Meerkats recognise others' voices

Meerkats recognise another member of their social group by the sound of their voice, according to scientists.

Researchers studying the animals in the Kalahari Desert, South Africa, played recordings of meerkat calls and observed the animals' reactions.

Their discovery, reported in the journal Biology Letters is the first evidence of a non-primate mammal showing vocal recognition in the wild.

The phenomenon could be more widespread in the animal kingdom than thought.

"There's lots of evidence of vocal recognition in primates," explained lead researcher Dr Simon Townsend from the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

"[In primates] you can really test whether they respond to individual vocal recognition."

But this harder to test in other non-primates, he explained, because relationships between individual animals are not as clear.

In meerkats, for example - although they are social animals that live in groups and forage and even raise young together - it is not entirely clear how one animal will respond to another when it hears its call.

To solve this problem, the researchers used a simple audio playback experiment.

They used recordings of the staccato "close calls" that meerkats make continually while they are foraging. "We think the calls mainly function to keep the group together," said Dr Townsend. "But they also tell other individuals, 'I'm here, this is my patch'."

The scientists placed speakers on either side of a foraging meerkat, and played a call from a member of their social group. A few seconds later they played the call of a different member of the same group through a speaker on the opposite side.

Read on...

Hormone makes meerkats more cooperative

Dosing meerkats with the hormone oxytocin makes them spend more time and energy helping others in their group, according to a new study.


And it doesn't just affect one or two of meerkats' wide range of cooperative or 'pro-social' behaviours - it boosts a broad spectrum.


This finding may hold the answer to why social animals don't just help out with tasks they will directly benefit from, like digging burrows - they also do things for the good of the group that actually cost them as individuals, like giving food they've caught to other group members' young.

'All the co-operative behaviours seem to be controlled at a high level by the same pathway,' says Dr Joah Madden of the University of Exeter, lead author of the paper, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 'One of the big questions in animal behaviour has been why individuals behave cooperatively. Until now, studies have typically looked at just one behaviour and tried to find explanations for it in isolation, rather than looking at altruistic behaviour as a whole syndrome.'

Madden and co-author Professor Tim Clutton-Brock of the University of Cambridge gave intramuscular injections of either oxytocin or a control saline solution to 36 wild meerkats from four groups living in South Africa's Kuruman River Reserve. They then counted how often they behaved cooperatively over the next half hour.

Animals that had been given oxytocin showed significantly higher levels of cooperative behaviours – like helping dig burrows, guarding the group from predators and caring for young – than when they had received a placebo.


The effects on all the cooperative actions were noticeable. Individuals exposed to oxytocin showed around a 50 per cent increase in the amount of their food they gave to young. And they were about half as likely to behave aggressively.

Digging or guarding benefits all the animals in a group, but giving away food to pups may reduce the individual's own nutritional state, while providing the feeder with limited direct benefits.

On the face of it, it's easier to understand why animals would engage in the first kind of altruistic activity than the second. But this study suggests there's a single mechanism controlling both kinds of altruistic behaviour. Because there is a whole suite of these cooperative activities, all moderated by a pathway involving oxytocin, the meerkats can't selectively engage in one or two of them but ignore others.

'Individuals could be caught in a bind in which they behave in ways that are harmful to them because these behaviours are part of the same system as other behaviours that are beneficial,' Madden suggests. 'Of course you would expect altruistic behaviour to be beneficial, or the animals wouldn't do it,' he adds. If the net result is generally beneficial, individuals might find themselves behaving in ways that harm their own interests.

'Over time you would expect that natural selection will weed out specific behaviours that are costly for the individual and decouple them from those behaviours that provide benefits, but this can take a long time,' Madden adds.

Oxytocin acts as a neurotransmitter in mammals' brains, and is released in largest quantities during childbirth. It's already been shown to cause altruistic behaviour in voles, and studies have even shown that it can increase pro-social traits like trust and reliability in humans.

Madden says it would now be interesting to investigate the effects of oxytocin in a wider range of species, including both social and non-cooperative animals.

The research was funded directly by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, but built on work supported by earlier funding from the Natural Environment Research Council. A vet was present throughout the experiments to make sure the meerkats weren't harmed.

Tom Marshall

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=889

Hormone makes meerkats more cooperative

Dosing meerkats with the hormone oxytocin makes them spend more time and energy helping others in their group, according to a new study.


And it doesn't just affect one or two of meerkats' wide range of cooperative or 'pro-social' behaviours - it boosts a broad spectrum.


This finding may hold the answer to why social animals don't just help out with tasks they will directly benefit from, like digging burrows - they also do things for the good of the group that actually cost them as individuals, like giving food they've caught to other group members' young.

'All the co-operative behaviours seem to be controlled at a high level by the same pathway,' says Dr Joah Madden of the University of Exeter, lead author of the paper, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 'One of the big questions in animal behaviour has been why individuals behave cooperatively. Until now, studies have typically looked at just one behaviour and tried to find explanations for it in isolation, rather than looking at altruistic behaviour as a whole syndrome.'

Madden and co-author Professor Tim Clutton-Brock of the University of Cambridge gave intramuscular injections of either oxytocin or a control saline solution to 36 wild meerkats from four groups living in South Africa's Kuruman River Reserve. They then counted how often they behaved cooperatively over the next half hour.

Animals that had been given oxytocin showed significantly higher levels of cooperative behaviours – like helping dig burrows, guarding the group from predators and caring for young – than when they had received a placebo.


The effects on all the cooperative actions were noticeable. Individuals exposed to oxytocin showed around a 50 per cent increase in the amount of their food they gave to young. And they were about half as likely to behave aggressively.

Digging or guarding benefits all the animals in a group, but giving away food to pups may reduce the individual's own nutritional state, while providing the feeder with limited direct benefits.

On the face of it, it's easier to understand why animals would engage in the first kind of altruistic activity than the second. But this study suggests there's a single mechanism controlling both kinds of altruistic behaviour. Because there is a whole suite of these cooperative activities, all moderated by a pathway involving oxytocin, the meerkats can't selectively engage in one or two of them but ignore others.

'Individuals could be caught in a bind in which they behave in ways that are harmful to them because these behaviours are part of the same system as other behaviours that are beneficial,' Madden suggests. 'Of course you would expect altruistic behaviour to be beneficial, or the animals wouldn't do it,' he adds. If the net result is generally beneficial, individuals might find themselves behaving in ways that harm their own interests.

'Over time you would expect that natural selection will weed out specific behaviours that are costly for the individual and decouple them from those behaviours that provide benefits, but this can take a long time,' Madden adds.

Oxytocin acts as a neurotransmitter in mammals' brains, and is released in largest quantities during childbirth. It's already been shown to cause altruistic behaviour in voles, and studies have even shown that it can increase pro-social traits like trust and reliability in humans.

Madden says it would now be interesting to investigate the effects of oxytocin in a wider range of species, including both social and non-cooperative animals.

The research was funded directly by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, but built on work supported by earlier funding from the Natural Environment Research Council. A vet was present throughout the experiments to make sure the meerkats weren't harmed.

Tom Marshall

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=889

Aga meerkats rule the roost

23 March 2010, 10:36

Two meerkats, who began life inside a glove on top of an Aga oven in Devon, are about to celebrate their first birthday.

Wren and Rascal, along with a third sibling, were rejected by their mother at the Axe Valley Bird and Animal Park in Devon.

Luckily for the tiny creatures, park owners Jayne Collier and her husband Andrew were on hand to take them in.

Mrs Collier was unable to save the third baby meerkat, but Wren and Rascal have made great progress.

The pair, who were just the size of a finger, spent their first weeks of life inside a glove on top of the Colliers' kitchen Aga.

As they grew they were given free-range of the house, which brought out their destructive side.

Following their natural instincts, the duo spent their days digging and burrowing - scraping out the grouting between the kitchen flagstones and fluffing up the carpet.

And despite their shaky start in life the two certainly weren't timid; they would regularly join the humans for walks around the farm, terrifying the dogs with their sharp teeth.

Eventually the the tear-away twosome were given their own new pen, as they wouldn't now be welcomed back by their original family.

So Wren and Racal are kings of their own domain and can even expect the arrival of two new females to keep them company soon.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Aga_meerkats_rule_the_roost

Giraffe meets meerkat

Click to enlarge

http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/010/02/19/ - p33

New attractions at zoo soon

Monday, 30 November 2009
Chamikara Weerasinghe

Arrangements have been made to bring 12 penguins from Japan and two pairs of lion cubs from China and Armenia to be exhibited at the National Zoological Gardens, Dehiwala, Director Duminda Jayalath said.

Jayalath said negotiations are under way with the Zoological Gardens in Japan, China and Armenia.

Some animals would be sent to the new zoo being built at Pinnawala in an area of 53 acres, he said.

"Animals will not be purchased. They will be obtained by way of an animal exchange that takes place between the countries," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Zoological Gardens has come under fire by various groups and individuals for neglecting its duty to animals.

Two lions and meerkats have died at Dehiwala Zoological Gardens this year.

Admitting the incidents, Jayalath said several animals including two lions, two meerkats, one tapir, one baby pygmy hippo and a riverine hippo died at the Zoological Garden, Dehiwala due to old age and 'not' due to negligence.

Referring to the deaths of two lions at the Dehiwala Zoological Gardens, he said these lions have lived at the zoo for 22 years. The average life span of a lion is between 15 to 22 years, he said.

He dismissed that the animals have died due to negligence of the authorities.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/11/30/news11.asp

New attractions at zoo soon

Monday, 30 November 2009
Chamikara Weerasinghe

Arrangements have been made to bring 12 penguins from Japan and two pairs of lion cubs from China and Armenia to be exhibited at the National Zoological Gardens, Dehiwala, Director Duminda Jayalath said.

Jayalath said negotiations are under way with the Zoological Gardens in Japan, China and Armenia.

Some animals would be sent to the new zoo being built at Pinnawala in an area of 53 acres, he said.

"Animals will not be purchased. They will be obtained by way of an animal exchange that takes place between the countries," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Zoological Gardens has come under fire by various groups and individuals for neglecting its duty to animals.

Two lions and meerkats have died at Dehiwala Zoological Gardens this year.

Admitting the incidents, Jayalath said several animals including two lions, two meerkats, one tapir, one baby pygmy hippo and a riverine hippo died at the Zoological Garden, Dehiwala due to old age and 'not' due to negligence.

Referring to the deaths of two lions at the Dehiwala Zoological Gardens, he said these lions have lived at the zoo for 22 years. The average life span of a lion is between 15 to 22 years, he said.

He dismissed that the animals have died due to negligence of the authorities.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/11/30/news11.asp

Owner 'gives meerkats toy mother'

Friday, November 27 2009, 14:41 GMT
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

The owner of five baby meerkats whose mother died in childbirth has given the animals a cuddly toy as a replacement.

Steve Rowlands, 28, has used the ten-inch figure and a hot water bottle to help the meerkats at Tropical Inc in Oldbury, West Midlands, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Rowlands said: "The babies are a month old now and they lost their mum just two days after they were born.

"We bought the toy to try and lessen the trauma for them and try and make things as natural as possible. We put it in with them and they just snuggled up to it like it was their mother.

"To recreate the warmth that Anika would have given off we also found a small hot water bottle we got the right temperature."

He added: "They now assume that the toy is their mum and they acting completely normally around it. Of course every hour we have to feed them milk ourselves, but use miniature little bottles which recreate how they would get it from mum.

"We even give it to them near the toy so they can't tell the difference between it and their mother - it's a really good result.

"At around six weeks old we are going to wean them away from their cuddly mum, as they would be in real life. That's when we can hopefully put them back in with their dad."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a188877/owner-gives-meerkats-toy-mother.html

Owner 'gives meerkats toy mother'

Friday, November 27 2009, 14:41 GMT
By Mayer Nissim, Entertainment Reporter

The owner of five baby meerkats whose mother died in childbirth has given the animals a cuddly toy as a replacement.

Steve Rowlands, 28, has used the ten-inch figure and a hot water bottle to help the meerkats at Tropical Inc in Oldbury, West Midlands, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Rowlands said: "The babies are a month old now and they lost their mum just two days after they were born.

"We bought the toy to try and lessen the trauma for them and try and make things as natural as possible. We put it in with them and they just snuggled up to it like it was their mother.

"To recreate the warmth that Anika would have given off we also found a small hot water bottle we got the right temperature."

He added: "They now assume that the toy is their mum and they acting completely normally around it. Of course every hour we have to feed them milk ourselves, but use miniature little bottles which recreate how they would get it from mum.

"We even give it to them near the toy so they can't tell the difference between it and their mother - it's a really good result.

"At around six weeks old we are going to wean them away from their cuddly mum, as they would be in real life. That's when we can hopefully put them back in with their dad."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/news/a188877/owner-gives-meerkats-toy-mother.html

Compare these meerkats

metro.co.uk, 1 May 2009, p.11

Honest crabs, power to the hungry, nice mice and clever meerkats: News from the American Naturalist

HOW OFTEN DO ANIMALS LIE ABOUT THEIR INTENTIONS?
An article by Princeton Biologist Mark Laidre suggests that when an animal signals an intent to attack, chances are it's not bluffing. Using hermit crabs as subjects, Laidre tested previous mathematical models that predict animals have a significant incentive to give dishonest signals about their intentions. Some models suggest that animals may lie about their intentions up to 40 percent of the time. Laidre used dummy hermit crabs to invade the personal space of live crabs. Contrary to the models, the crabs nearly always backed up their threats with an attack. Those that didn't signal a threat nearly always fled. The findings, Lairde says, suggest that animals don't lie about their actions nearly as much as theorists once predicted.

Mark E. Laidre, "How Often Do Animals Lie About Their Intentions? An Experimental Test," 173:March.

POWER TO THE HUNGRY: HOW THE NEEDIEST CAN LEAD LARGE GROUPS
Flocks of birds, swarms of insects and herds of ungulates don't need to take a vote to choose their leaders. According to research led by Larissa Conradt (University of Sussex), leaders in large animal groups can emerge automatically. Conradt and her colleagues created a theoretical model that simulates the movements of a large group in which members have conflicting plans about where they'd like to go. The simulation showed that individuals who valued their preferred destination over group cohesion often led the group—even if they were in the minority. Those who were less concerned about the destination went along for ride just to stay with the group. "As a consequence," Conradt says, "large groups are often automatically led by those members that are most desperate to reach a particular destination, or are most indifferent as to whether or not the group breaks up." There's some empirical evidence to back up the model. Studies have shown that food deprived fish move to the front of shoals, presumably to steer the group toward food.

L. Conrad, J. Krause, I. D. Couzin, and T. J. Roper, "'Leading According to Need' in Self-Organizing Groups," 173:March

GENTLE GIANTS WOO MORE LADIES (IN MICE, ANYWAY)
Sometimes the nice guy gets the girls. At least that's how it is for striped mice. A research team led by Carsten Schradin (University of Zurich and University of the Witwatersrand) studied the breeding strategies of striped mice in South Africa. They found that dominant males who controlled breeding groups had lower testosterone levels than subdominant males. "What is unusual about this society is that the dominant males are in fact the most sociable, often grooming other group members," Schradin says. "It is the smaller and solitary living males, which roam from one group to another, that have the highest testosterone levels." The roaming males try to coerce females to mate, which, as one might imagine, is less successful than establishing a breeding group.

Carsten Schradin, Michael Scantlebury, Neville Pillay, and Barbara König, "Testosterone levels in dominant sociable males are lower than in solitary roamers: physiological differences between three male reproductive tactics in a sociably flexible mammal," 173:March

MEERKATS AND THE EVOLUTION OF SPECIALIZED ALARM CALLS
Meerkats' cooperative social structure may have led them to evolve a specialized system of alarm calls, according to an article by Roman Furrer and Marta Manser from the University of Zurich. Meerkats have the ability to vary their alarm calls depending on what type of predator threatens them. In other words, they use one call when threatened from the air by an eagle, and a different call when threatened from the ground by a snake. But Cape ground squirrels, that live side-by-side in the same habitat as meerkats, have not evolved this type of alarm call. So why would such calls evolve on one species and not the other when both live in the same area? Furrer and Manser suggest it has to do with social structure. Meerkats are highly social creatures. They coordinate their foraging activities as well as their escape plans. So knowing what predator is approaching helps in coordination. The ground squirrels, on the other hand, act largely independent of each other and may have less need for specified alarm calls.

Roman D. Furrer and Marta B. Manser, "The evolution of urgency-based and functionally referential alarm calls in ground-dwelling species," 173:March.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/uocp-hcp021909.php