Can we trace the social affiliation of rooks (Corvusfrugilegus) through their vocal signature?

Abstract

Inter-individual recognition is crucial for stable social relationships and it is frequently mediated through vocal signatures. In socially complex species, recognition may additionally require additional levels corresponding to other layers of social organisation such as the pair, family, social group or colony. Additional vocal signatures may encode these different levels of social organisations for recognition. We investigated this hypothesis in the calls of the rook (Corvus frugilegus), a highly social corvid. Rooks form large breeding colonies where multiple pairs nest in clusters. We recorded the calls of five colonies located in France and in Great Britain, including both wild and captive colonies. To exclude variations due to different call types, we focused on the loud nest call produced exclusively by nesting females during the breeding season. We compared the acoustic distance of calls from each individual and between individuals at various levels of nest proximity, i.e. from the same nest cluster, from different nest clusters, from colonies within the same country, and from colonies in different countries. The only vocal signatures we found were at the individual level, but not at the nest cluster or colony level. This suggests a lack of vocal convergence in this species, at least for the nest call, which may be important for pair recognition in large colonies. Further studies should now evaluate if types of calls other than the nest call better carry vocal signatures as markers of different layers of sociality in this species, or if vocal divergence is a more general vocal phenomenon. In that case, applying new methods of monitoring vocal signatures in wild individuals should help understand the cognitive, social and environmental mechanisms underlying this vocal singularisation. 1. Significance statementInter-individual recognition is crucial for social relationships in animals, and is often mediated by individual-specific acoustic characteristics in vocalisations, called a vocal signature. High levels of social organisations, such as a social group of familiar conspecifics or a breeding colony, may likewise be signalled by vocal signatures shared by multiple individuals. We used machine-learning techniques to investigate vocal signatures at multiple social levels in the nest call of brooding female rooks, a corvid species that breeds colonially but lives year-round in social groups. We find evidence of a strong individual vocal signature, but no common vocal signature even in females that nest close together, or in the same colony. A strong individual vocal signature may be a potent tool to monitor populations in this species with minimal disturbance and minimal material, especially as corvids are frequently targeted by human-fauna conflicts in continental Europe.