Mares Prefer the Voices of Highly Fertile Stallions

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2015 Feb 26

PMID 25714814

Citations 2

Authors

Alban Lemasson

Kevin Remeuf

Marie Trabalon

Frederique Cuir

Martine Hausberger

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We investigated the possibility that stallion whinnies, known to encode caller size, also encoded information about caller arousal and fertility, and the reactions of mares in relation to type of voice. Voice acoustic features are correlated with arousal and reproduction success, the lower-pitched the stallion's voice, the slower his heart beat and the higher his fertility. Females from three study groups preferred playbacks of low-pitched voices. Hence, females are attracted by frequencies encoding for large male size, calmness and high fertility. More work is needed to explore the relative importance of morpho-physiological features. Assortative mating may be involved as large females preferred voices of larger stallions. Our study contributes to basic and applied ongoing research on mammal reproduction, and questions the mechanisms used by females to detect males' fertility.

Citing Articles

An unexpected acoustic indicator of positive emotions in horses.

Stomp M, Leroux M, Cellier M, Henry S, Lemasson A, Hausberger M PLoS One. 2018; 13(7):e0197898.

PMID: 29995876 PMC: 6040684. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197898.

Perception of emotional valence in horse whinnies.

Briefer E, Mandel R, Maigrot A, Briefer Freymond S, Bachmann I, Hillmann E Front Zool. 2017; 14:8.

PMID: 28203263 PMC: 5303229. DOI: 10.1186/s12983-017-0193-1.

References

Hodges-Simeon C, Gaulin S, Puts D . Voice correlates of mating success in men: examining "contests" versus "mate choice" modes of sexual selection. Arch Sex Behav. 2010; 40(3):551-7. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-010-9625-0. View

Petrunkina A, Waberski D, Gunzel-Apel A, Topfer-Petersen E . Determinants of sperm quality and fertility in domestic species. Reproduction. 2007; 134(1):3-17. DOI: 10.1530/REP-07-0046. View

Apicella C, Feinberg D, Marlowe F . Voice pitch predicts reproductive success in male hunter-gatherers. Biol Lett. 2007; 3(6):682-4. PMC: 2391230. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0410. View

Apicella C, Feinberg D . Voice pitch alters mate-choice-relevant perception in hunter-gatherers. Proc Biol Sci. 2009; 276(1659):1077-82. PMC: 2679070. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1542. View

Gomendio M, Malo A, Garde J, Roldan E . Sperm traits and male fertility in natural populations. Reproduction. 2007; 134(1):19-29. DOI: 10.1530/REP-07-0143. View

Alibrahim R, Crowe M, Duffy P, OGrady L, Beltman M, Mulligan F . The effect of body condition at calving and supplementation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae on energy status and some reproductive parameters in early lactation dairy cows. Anim Reprod Sci. 2010; 121(1-2):63-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2010.04.183. View

Linklater W . Adaptive explanation in socio-ecology: lessons from the Equidae. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2000; 75(1):1-20. DOI: 10.1017/s0006323199005411. View

Tsakmakidis I, Lymberopoulos A, Khalifa T . Relationship between sperm quality traits and field-fertility of porcine semen. J Vet Sci. 2010; 11(2):151-4. PMC: 2873815. DOI: 10.4142/jvs.2010.11.2.151. View

Vannoni E, McElligott A . Low frequency groans indicate larger and more dominant fallow deer (Dama dama) males. PLoS One. 2008; 3(9):e3113. PMC: 2518835. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003113. View

10.

Evans S, Neave N, Wakelin D, Hamilton C . The relationship between testosterone and vocal frequencies in human males. Physiol Behav. 2007; 93(4-5):783-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.11.033. View

11.

Visser E, van Reenen C, van der Werf J, Schilder M, Knaap J, Barneveld A . Heart rate and heart rate variability during a novel object test and a handling test in young horses. Physiol Behav. 2002; 76(2):289-96. DOI: 10.1016/s0031-9384(02)00698-4. View

12.

Farrell M, Briefer E, Hayden T, McElligott A . Assortative mating in fallow deer reduces the strength of sexual selection. PLoS One. 2011; 6(4):e18533. PMC: 3071821. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018533. View

13.

Lemasson A, Boutin A, Boivin S, Blois-Heulin C, Hausberger M . Horse (Equus caballus) whinnies: a source of social information. Anim Cogn. 2009; 12(5):693-704. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0229-9. View

14.

Klofstad C, Anderson R, Peters S . Sounds like a winner: voice pitch influences perception of leadership capacity in both men and women. Proc Biol Sci. 2012; 279(1738):2698-704. PMC: 3350713. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0311. View

15.

Charrier I, Aubin T, Mathevon N . Mother-calf vocal communication in Atlantic walrus: a first field experimental study. Anim Cogn. 2009; 13(3):471-82. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0298-9. View

16.

Simmons L, Peters M, Rhodes G . Low pitched voices are perceived as masculine and attractive but do they predict semen quality in men?. PLoS One. 2012; 6(12):e29271. PMC: 3244455. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029271. View

17.

Semple S, McComb K . Perception of female reproductive state from vocal cues in a mammal species. Proc Biol Sci. 2000; 267(1444):707-12. PMC: 1690584. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2000.1060. View

18.

Asa C . Sexual behavior of mares. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 1986; 2(3):519-34. DOI: 10.1016/s0749-0739(17)30704-6. View

19.

Mathevon N, Koralek A, Weldele M, Glickman S, Theunissen F . What the hyena's laugh tells: sex, age, dominance and individual signature in the giggling call of Crocuta crocuta. BMC Ecol. 2010; 10:9. PMC: 2859383. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6785-10-9. View

20.

Atkinson J, Pipitone R, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, Mberira M, Bartels A . Voice and handgrip strength predict reproductive success in a group of indigenous African females. PLoS One. 2012; 7(8):e41811. PMC: 3411669. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0041811. View