Hakuna mataaaaaata: meerkats make use of communication both for their own survival and for their relationships with their fellows
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Meerkats in Zurich Zoo have revealed an unexpected feature: to sound the alarm, the animals made famous by the Disney film The Lion King can bark, growl, whistle and chirp.
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The ethological characteristics of the mammals were observed by two researchers at the University of Zurich, where the meerkats have lived since 2020. They extensively studied the communication between specimens of the mongoose family, paying particular attention to their use of different alarm signals, the zoo said on Wednesday.
Meerkats, which are sociable animals by nature, make use of communication both for their own survival and for their “social” relationships with their fellows, to whom they communicate, for example, the presence of danger by emitting acoustic calls while standing in their characteristic lookout position.
The behavioural biology research group led by Professor Marta Manser studied two aspects of meerkat communication in particular: the development of calls by young meerkats and the reaction of individuals of the species to the calls of other animals.
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