Howling with a dialect

[Plazma Inferno!]

The largest ever study of howling in the 'canid' family of species – which includes wolves, jackals and domestic dogs – has shown that the various species and subspecies have distinguishing repertoires of howling, or "vocal fingerprints", i.e. different types of howls are used with varying regularity depending on the canid species. Researchers used computer algorithms for the first time to analyse howling, distilling over 2,000 different howls into 21 howl types based on pitch and fluctuation, and then matching up patterns of howling. They found that the frequency with which types of howls are used – from flat to highly modulated – corresponded to the species of canid, whether dog or coyote, as well as to the subspecies of wolf.

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/wolf-species-have-howling-dialects

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

The largest ever study of howling in the 'canid' family of species – which includes wolves, jackals and domestic dogs...

If you really mean "family," then you're referring to the family Canidae, which includes all of the dog-like animals. There are ten genera in this family: Canis, Cuon, Lycaon, Cerdocyon, Chrysocyon, Speothos, Vulpes, Nyctereutes, Otocyon and Urocyon, which have a total of more than 30 species. They are commonly divided into four groups: the wolf-like canids (the group you refer to specifically which includes dogs, wolves, jackals and coyotes), the fox-like canids, the South American canids, and the fourth group which isn't really a group at all but just a convenient way to account for a few oddballs like the bat-eared fox and the raccoon dog.

Virtually all species of this family communicate both by vocalization and by pheromones in their scent--which, if used for marking, can linger for days or longer.

 

[Ophiolite]

If you really mean "family," then you're referring to the family Canidae, which includes all of the dog-like animals. .

I suggest that Plazma is reporting verbatim the account of the research and therefore means no more or less than the writer who summarised it for the University of Cambridge website. That family was being used in a colloquial rather than taxonomic sense is suggested by the quotation marks around canid.

The interesting point of the research, highlighted in the article is captured in this quote: "I think we can shed a lot of light on early evolution of our own use of language by studying the vocalisation of animals that are socially and behaviourally similar to us, if not necessarily taxonomically closely related"

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

I think we can shed a lot of light on early evolution of our own use of language by studying the vocalisation of animals that are socially and behaviourally similar to us, if not necessarily taxonomically closely related.

Then we should probably start with the cetaceans. Dolphins appear to have a rather complex set of vocalisms, which we have barely begun to decode. For example, at least in some species, each individual has a name which he uses to identify himself, and which others use to get his attention.

Pods (groups) of dolphins also seem to have a somewhat more elaborate vocalization, which is reasonably thought to be a group identifier. It may be something vaguely similar to a national anthem, although at the other end of the respectability spectrum, it might be simply a cadence count similar to a marching army: "I don't know but I been told/Orca ass is mighty cold/Count off one-two/Count off three-four..."

 

[Ophiolite]

Would you put quotation marks around the quote please, since I didn't say it, but merely drew attention to it. Thank you.