The loud calls of cheetahs were studied in a wild population in Kenya in animals of 14 age classes, from newborns to adults. At the youngest ages, the calls are very high-frequency and resemble the chirping of birds. As they grow older, their calls gradually become lower in frequency. The maximum fundamental frequency of calls was found to be the best indicator of the age of cheetahs. In newborns, this figure exceeded 10 kilohertz, decreased steadily as the cubs grew, and reached a plateau of about 1 kilohertz in adult animals aged four years and older. Based on the dependence of voice pitch on age in cheetahs, polynomial models were constructed to estimate the age of cheetahs from their calls. The most appropriate models used to estimate the age of dolphins and humans based on dental parameters were selected as the basis for the modeling. The models developed in this study for estimating the age of cheetahs from their voices can be used to monitor animals in the wild from call recordings, even in cases where the animals cannot be seen in dense vegetation or poor lighting.
The results of the study were published in the journal Ethology:: Klenova A.V., Chelysheva E.V., Vasilieva N.A., Volodin I.A., Volodina E.V. Acoustic features of long-distance calls of wild cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are linked to the caller age from newborns to adults. Ethology, 2023. doi: 10.1111/eth.13406
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