New Miscellany 2: .Animal intelligence from prarie dogs (General)

by David Turell , Monday, June 16, 2025, 18:47 (11 days ago) @ David Turell

Prairie dog warning barks help all:

https://apnews.com/article/prairie-dogs-birds-eavesdropping-warning-0430300793f1f0e267e...

"Prairie dogs are the Paul Reveres of the Great Plains: They bark to alert neighbors to the presence of predators, with separate calls for dangers coming by land or by air.

“Prairie dogs are on the menu for just about every predator you can think of”— golden eagles, red-tailed hawks, foxes, badgers, even large snakes — said Andy Boyce, a research ecologist in Montana at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

"Those predators will also snack on grassland nesting birds like the long-billed curlew.

"To protect themselves, the curlews eavesdrop on the alarms coming from prairie dog colonies, according to research published Thursday in the journal Animal Behavior.

"Previous research has shown birds frequently eavesdrop on other bird species to glean information about potential food sources or approaching danger, said Georgetown University ornithologist Emily Williams, who was not involved in the study. But, so far, scientists have documented only a few instances of birds eavesdropping on mammals.

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“'Those little barks are very loud — they can carry quite a long way,” said co-author Andrew Dreelin, who also works for the Smithsonian.

"The long-billed curlew nests in short-grass prairie and incubates eggs on a ground nest. When one hears the prairie dog alarm, she responds by pressing her head, beak and belly close to the ground.

"In this crouched position, the birds “rely on the incredible camouflage of their feathers to become essentially invisible on the Plains,” Dreelin said.

“'Those little barks are very loud — they can carry quite a long way,” said co-author Andrew Dreelin, who also works for the Smithsonian.

"The long-billed curlew nests in short-grass prairie and incubates eggs on a ground nest. When one hears the prairie dog alarm, she responds by pressing her head, beak and belly close to the ground.

"In this crouched position, the birds “rely on the incredible camouflage of their feathers to become essentially invisible on the Plains,” Dreelin said.

“You have a much higher chance of avoiding predation if you go into that cryptic posture sooner — and the birds do when they hear prairie dogs barking,” said co-author Holly Jones, a conservation biologist at Northern Illinois University.

"Prairie dogs are often thought of as “environmental engineers,” she said, because they construct extensive burrows and nibble down prairie grass, keeping short-grass ecosystems intact.

“'But now we are realizing they are also shaping the ecosystems by producing and spreading information,” she said."

Comment: This is a careful learned behavior which has gotten to be instinctual. We are slowly learning how smart bird brains really are.