From the Columbus Zoo to the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics: Animal Vocalizations III

 

Angelika Poesel, Jill A. Soha, Kathleen A. Nolan, & Jill Callahan

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2019, Volume 40

Abstract

This full-day workshop was devoted to learning about animal vocalizations and what characteristics students can measure. This was the third workshop on animal vocalizations held at ABLE conferences. We visited the Columbus Zoo to record animals such as birds and primates using professional recording equipment (Marantz PMD660 and PMD670 recorders and Audio Technica and Sennheiser microphones). We analyzed vocalizations recorded at the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, located at the Ohio State University (OSU) Museum of Biological Diversity. We examined our own recordings with the free-downloadable software Raven Lite, in order to learn about sounds displayed as spectrograms and as waveforms and the characteristics that scientists measure from these. Sample data included an Excel spreadsheet with the number of vocalizations, duration of each, and frequencies of the various tones or formants seen in the spectrograms. We then formulated hypotheses as to the meaning or function of the various vocalizations. This exercise is transferable to any zoo or park where animal vocalizations can be heard and recorded.

Keywords:  bioacoustics, animal vocalizations, animal sound recording and analysis

The Ohio State University (2018)