EcoSounds Madagascar

Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM)

Many animals are shy and often live in hiding. They are therefore difficult to detect without being disturbed by humans. This is why we make use of the communication behavior of animals. All animals communicate regularly with their conspecifics or occasionally with individuals of other species. Many animals use acoustic communication for this purpose. The best-known example is the morning song of songbirds. But frogs, insects and many mammals, especially primates, also communicate regularly by means of vocalizations. The morning song of the indri, for example, is particularly well known and can be heard for miles around. Such vocalizations have a species-specific signature that enables us to recognize a species by its sounds. Computers are increasingly being used to identify species on the basis of their sounds.

In the long term, the PAM will make it easier to monitor endangered species and evaluate the success of nature conservation and species protection measures. But there is still a long way to go. Unfortunately, we still know very little about the acoustic communication of many wild and endangered species. Zoos can also make a contribution here and help to describe the acoustic repertoire of endangered wild animal species.

With this project, we want to contribute to the establishment of the passive acoustic monitoring method in Madagascar. In addition to creating a database of species-specific sounds for Madagascar’s fauna, in particular for birds, frogs and lemurs, young scientists will be trained in the application of the PAM methodology. The development of the project can be followed here: EcoSounds Madagascar