 28 highest frequency modulation (37.296±4.601 KHz) and the highest mean 29 fundamental frequency (1.708±0.524 KHz) compared to other call types. Less 30 information is available on the third vocalisation type, i.e. ‘Social squeak’ or 31 ‘talking’ (Mean fundamental frequency =0.461±0.083 KHz), which is highly 32 variable (coefficient of frequency variation = 18.778±3.587 KHz). Our study’s 33 characterisation of the Indian wolf’s harmonic vocal repertoire provides a first 34 step in understanding the function and contextual use of vocalisations in this 35 social .

36 Keywords: Communication, Social Canid, Howl, Harmonic Vocalisation, India

37 Introduction

38 Vocalisation plays a critical role in social animals for conveying information on

39 foraging, reproductive, and social behaviours [1–7]. Characterising the vocal repertoire

40 of a species provides a base for understanding the behavioural significance of different

41 vocalisations and studying how vocal communication varies across the populations,

2 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

42 subspecies, and taxa [8–10]. The wolf (Canis lupus) is a social mammal and uses a

43 variety of vocalisations for communication. Being present throughout Eurasia and North

44 America, the wolf is one of the most widely distributed land and occupies a

45 wide range of different habitat types [11]. The Indian wolf is among the smallest [12]

46 and one of the most evolutionarily distinct wolf subspecies, having diverged around

47 270,000 and 400,000 years ago based on mitochondrial DNA [13–15]. Studying the

48 vocal repertoire of the Indian wolf can aid in future studies on the function of different

49 vocal signals in Indian wolves and, more broadly, the variation in vocalisation across

50 subspecies and taxa within the Canis clade.

51 The best-known wolf vocalisation – the howl – is a long-range harmonic call used for

52 territorial advertising and social cohesion [1,16–18]. Recent studies have shown 21

53 different howl types across various canid subspecies based on quantitative similarity in

54 modulation pattern [8]. Along with howl, wolves also communicate using 7 to 12 other

55 harmonic calls, which is a clear pitch sound wave that possesses multiple integral

56 frequencies [19–21]. Many of these other harmonic vocalizations are short-ranged, and

57 due to difficulties in recording these calls, remain less studied compared to the wolf

58 howl [22]. These short-ranged calls are important for communicating passive or

59 aggressive behaviour among social canids [22–24].

60 The whimper, whine and yelp are various calls for communicating passive and friendly

61 behaviour among wolves [18,23], whereas noisy calls, which don’t have a clear pitch or

62 distinct frequency band in their spectrograms, communicate different levels of

63 aggression [18,23]. The whimper and whine vocalization is similar to a crying sound

64 with the whimper having a comparatively shorter duration than whine [18,25]. The

65 whine vocalization is mostly used for submissive behaviour whereas the whimper is

3 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

66 primarily used for greeting [18]. Yelp is a short and sharp cry and is used in submissive

67 behaviour with body contacts [18,25]. To communicate different levels of aggression

68 behaviors, wolves use noisy calls which consist of the growl, woof, and bark. Growl is a

69 laryngeal sound to show dominance in any interaction, whereas the woof vocalization is

70 a non-vocal sound cue (without involvement of vocal cords) used by adults for their

71 pups [18,25,26]. The bark is a short low pitched sound with rapid frequency modulation

72 and is used during aggressive defence [19,26], such as defending pups or defending a

73 food resource. Wolves also express communication through mixed vocalisation either

74 by ‘successive emission’ or by ‘superimposition’ of two or more sound types [21]. A

75 recent study on (Canis lupus italicus) suggests six other types of calls may

76 combine with howls to make a complex chorus vocalisation [27].

77 This study investigates the acoustic structure of harmonic vocalizations of Indian

78 wolves and classifies harmonic vocalizations using a statistical approach. We

79 accumulated the vocalisation data from free-ranging and captive Indian wolves, which

80 will be the first study to evaluate different types of vocalisations of this wolf subspecies.

81 Using multivariate analyses, we describe and classify different harmonic calls to

82 develop a vocal repertoire of the Indian wolf.

83 Materials and methods

84 Study Species

85 The Indian wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) is among the smallest subspecies of wolf with an

86 average body weight is 20.75 kg [12]. Indian wolves are mostly found in grasslands and

87 the edges of dense forest on the Indian subcontinent [12,28–31]. We recorded

88 vocalisations from nine packs of free-ranging wolves and ten captive wolves from Jaipur

4 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

89 . For captive wolves, we collected vocalisation data from 10 wolves: two adult pairs

90 and six subadults. One adult male was recently captured from wild near the city of Jaipur,

91 , India . The rest of the Indian wolves are descendents of captive breeders at

92 Jaipur Zoo.

93 Study Sites

94 The study was conducted in the state of (Figure 1) and Jaipur Zoo of Jaipur,

95 Rajasthan, India. The study site of Maharashtra includes the semi-arid area of central

96 Deccan Plateau [32], which consists overlapping habitat of Tropical Dry Deciduous

97 Forest, Grassland, Savanna (Western Part) and Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest (Eastern

98 Part) [33].

99 Figure 1. Map of survey sites of the free-ranging wolves.

100 Data Collection

101 Vocalization of free-ranging wolves was recorded through acoustics survey from

102 November 2015 to June 2016. Most of the long-distance vocalisation data were

103 collected through howling surveys to elicit howl behaviour. For other types of

104 vocalisation data, we relied on opportunistic recordings from free-ranging wolves and

105 captive wolves, in which installed microphones near the enclosure was used to record

106 vocalizations. Howl surveys were performed during early morning and evening hours

107 using pre-recorded howls that were previously recorded from the Jaipur Zoo Indian

108 wolves. Each howling session consisted of five trials with three-minute intervals. A 50-

109 second-long pre-recorded solo howl was played thrice using JBL Xtreme speakers [34]

110 in the order of increasing volume. The session was followed by two 50-second-long

111 chorus howls with an increase in volume level. In the case of howling response, the

5 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

112 session was terminated and repeated after 15 to 20 minutes. Responses were recorded

113 using Blue Yeti Pro Microphone [35] attached with Zoom H4N Handheld Audio

114 Recorder [36] at a sampling rate of 44.1KHz on 16-bit depth with 80 Hz noise filter.

115 Along with survey responses, the opportunistic recording sessions were conducted near

116 Indian wolf den sites and rendezvous sites. In addition to howl surveys at Jaipur Zoo,

117 vocalisations of captive wolves were recorded by installing microphones in the front of

118 cages during closing hours (6:30 pm-7: 30 am).

119 Feature Extraction

120 Spectrogram of each vocalisation was generated through the Raven Pro 1.5 software

121 [37] using the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) algorithm. The discrete Fourier

122 function transforms same length sequence of equally spaced sample points (N), (N is a

123 prime number) with circular convolution being implemented on the points [38]. Hann

124 windows were used at the rate of 1800 samples on 35.2 Hz 3dB filter. A total of 270

125 spectrograms were selected for further analysis based on clarity (i.e. clearer spectrogram

126 with low noise and without external sound overlap). Web plot digitiser v3 [39] was used

127 to digitise fundamental frequency from the spectral images. This digitised data was

128 obtained at 0.1sec resolution. From this data, eleven acoustic variables (Table 1) were

129 obtained based on their performance from previous studies [40,41].

130 Table 1. Acoustic variables based on fundamental frequency (f0) that were extracted for 131 this study

Variable Name Definition of Variable Min f The minimum frequency of the fundamental (f0) Max f The maximum frequency of f0 Range f Range of f0; f0= Max f – Min f Mean f Mean frequency of f0 at 0.1 s interval over the duration Duration Duration of Howl measured at f0; Duration = tend- tstart

6 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

Abrupt0.025 Number of abrupt changes in f0 more than 25Hz at single time step (0.1sec) Abrupt0.05 Number of abrupt changes in f0 more than 50Hz at single time step (0.1sec) Abrupt0.1 Number of abrupt changes in f0 more than 100Hz at single time step (0.1sec) Stdv Standard Deviation of f0. Co-fm Coefficient of frequency modulation of f0 = Σ|f(t)–f (t+1)|/(n–1) Χ 100/Mean f0 Co-fv Coefficient of frequency variation of f0 = (SD/mean) Χ 100

132 Statistical Analysis

133 Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

134 To obtain a smaller set of representative variables, we used principal component

135 analysis (PCA), which extracts linearly uncorrelated variables from a suite of

136 potentially correlated variables. PCA is advantageous to building a robust model more

137 quickly than would be possible with raw input fields [42]. To simplify the interpretation

138 of factors, we performed varimax rotation using Kaiser normalisation. From our dataset

139 of 270 vocalisations, we used eight scalar variables that are related to spectral structure

140 (Range f, Duration, Abrupt0.025, Abrupt0.05, Abrupt0.1, Stdv, Co-fm, Co-fv) for PCA

141 analysis through the software SPSS (v22). The first principal component (PC1) and

142 second principal component (PC2) were used in the subsequent clustering analyses.

143 Cluster Analysis

144 To classify the recorded vocalisations from the Indian wolf, we used agglomerative

145 hierarchical clustering through the R package AGglomerative NESting (AGNES). The

146 agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm measures the dissimilarity between

147 single and groups of observations using a “bottom-up” approach, thereby constructing

148 clusters [43]. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering was performed using Euclidean

7 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

149 distances with PC1 and PC2 from the 270-vocalisation data using eight scalar variables.

150 Subsequently, silhouette clustering was combined with AGNES to validate the number

151 of clusters in our vocalisation data. Silhouette clustering measures the similarity of

152 observation within its cluster compared to other clusters [44]. The average silhouette

153 value (0 represents poor fit, 1 depicts the highest fit) describes the evaluation of

154 clustering validity [44]. Average Silhouette width (Si) was calculated for 14 different

155 solutions (2 to 15 clusters). The “solution” that provided the best fit was selected upon

156 the maximum average silhouette value. The dendrogram was plotted using ‘Circlize

157 Dendrogram’ in the package ‘Dendextend’ in program R.

158 Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA)

159 Discriminant function analysis (DFA) was performed using PC1 and PC2 as an

160 independent variable under the program SPSS v22 to cross-validate the obtained

161 clusters from AGNES. Predicted clusters that were determined by the maximum

162 silhouette value were then used as a grouping variable to see within-group covariance in

163 DFA analysis.

164 Box plot using simple scalar variable

165 From these clusters, we then used box plot to show the overall pattern and distribution

166 characteristics of different vocal clusters.

167 Results

168 Principal Component Analysis

169 Two principal components (PC1 and PC2) were generated from the 8-simple scalar

8 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

170 variables through PCA based on Kaiser-Guttman Rule (Eigenvalue >1) [45]. PC1 and

171 PC2 together explained 70.6% variance. PC1 was based on the variances of six acoustic

172 parameters (Abrupt0.025, Abrupt0.1, Abrupt0.05, Co-fv, Range f, Stdv) whereas PC2 is

173 explained by the variances of five parameters (Abrupt0.1, Co-fm, Duration, Range f,

174 Stdv) (Table 2)

175 Table 2. The loadings of PC1 and PC2. Communalities are the proportional factors by 176 which the importance of each variable is explained. Acoustics PC1 Loading after PC2 loading after Varimax Communalities Parameters varimax rotation Rotation Abrupt0.025 .858 0 0.741

Abrupt0.1 .602 .415 0.535

Abrupt0.05 .825 0 0.732 Co-fm 0 .945 0.898 Co-fv .862 0 0.750 Duration 0 -.382 0.231 Range f .852 .392 0.880 Stdv .759 .556 0.885 % of Variance 48.946 21.692

177 Cluster Analysis

178 The highest silhouette value (Si = 0.598) was obtained at the 4-group solution in the

179 cluster analysis using PC1 and PC2 from PCA analysis (Figure 2). The average

180 silhouette value was 0.62 for the first cluster (N=238), 0.37 for the second cluster

181 (N=2), 0.38 for the third cluster (N=28) and 0.73 for the fourth cluster (N=2) (Figure 3).

182 The 4 clusters were formed at 3.9 clustering scale through agglomerative hierarchical

183 clustering (Figure 4).

184 Figure 1. Average silhouette width plotted against 14 different solutions (2-15 185 cluster). Average Silhouette width represents the significance level (0 represents poor 186 fit, 1represents best fit). We obtained maximum silhouette width in 4 cluster solutions

187 i.e. Si= 0.598.

9 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

188 Figure 2. Silhouette plot is a validation method for the consistency among the

189 clusters. It provides information about the similarity or difference of each call from its

190 clusters. A negative value indicates the chance of a call to fall under the neighbouring

191 cluster. The average silhouette value of 4 groups are 0.62 (N=238), 0.37 (N=2), 0.38

192 (N=28), 0.73 (N=2) respectively.

193 Figure 3. Cluster Diagram obtained from Agglomerative hierarchical clustering

194 using Euclidean Distance as matric function. Four clusters were formed at 3.9

195 Clustering scale. Cluster 1 (Howl), Cluster 2 (Whimper), Cluster 3 (Social Squeak) and

196 Cluster 4 (Whine) are denoted by Blue, Red, Green and Brown Respectively.

197 Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA)

198 DFA achieved 95.9 % accuracy of vocal group identification using two PCA values

199 (Table 3). Each of the four groups has a distinct group centroids. Graphical

200 representation using two discriminant functions (DF1 and DF2) shows that vocal

201 clusters do not overlap (Figure 5).

202 Table 3. Classification Results of Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA). 95.9% Vocal 203 clusters (estimated from Agglomerative hierarchical clustering) are identified correctly. cluster Predicted Group Membership Total 1 2 3 4 Count 1 229 0 8 1 238 2 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 26 2 28 4 0 0 0 2 2 % 1 96.2 .0 3.4 .4 100.0 Correct 2 .0 100.0 .0 .0 100.0 3 .0 .0 92.9 7.1 100.0

Predicted Predicted in Cluster analysis 4 .0 .0 .0 100.0 100.0 204

10 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

205 Figure 4. The plot of Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) using PCA value for

206 270 vocalisation data from Indian Wolf. Different colours represent different call

207 type.

208 Box plot using a simple scalar variable

209 The whisker box plot represents the variation among the acoustic variables within the

210 four identified call types (Figure 6). Call type 1 had the longest duration (5.214±2.49

211 Sec) whereas call type 2 showed the shortest duration among the four recognised groups

212 (0.4±0) (N=2). Type 2 calls are also high frequency modulated (37.296±4.601)

213 (variation in frequency per unit time). However, frequency variation (around the mean)

214 is highest in type 3 calls (18.778±3.587) (Table 4Error! Reference source not found.).

215 Figure 5. Box plot of variation among acoustic variables between different call 216 type. a. Variation among minimum frequency, b. Variation among maximum 217 frequency, c. Variation among Mean frequency, d. Variation among duration of the call, 218 e. Variation among coefficient of frequency modulation, f. variation among coefficient 219 of frequency variation.

220 Table 4. Variation among important acoustic variables within the four identified call 221 types.

Clus Min f0 Max f0 Mean f0 Range f0 Duratio Co-fv Co-fm ter (KHz) (KHz) (KHz) (KHz) n (Sec) 1 0.359±0 0.469±0 0.422±0 0.11±0. 5.214±2 7.17±3.6 4.444±4.4 .116 .141 .126 065 .49 89 63 2 1.632±0 1.77±0. 1.708±0 0.137±0 0.4±0 3.407±2. 37.296±4. .578 5 .524 .077 632 601 3 0.327±0 0.623±0 0.461±0 0.295±0 3.471±1 18.778±3 9.071±4.8 .051 .077 .083 .05 .855 .587 02 4 0.733±0 1.1±0.2 0.906±0 0.367±0 1.2±0.7 13.649±5 20.694±1 .19 2 .242 .029 07 .526 7.347

11 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

222 Discussion

223 This study provides a quantitative assessment of the vocalisations of the Indian wolf

224 subspecies. Our results show that there are four statistically classified groups of Indian

225 wolf vocalisations based on ten captive individuals and nine free-ranging Indian wolf

226 packs. Though the Four to Six solution groups showed a narrow difference in their

227 average silhouette values based on silhouette plot analysis, the four cluster solution was

228 found to be the most significant based from the global maxima. This characterisation of

229 vocalisations provides a first step to evaluating the function and contextual use of

230 different types of vocalisations in these canids.

231 The first call type is identified as a howl (Figure 7a), which is the most dominant and

232 prolonged (5.214±2.49 sec) call type in our dataset. The fundamental frequency of howl

233 ranged from 0.359 KHz (±0.116) minimum to 0.469 KHz (±0.141) maximum (N=238).

234 Besides having smaller body size, the mean Fundamental Frequency of the Indian wolf

235 howl (0.422±0.126 KHz) was similar as compared to other Holarctic clade subspecies

236 reported by Hennelly et al. [46]. Since the howl is the most detectable vocalisation used

237 in long-range social cohesion and territorial advertisement [8,22], our high howl sample

238 size shouldn’t be considered as the most dominant vocalisation. Barking-howl, which was

239 mentioned by many authors as a common type of mix vocalisation in wolves [22,27,47],

240 falls under the same cluster along with howling (Figure 7b). From our field observations,

241 wolves bark in defence to an immediate threat. In one such occasion, the she-wolf of a

242 pack started barking at nearby villagers to protect her cubs and did not stop until all the

243 three pups ran away to a safer distance from the villagers.

244 Figure 6. Spectrograms of different type of vocalisation in Indian wolf a. Howl (type

245 1); b. Bark-Howl (type 1 subtype); c. Whimper (type 2), d. Social Squeak (type 3); e.

246 Whine (Type 4);

12 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

247 The second call type has the highest frequency modulation (37.296±4.601 KHz) and is

248 commonly known as a whimper (Figure 7c). The whimper is low intensity but high-

249 pitched sound and unlike howls, it is used for short distance communication among pack

250 members. [20,22] (mean fundamental frequency = 1.708±0.524 KHz). This short duration

251 (0.4±0 KHz) vocalisation is reported to be associated with submissive or friendly greeting

252 behaviour [22,47]. Since it is not audible from more than one to two hundred yards away

253 [47], our dataset contains only a few observations (difference sources) of this type of call

254 (N=2). While our study provides some initial insight into the acoustic structure of this

255 vocalization, further sampling will be needed to robustly characterize the acoustic

256 structure of the whimper.

257 The third group of Indian wolf vocalisations can be termed as ‘social squeak’ (Figure 7c),

258 following observations by previous studies (Mech 1981, Crisler 1959, Fentress 1967).

259 This high-frequency variable vocalisation (18.778±3.587 KHz) in the Indian wolf is

260 similar to ‘talking’ as termed by Crisler [48]. Social Squeak has a minimum frequency of

261 0.327 KHz (±0.051) to Maximum of 0.623 KHz (±0.077) (N=28).

262 Lastly, our fourth group we identified as the whine (Figure 7e), which is characterized as

263 a short duration vocalisation (1.2±0.707 Sec). The whine in the Indian wolf (Canis lupus

264 pallipes) is longer than the whine reported in Italian wolf (0.13±0.10 Sec) [27]. Although

265 our data set is small (N=2; from two different individuals) to interpret robustly, the mean

266 fundamental frequency of Indian wolf whine (0.906±0.242 KHz) has a similar frequency

267 as the Italian wolf (0.979±0.109 KHz) [27].

268 Overall, our study identified four statistically classified groups of vocalisations of the

269 Indian wolf. While the howl has been extensively studied in its behavioural function and

270 variation across subspecies [8,46], less is known about the short-range communication

271 among wolves. For example, our study identified the ‘Social Squeak’, or the ‘talking’ like

13 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

272 vocalisation in the wolf, yet little is known about its function in wolf packs and if it’s a

273 common communication across different canid species and within domestic . Further

274 research on a larger dataset of Indian wolf vocalisations can develop a more robust

275 classification of the vocal repertoire and can be used for future studies on the contextual

276 use and variations across different wolf subspecies. More broadly, the species within the

277 Canis clade vary in their body sizes, social structure, and habitats. Describing the vocal

278 repertoires of various canid species can give insight into the factors influencing vocal

279 communication within the genus Canis.

280 Acknowledgements

281 We want to thank the authority and staffs of the Jaipur Zoo and Maharashtra Forest

282 Department for permitting to conduct this research. We sincerely acknowledge the

283 funding agencies, Department of Science and Technology, India and Forest Department

284 of Maharashtra. We appreciate all our field personals and wildlife enthusiast groups

285 (Pune Wolfgang, Mihir Godbole, Vineet Arora, R. V. Kasar, Rajesh Pardeshi, Sawan

286 Behkar and others) from Maharashtra who helped in local information gathering and

287 various logistic arrangement during data collection. The first author is grateful to Holly-

288 Root Gutteridge, who helped me in learning feature extraction during the initial days.

289 We acknowledge the effort of Shivam Shrotriya and Nilanjan Chatterjee for assistance

290 during the analysis. We would like to show our gratitude to our friends and colleagues

291 whose insight and comments considerably improved the manuscript. We are delighted

292 for having the continuous support and facility from Wildlife Institute of India,

293 Dehradun.

14 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

294 References

295 1. Theberge JB, Falls JB. Howling as a means of communication in timber wolves.

296 Am Zool. 1967;7: 331–338. doi:10.1093/icb/7.2.331

297 2. Kingston T, Lara MC, Jones G, Akbar Z, Kunz TH, Schneider CJ. Acoustic

298 divergence in two cryptic Hipposideros species: a role for social selection? Proc

299 R Soc Biol Sci. The Royal Society; 2001;268: 1381–6.

300 doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1630

301 3. Harrington FH, Mech DL. An analysis of howling response parameters useful for

302 wolf pack censusing. J Wildl Manage. 1982;46: 686–693. doi:10.2307/3808560

303 4. Scott JP. The Evolution of Social Behavior in Dogs and Wolves. Am Zool.

304 1967;7: 373–381.

305 5. Garber P a., Estrada A, Bicca-Marques JC, Heymann EW, Strier KB. South

306 American Primates: Comparative Perspectives in the Study of Behavior,

307 Ecology, and Conservation. 2009. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-78705-3

308 6. Nawroth C, Brett JM, McElligott AG. Goats display audience-dependent human-

309 directed gazing behaviour in a problem-solving task. Biol Lett. 2016;12: 2016–

310 2019. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2016.0283

311 7. Gazzola A, Avanzinelli E, Mauri L, Scandura M, Apollonio M. Temporal

312 changes of howling in south European wolf packs. Ital J Zool. Taylor & Francis;

313 2002;69: 157–161. doi:10.1080/11250000209356454

314 8. Kershenbaum A, Root-Gutteridge H, Habib B, Koler-Matznick J, Mitchell B,

315 Palacios V, et al. Disentangling canid howls across multiple species and

15 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

316 subspecies: Structure in a complex communication channel. Behav Processes.

317 Elsevier B.V.; 2016;124: 149–157. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2016.01.006

318 9. Tembrock G. Acoustic behaviour of mammals. In Acoustic Behavior of Animals

319 (René Guy Busnel). Elsevier; 1963. pp. 751–786. Available:

320 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260796117

321 10. Wilkins MR, Seddon N, Safran RJ. Evolutionary divergence in acoustic signals:

322 causes and consequences. Trends Ecol Evol. Elsevier Current Trends; 2013;28:

323 156–166. doi:10.1016/J.TREE.2012.10.002

324 11. Mech DL, Boitani L, (IUCN SSC Wolf Specialist Group). The IUCN Red List of

325 Threatened Species 2010. 2010. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-

326 4.RLTS.T3746A10049204.en Copyright:

327 12. Habib B. Ecology of Indian wolf [canis lupus pallipes sykes. 1831), and

328 modeling its potential habitat in the great Indian bustard sanctuary, Maharashtra,

329 India. Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (India). 2007.

330 13. Sharma DK, Maldonado JE, Jhala Y V, Fleischer RC. Ancient wolf lineages in

331 India. Proc R Soc London B Biol Sci. The Royal Society; 2004;271: S1--S4.

332 doi:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0071

333 14. Aggarwal RK, Kivisild T, Ramadevi J, Singh L. Mitochondrial DNA coding

334 region sequences support the phylogenetic distinction of two Indian wolf species.

335 J Zool Syst Evol Res. 2007;45: 163–172. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2006.00400.x

336 15. Shrotriya S, Lyngdoh S, Habib B. Wolves in Trans-Himalayas: 165 years of

337 taxonomic confusion. Curr Sci. JSTOR; 2012;103: 885–887.

16 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

338 16. Harrington FH, Mech DL. Wolf Howling and Its Role in Territory Maintenance.

339 Behaviour. 1978;68: 207–249. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4533952

340 17. Harrington FH. Aggressive howling in wolves. Anim Behav. Academic Press;

341 1987;35: 7–12. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(87)80204-X

342 18. Schassburger RM. Vocal communication in the timber wolf, Canis lupus,

343 Linnaeus: structure, motivation, and ontogeny; with 6 tables. Parey Scientific

344 Publ.; 1993.

345 19. Coscia EM, Phillips DP, Fentress JC. Spectral analysis of neonatal wolf canis

346 lupus vocalizations. Bioacoustics. 1991;3: 275–293.

347 doi:10.1080/09524622.1991.9753190

348 20. McCarley H. Vocalizations of Red Wolves (Canis rufus). J Mammal. Oxford

349 University Press; 1978;59: 27–35. doi:10.1644/859.1.Key

350 21. Cohen JA, MW. Vocalizations in wild canids and possible effects of

351 domestication. Behav Processes. 1976;1: 77–92. doi:10.1016/0376-

352 6357(76)90008-5

353 22. Mech DL. The wolf: the ecology and behavior of endangered species. New York:

354 University of Minnesota Press; 1981.

355 23. Mech DL, Boitani L. Wolves : behavior, ecology, and conservation. Chicago:

356 University of Chicago Press; 2010.

357 24. Feddersen-Petersen DU. Vocalization of European wolves (Canis lupus lupus L.)

358 and various breeds (Canis lupus f. fam.). Arch für Tierzucht. 2000;43: 387–

359 397. doi:10.5194/aab-43-387-2000

17 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

360 25. Mech DL, Boitani L. Wolves: behavior, ecology and conservation. University of

361 Chicago Press, Chicago; 2003.

362 26. Nikolʹskij AA, Frommolʹt K-C. Zvukovaja aktivnostʹ volka: Lautaktivität des

363 Wolfes. Izdatelʹstvo Moskovskogo universiteta; 1989.

364 27. Passilongo D, Marchetto M, Apollonio M. Singing in a wolf chorus : Structure

365 and complexity of a multicomponent acoustic behaviour. Hystrix, Ital J Mammal

366 Online. 2017;28: 180–185. doi:10.4404/hystrix-28.2-12019

367 28. Singh M, Kumara HN. Distribution, status and conservation of Indian gray wolf

368 (Canis lupus pallipes) in , India. J Zool. 2006;270: 164–169.

369 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00103.x

370 29. Jethva BD, Jhala Y V. Foraging ecology, economics and conservation of Indian

371 wolves in the Bhal region of , Western India. Biol Conserv. 2004;116:

372 351–357. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00218-0

373 30. Habib B, Kumar S. Den shifting by wolves in semi-wild landscapes in the

374 Deccan Plateau, Maharashtra, India. J Zool. 2007;272: 259–265.

375 doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00265.x

376 31. Kumar S, Rahmani AR. Predation by wolves (Canis lupus pallipes) on

377 (Antilope cervicapra) in the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary, Nannaj,

378 Maharashtra, India. Int J Ecol Environ Sci. 2008;34: 99–112.

379 32. Rodgers WA, Panwar SH. Biogeographical classification of India. New For

380 Dehra Dun, India. 1988;

381 33. Reddy CS, Jha CS, Diwakar PG, Dadhwal VK. Nationwide classification of

18 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

382 forest types of India using remote sensing and GIS. Environ Monit Assess.

383 Springer International Publishing; 2015;187: 777. doi:10.1007/s10661-015-4990-

384 8

385 34. Harman Internation Industries. JBL Xtreme. Northridge, CA; 2014.

386 35. Blue Microphone. Blue Yeti Pro Microphone. Westlake Village, CA; 2011.

387 36. Zoom Corporation. Zoom H4N Handheld Audio Recorder [Internet]. Tokyo,

388 Japan; 2009. Available: http://www.zoom.co.jp

389 37. Bioacoustics Research Program. Raven Pro: interactive sound analysis software

390 [Internet]. The Cornell Lab of . Ithaca, NY: The Cornell Lab of

391 Ornithology.; 2014. Available: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/raven

392 38. Rader CM. Discrete Fourier transforms when the number of data samples is

393 prime. Proc IEEE. 1968;56: 1107–1108. doi:10.1109/PROC.1968.6477

394 39. Rohatgi A. WebPlotDigitizer. Austin, Texas, USA; 2017.

395 40. Root-Gutteridge H, Bencsik M, Chebli M, Gentle LK, Terrell-Nield C, Bourit A,

396 et al. Improving individual identification in captive Eastern grey wolves (Canis

397 lupus lycaon) using the time course of howl amplitudes. Bioacoustics-the Int J

398 Anim Sound Its Rec. 2014;23: 39–53. doi:10.1080/09524622.2013.817318

399 41. Tooze ZJ, Harrington FH, Fentress JC. Individually distinct vocalizations in

400 timber wolves, Canis lupus. Anim Behav. 1990;40: 723–730.

401 doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80701-8

402 42. Smith LI. A tutorial on Principal Components Analysis Introduction. Statistics

19 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.

403 (Ber). 2002;51: 52. doi:10.1080/03610928808829796

404 43. Kaufman L, Rousseeuw PJ. Agglomerative Nesting (Program AGNES). Finding

405 Groups in Data. Wiley; 2009. pp. 199–252.

406 44. Rousseeuw PJ. Silhouettes: A graphical aid to the interpretation and validation of

407 cluster analysis. J Comput Appl Math. 1987;20: 53–65. doi:10.1016/0377-

408 0427(87)90125-7

409 45. Kaiser HF. Coefficient Alpha for a Principal Component and the Kaiser-Guttman

410 Rule. Psychol Rep. SAGE PublicationsSage CA: Los Angeles, CA; 1991;68:

411 855–858. doi:10.2466/pr0.1991.68.3.855

412 46. Hennelly LH, Habib B, Root-Gutteridge H, Palacios V, Passilongo D. Howl

413 variation across Himalayan , North African , Indian , and Holarctic wolf clades :

414 tracing divergence in the world ’ s oldest wolf lineages using acoustics. Curr

415 Zool. 2017; 1–8. doi:10.1093/cz/zox001

416 47. Joslin P. Summer activities of two timber wolf (Canis lupus) packs in Algonquin

417 Park. University of Toronto. 1966.

418 48. Crisler L. Arctic Wild. London: Secker & Warburg; 1959.

419

420 Supporting Information

421 S1 File. The Variables, Clusters and Other Details information of every calls.

20 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/612507; this version posted April 18, 2019. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license.