To continue on with our Fun Facts about Giant Pandas Series let’s move to #3 . . .
Fun Fact #3: “Researches have counted 11 different panda calls”
While observing the pandas I hear their different vocalizations all the time and I wondered how many do they actually have and what do they use them for. Other animals use them to warn conspecifics and other species, some are used to mark territory, and some are to find a mate, basically a vital communication tool in the animal kingdom. So I did some research and I came across this interesting “fact” from a random website. Not the most credible source in the world so I decided to look further. I couldn’t find anything to tell me exactly how many different calls or vocalizations they have (the San Deigo Zoo ethogram has 12 with a couple that have variations), but I did find out a few other things. Giant panda vocalizations, like their scent markings, can communicate important information at critical periods. The most common vocalization is the bleat, a nonaggressive call most commonly heard during the mating season [1] (coincidentally, this study was performed by our collaborators at the San Deigo Zoo). These bleats can communicate age, sex, and body size, all the important things when choosing a future giant panda mate. However it is only the male that will communicate his body size, and only the female that will communicate her age. The guys and girls don’t give up this information because they want to, but because of how their age and body size changes their morphology and thus their vocalizations [1].
Even though I did not find out the 11 different calls, I figured out that the giant panda is one species forced to give up such personal information, information that can be so sensitive to other species, say Homo sapiens.
-Grace
[1] Charlton, B., Zhihe, Z., and Snyder, R. (2009) The information content of giant panda bleats; acoustic cues to sex, age and size. Animal Behaviour 78, 893-898.