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Author |
Hannah Joy Kriesell, Céline Le Bohec, Alexander F. Cerwenka, Moritz Hertel, Jean-Patrice Robin, Bernhard Ruthensteiner, Manfred Gahr, Thierry Aubin, Daniel Normen Düring |
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Abstract |
The astonishing variety of sounds that birds can produce has been the subject of many studies aiming to identify the underlying anatomical and physical mechanisms of sound production. An interesting feature of some bird vocalisations is the simultaneous production of two different frequencies. While most work has been focusing on songbirds, much less is known about dual-sound production in non-passerines, although their sound production organ, the syrinx, would technically allow many of them to produce “two voices”. Here, we focus on the king penguin, a colonial seabird whose calls consist of two fundamental frequency bands and their respective harmonics. The calls are produced during courtship and for partner and offspring reunions and encode the birds’ identity. We dissected, μCT-scanned and analysed the vocal tracts of six adult king penguins from Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago. |
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