Intraspecific and geographic variation of West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus spp.) vocalizations

Recordings of manatee (Trichechus manatus spp.) vocalizations were made in Florida and Belize to quantify both intraspecific and geographic variation. Manatee vocalizations were relatively stereotypical in that they were short tonal harmonic complexes with small frequency modulations at the beginnin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2003-07, Vol.114 (1), p.66-69
Main Authors: Nowacek, Douglas P, Casper, Brandon M, Wells, Randall S, Nowacek, Stephanie M, Mann, David A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Belize
Florida
Sound Spectrography
Species Specificity
Trichechus manatus
Vocalization, Animal
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Summary:Recordings of manatee (Trichechus manatus spp.) vocalizations were made in Florida and Belize to quantify both intraspecific and geographic variation. Manatee vocalizations were relatively stereotypical in that they were short tonal harmonic complexes with small frequency modulations at the beginning and end. Vocalizations ranged from almost pure tones to broader-band tones that had a raspy quality. The loudest frequency was typically the second or third harmonic, with average received levels of the peak frequency of about 100 dB re 1 μPa. Signal parameters measured from these calls showed the manatees from Belize and Florida have overlapping distributions of sound duration, peak frequency, harmonic spacing, and signal intensity, indicating no obvious distinguishing characteristics between these isolated populations.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.1582862