Vocal repertoire in the European badger (Meles meles): Structure, context,and function

Vocalizations and behaviors of wild European badgers (Meles meles) were rec orded using infrared video surveillance systems in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshir e, United Kingdom. A quantitative acoustic analysis was undertaken, and the following acoustic parameters were measured from audio spectrograms: funda mental frequency bandwidth, duration, units per call, and inter-call interv al. Sixteen discrete adult and cub sounds are described that form the basis of the European badger's vocal repertoire. Eight of these basic vocal cate gories are exhibited by adults and cubs. Churrs, purrs, and keckers an rest ricted to adults, and chirps, clucks, coos, squeaks, and wails are confined to the cub's repertoire. The majority of call types are low- to moderate-p itched and noisy. The sound system of the badger exhibits further complexit y by way of gradations and transitions and is therefore best described as p ossessing a mixed vocal repertoire. Acoustic structure of call types is cor related with call function (inferred from context). No evidence of either a larm calls to conspecifics or the putative long-range 'scream' vocalization was found. a preliminary comparison of vocal signaling within the Mustelid ae may add credence to the view that the vocal repertoire could serve as a potential indicator of social complexity. An Internet site, containing digi tal sound files representative of the call types described in this paper ca n be found at http:// users.ox.ac.uk/-wcruinfo.