Ring-tailed lemur vocalizations

Adult vocalizing

The ring-tailed lemur has a complex array of distinct vocalizations used to maintain group cohesion during foraging and alert group members to the presence of a predator. The tables below detail calls documented in the wild and studied at the Duke Lemur Center.^[1]

Adult Affiliative Vocalizations

Call	Vocalizers	Inferred Function
Moan sample 1 sample 2	All except infants <14 weeks	Promotes group cohesion in low-to-moderate arousal contexts
Early-High Wail sample 1 sample 2	All except infants <6–8 weeks	Promotes group cohesion; indicates moderate-to-high level arousal level of caller
Late-High Wail sample 1 sample 2 sample 3	Non-infant females (typically), males (rarely)	May promote group cohesion under conditions of extreme arousal
Howl sample 1 sample 2	Non-infant males	Male advertisement call; together with female counter-calling, howls advertise the presence and location of the group
Hmm sample 1 sample 2	All except infants <5 weeks	Indicates that slow group relocation is imminent and promotes group cohesion, or reflects a caller's desire to maintain conspecific contact
Huh sample 1 sample 2	Infants >3 months (most frequent); male juveniles and adolescents; rarely by adults	Similar to hmm, but marks a caller's location more effectively
Purr sample	Adult females (most frequent); both sexes of all age classes	Appears to express contentment; also may communicate nonaggressive intent of an adult during close contact
Chirp sample 1 sample 2 sample 3 sample 4	All except infants <3 weeks	Elicits rapid group movement and may promote group cohesion in this context

Adult Agonistic Vocalizations

Call	Vocalizers	Inferred Function
Yip sample 1 sample 2 sample 3	All non-infants, except alpha females	Expresses mild fear and, perhaps, willingness to defer to a dominant
Cackle sample 1 sample 2 sample 3 sample 4 sample 5	Adults of both sexes	A defensive display that may reflect a willingness to become aggressive if pressed
Squeal sample 1 sample 2	Males, during tail waving only	Male "status assertion" vocalization
Twitter sample	All except infants <6 months	Communicates somewhat fearful but nevertheless assertive demeanor
Plosive Bark sample 1 sample 2 sample 3 sample 4	Both sexes of all ages classes	High-intensity threat vocalization
Chutter sample	Dominant adults (toward subordinates of all ages)	Low-to-moderate threat vocalization; may encourage subordinates to give way to dominants, thereby reaffirming dyadic dominance relationships.

Alerting & Antipredator Vocalizations

Call	Vocalizers	Inferred Function
Gulp sample 1 sample 2	All except infants <14 weeks	Generalized "group alert" vocalization
Rasp sample 1 sample 2 sample 3 sample 4	All except infants	Aerial predator alarm call
Shriek, variant 1 sample 1 sample 2 sample 3	All except infants	May serve to inform a raptor that it has been seen, and/or may discourage pursuit by intimidation, as well as to broadcast widely that a low-flying raptor has been detected
Shriek, variant 2 sample 1 sample 2	All except infants	Same as variant 1, except that variant 2 may express the more urgent nature of the aerial predator encounter.
Click sample 1 sample 2 sample 3	All except infants <2 weeks	The click is a low-arousal "location marker" that draws attention to a caller.
Close-Mouth Click Series (CMCS) sample	All except infants <2 months	Moderate-arousal "location marker"
Open-Mouth Click Series (OMCS) sample	All except infants	A "location marker" reserved for a limited number of contexts of very high arousal; also appears to serve as a cue that aids in the synchronization of yaps
Yap sample	All except infants	Carnivore mobbing call

Infant Affiliative Vocalizations

Call	Inferred Function
Infant Contact Call sample 1 sample 2 sample 3 sample 4	Conspecific vocal contact; functions initially to attract the mother and later as a precursor to moans and wails
Infant Trill, variant 1 sample 1 sample 2	Expresses desire for, and contentment from, conspecific contact
Infant Trill, variant 2 sample 1 sample 2	May express contentment and/or crossing the sensory threshold from contentment to discomfort

Infant Distress Vocalizations

Call	Inferred Function
Infant Whit, variant 1 sample	Infant distress call; expresses discomfort and/or distress
Infant Whit, variant 2 sample 1 sample 2	Infant high-intensity distress call
Infant Yelp sample 1 sample 2 sample 3	Serves both as an affiliative and distress vocalization in eliciting prompt retrieval by the mother

References

1. Macedonia, Joseph M. (1993). "The vocal repertoire of the ringtailed lemur (Lemur catta)". Folia Primatologica. 61: 186–217. doi:10.1159/000156749. PMID 7959437.