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Squirrels Use Ultrasonic

Warning Calls

By Steve Connor

Science Editor

The Independent - UK

7-28-4

 

Squirrels have been recorded using high-pitched ultrasonic " whispers " that

are inaudible to the human ear but warn each other of danger.

 

It is the first time that any animal has been found to use ultrasound for

an alarm call although high-frequency sounds well beyond the range of

human hearing are widely used by bats.

 

The discovery that squirrels communicate using ultrasound was made by

James Hare, professor of zoology at the University of Manitoba in Canada,

and his student David Wilson.

 

They were studying the audible alarm calls of the Richardson's ground

squirrel, a social animal that lives in burrows of closely related females

and their offspring. This species of squirrel - sometimes called a gopher

- lives on the prairies of North America and has developed a sophisticated

communication system to warn of approaching predators.

 

Professor Hare noticed a female opening its mouth as if in alarm and

emitting faint sounds of rushing air, an apparently noiseless whisper

which nevertheless triggered a vigilant posture in her nearby relatives.

 

" I thought initially that she had lost her voice. Then I noticed other

squirrels doing the same so I decided to use a bat detector which can

record ultrasound, " Professor Hare said.

 

" Sure enough, we found that the whisper call was actually full of

ultrasonic frequencies and this was directed at other squirrels nearby, "

he said.

 

In their study, published today in the journal Nature, the two scientists

say that ultrasonic frequencies produce highly directional sound that can

help a squirrel disguise its presence from a predator yet still warn other

squirrels.

 

" To our knowledge, ultrasonic alarm calls have not previously been

detected in any animal group, despite their twin advantages of being

highly directional and inaudible to key predators, " they write.

 

Recordings of individual squirrels making a " whisper call " were replayed

to other members of the group. The results clearly indicated that the

squirrels used ultrasonic frequencies to communicate.

 

" It was found that the animals spent significantly more of their time on

vigilant behaviour in response to the whisper calls and audible control

than in response to background noise, " the scientists say.

 

The squirrels studied by the scientists used both audible calls and

whisper calls when they saw a potential threat. " Audible calls evoked a

more pronounced response than whisper calls, suggesting that whisper calls

either convey less urgency than audible calls or that respondents react

less conspicuously, " they say.

 

Professor Hare said that ultrasound communication may be more common among

animals than previously imagined.

 

SOUND INSTINCTS

 

Bats: Echo-location is a form of sonar that bats use to move around and

capture prey in the dark. They emit ultrasonic squeaks from their mouths

which bounce off nearby objects

 

Whales: Very low frequency sound of long wavelengths - the opposite to

ultrasound - carry for enormous distances underwater and are used by some

whales in long-distance communication. The killer whale however uses

ultrasonic clicks to communicate over short distances

 

Honey bees: When honey bees find a rich source of nectar they can

communicate the direction and distance it is from the hive by performing a

dance in the shape of a figure " 8 " which takes into account the height of

the Sun and the angle of flight needed to be taken from the hive

 

Birds: Song is a ubiquitious feature of birds and the dawn chorus is

believed to result from individuals needing to stake out a territorial

claim each morning.

 

© 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=545776

 

 

 

 

 

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" I think someone's calling the shots but I don't know who. "

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[Guest guest]

What a marvelous article...thank you for sharing it. In return, and

as an offer of further evidence, here is a link to a brilliant little

movie about a bulldog. It was in today's " Kim Komando site of the

day " list....

 

http://www.skateboardingbulldog.com/tyson_skating.WMV

 

Andrew