Behavioural context of call production in humpback whale calves: Identification of potential begging calls in a Mysticete species

Baleen whale calves vocalize, but the behavioural context and role of their social calls in mother-calf interactions are yet to be documented further. We investigated the context of call production in humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) calves using camera-equipped animal-borne multi-sensor tags. Behavioural states, including suckling sessions, were identified using accelerometer, depth, and video data. Call types were categorized through clustering techniques. We found that call types and rates predict the occurrence of a given state. Milling, resting, and traveling were associated with a median call rate of 0 calls min-1, while surface play, tagging responses, and suckling were associated with higher call rates, averaging up to a median of 0.5 calls min-1 for suckling. Suckling sessions were mainly associated with two sets of low-frequency calls corresponding to previously described burping, barking, and snorting sounds. Surface play sessions featured mid-frequency calls with whoo..., , , # Behavioural context of call production in humpback whale calves: Identification of potential begging calls in a Mysticete species

Baleen whale calves vocalize, but the behavioral context and role of their social calls in mother-calf interactions require further documentation. Using camera-equipped multi-sensor tags, we identified behavioral states in humpback whale calves and analyzed the relationship between call types and behavioral states, including suckling sessions.

### 1. **Dataset Description**

The dataset (data.csv) contains acoustic characteristics of social calls and behavioral state data for studying the context of vocalizations in humpback whale calves. Each row in the dataset corresponds to a single recorded vocalization event, with the corresponding behavioral state segment (1 segment = 1 continuous behavioral state). There may be multiple calls from the same behavioral state segment. If a behavioral state segment does not contain any calls, its data are still include...