dc.contributor.author |
Rauber, Ramona
|
|
dc.contributor.author |
Manser, Marta B.
|
|
dc.date.accessioned |
2017-05-03T08:24:34Z |
|
dc.date.available |
2017-05-03T08:24:34Z |
|
dc.date.issued |
2017-03-17 |
|
dc.description.abstract |
Sentinel behaviour, a form of coordinated vigilance, occurs in a limited range of species, mostly in
cooperative breeders. In some species sentinels confirm their presence vocally by giving a single
sentinel call type, whereby the rate and subtle acoustic changes provide graded information on the
variation of perceived predation risk. In contrast, meerkat (Suricata suricatta) sentinels produce six
different sentinel call types. Here we show that manipulation of perception of danger has different
effects on the likelihood of emitting these different call types, and that these call types affect foraging
individuals differently. Increasing the perceived predation risk by playing back alarm calls decreased
the production rate of the common short note calls and increased the production rate of the rare long
calls. Playbacks of short note calls increased foraging behaviour and decreased vigilance in the rest of
the group, whereas the opposite was observed when playing long calls. This suggests that the common
call types act as all-clear signals, while the rare call types have a warning function. Therefore, meerkats
increase the efficiency of their sentinel system by producing several discrete call types that represent
changes in predation risk and lead to adjustments of the group’s vigilance behaviour. |
en_ZA |
dc.description.department |
Mammal Research Institute |
en_ZA |
dc.description.librarian |
am2017 |
en_ZA |
dc.description.sponsorship |
The European Research Council (Grant No 294494 to T.H. Clutton-Brock since 1/7/2012), the University of Zurich and the Mammal Research Institute of the University of Pretoria. |
en_ZA |
dc.description.uri |
http://www.nature.com/scientificreports |
en_ZA |
dc.identifier.citation |
Rauber, R. and Manser, M.B. Discrete call types referring to predation risk enhance the
efficiency of the meerkat sentinel system. Sci. Rep. 7, 44436; DOI: 10.1038/srep44436 (2017). |
en_ZA |
dc.identifier.issn |
2045-2322 (online) |
|
dc.identifier.other |
10.1038/srep44436 |
|
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60174 |
|
dc.language.iso |
en |
en_ZA |
dc.publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
en_ZA |
dc.rights |
© The Author(s) 2017. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Discrete call type |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Predation risk |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Sentinel behaviour |
en_ZA |
dc.subject |
Meerkat (Suricata suricatta) |
en_ZA |
dc.title |
Discrete call types referring to predation risk enhance the efficiency of the meerkat sentinel system |
en_ZA |
dc.type |
Article |
en_ZA |