Chipmunk antipredator calls were examined during the summers of 1990 and 1991. The structural characteristics of the three calls, chipping, chucking and the trill, were obtained through taped recordings and sonagraphic analysis. Behavioural observations indicated that chucking by choruses of individuals occurs in the presence of aerial predators, chipping by choruses of individuals occurs in the presence of terrestrial predators and the trill is given by single individuals when fleeing from predators. / Experiments were carried out to determine the function of the trill and chipping. Demographic and contextual effects indicate that the trill is in part a call which functions to warn kin but may also indicate to conspecifics that the caller has escaped into a refuge. An experiment with a tethered cat concluded that chipping is likely to function to deter predators from hunting in the area. This is done through vocal mobbing by several individuals whose home ranges overlap.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.68157 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Burke da Silva, Karen |
| Contributors | Kramer, D. L. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001396075, proquestno: AAIMM94414, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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