Vocalization Analyses of Nocturnal Arboreal Mammals of the Taita Hills, Kenya

• الحاوية / القاعدة: Diversity
• المؤلفون الرئيسيون: Hanna Rosti, Henry Pihlström, Simon Bearder, Petri Pellikka, Jouko Rikkinen
• التنسيق: مقال
• اللغة: الإنجليزية
• منشور في: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• الموضوعات: acoustic communication; singing mammal; prosimian; nocturnal animals; Dendrohyrax; Otolemur
• الوصول للمادة أونلاين: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/12/12/473

Three poorly known nocturnal mammal species from the montane forests of the Taita Hills in Kenya, were studied via vocalization analysis. Here, their acoustic behaviour is described. The studied animals were the tree hyrax (<i>Dendrohyrax</i> sp.), the small-eared greater galago (<i>Otolemur garnettii</i>), and the dwarf galago (<i>Paragalago</i> sp.). High-quality loud calls were analysed using RAVEN PRO, and compared to calls of presumed closest relatives. Our findings include the first detailed descriptions of tree hyrax songs. Moreover, our results suggest that the tree hyrax of Taita Hills may be a taxon new to science, as it produces a characteristic call, the ‘strangled thwack’, not previously known from other <i>Dendrohyrax</i> populations. Our data confirms that the small-eared greater galago subspecies living in the Taita Hills is <i>Otolemur garnettii lasiotis</i>. The loud calls of the elusive Taita Hills dwarf galago closely resemble those of the Kenya coast dwarf galago (<i>Paragalago cocos</i>). Thus, the population in the Taita Hills probably belongs to this species. The Taita Hills dwarf galagos are geographically isolated from other dwarf galago populations, and live in montane cloud forest, which is an unusual habitat for <i>P. cocos</i>. Intriguingly, two dwarf galago subpopulations living in separate forest patches in the Taita Hills, Ngangao and Mbololo, have clearly different contact calls. The Paragalagos in Mbololo Forest may represent a population of <i>P. cocos</i> with a derived call repertoire, or, alternatively, they may actually be mountain dwarf galagos (<i>P. orinus</i>). Hence, differences in habitat, behaviour, and contact call structure suggest that there may be two different <i>Paragalago</i> species in the montane forests of the Taita Hills.