Sex Accent and Biphonation in the Sound Signal of Ground Squirrels (Mammalia, Rodentia)

Abstract: The alarm call of the little ground squirrel (Spermophilus pygmaeus), like those of six other Eurasian ground squirrels, contains a high-frequency component. In males, the peak and maximum frequencies of the high-frequency component are higher than in females. Biphonation of the alarm calls of Sp. pygmaeus, Sp. musicus, Sp. xanthoprymnus, and Sp. alaschanicus has been demonstrated, with the low- and high-frequency components generated by different sources in the vocal tract. The material was collected in the field. © 2019, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.