In this current age of technology, having caller ID is a very useful feature most mobile devices are equipped with. From loved ones to scam artists, this feature allows us to decipher which calls are beneficial and which ones are not worth answering. Although animals are unable to use mobile devices the same way humans do, they do pay attention to the alarm calls of other animals. If the animal is in the same species as them, these calls may signal that a predator or food resources are near. If the animal is in a different species as them, these calls may signal that they are encroaching on that animal’s territory. But can an animal tell the difference between different alarm calls made by animals of different species? Researchers in Scotland sought to answer this question in Yellow-casqued hornbills and investigated how they respond to different mammalian alarm calls. They theorized that Hornbills would respond to the shrieks of eagles as they prey on hornbills. However, they would not respond to growls of leopards because they do not prey on hornbills. Similarly, the researchers investigated whether the hornbills could distinguish between two Diana monkey alarm calls: eagle alarm calls and leopard alarm calls.
They carried out their experiment in National Parks in the Ivory Coast between 2001 and 2002. Hornbill flocks were located via observational and auditory cues. Playbacks of the animal and alarm calls were then played within 50 m of the flock when predators and other alarm calls were not present. Each playback was played for approximately 15 seconds. The researchers found that the hornbills responded significantly more to the playback of eagle shrieks and Diana monkey eagle alarm calls than they did to leopard growls and Diana monkey leopard alarm calls.
These results demonstrated that Yellow-casqued hornbills have the ability to tell the difference between alarm calls for and vocalizations of two different species. Hornbills may have adapted this ability through previous experience of observing that certain alarm calls of Diana monkeys resulted happened during the presence of eagles and associating certain vocalizations with predators. This research implies that there may be underlying mental processes that help hornbills to associate the calls to the predator.
Rainey, H. J., Zuberbuhler, K., & Slater, P. J. (2004). Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,271(1540), 755-759. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2619
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691652/pdf/15209110.pdf
Lisette Soto
November 13, 2018 — 4:29 pm
I love your comparison to caller IDs in humans! So creative (: Moreover, I think this is really interesting considering the fact that some animals might even learn to mimic the calls of others to almost trick other species. I wonder if there’s some research out there that has mentioned this.
Josephine Brodie
November 13, 2018 — 4:57 pm
I really enjoyed the comparison to caller ID, that is a great connection that grabs the readers attention. Your article was very well written and used easy to understand language throughout. I think it would be interesting to look into how mimicry may affect the “caller ID” accuracy in hornbills.
Elle Davis
November 14, 2018 — 10:41 am
Your caller ID metaphor is perfect! I skimmed this abstract and thought it was a lot like first responder sirens in some countries; they’ll use a different sound for each one so listeners can tell whether it’s law enforcement, firefighters, or an ambulance. Hornbills using the monkeys’ eagle alarm call as a heads up is especially interesting, since they do get a bit of a head start from it.
Emma McKeon
November 14, 2018 — 3:50 pm
This makes sense logically, but I’d never thought about it from this perspective before, how prey can learn from each other across species, and can slyly use others’ behavior to benefit themselves without having to “do” anything!
Amber Mills
November 15, 2018 — 7:31 pm
I absolutely love your article title its super creative! It makes sense that they would know the difference to get out of the way of danger. I think this research is helpful with the understanding of alarm calls and other things associated with that.