scholarly journals Sentinel behavior in captive meerkats ( Suricata suricatta )

Zoo Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian D. Huels ◽  
Angela S. Stoeger
Keyword(s):  
Suricata Suricatta

scholarly journals Stress and the costs of extra-territorial movement in a social carnivore

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J Young ◽  
Steven L Monfort
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Delayed Dispersal ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Related Distribution ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Animal Societies ◽  
Pituitary Adrenal Axis

Costs associated with extra-territorial movement are believed to have favoured the evolution of delayed dispersal and sociality across a range of social vertebrates, but remain surprisingly poorly understood. Here we reveal a novel mechanism that may contribute substantially to the costs of extra-territorial movement: physiological stress. We show that subordinate male meerkats, Suricata suricatta , exhibit markedly elevated faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels (a non-invasive measure of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity) while conducting extra-territorial prospecting forays. While brief increases in glucocorticoid levels are unlikely to be costly, chronic elevations, arising from prolonged and/or frequent forays, are expected to compromise fitness through their diverse negative effects on health. Our findings strongly suggest that prolonged extra-territorial movements do result in chronic stress, as the high glucocorticoid levels of prospectors do not diminish on longer forays and are no lower among males with greater prospecting experience. A generalized ‘stress’ of extra-territorial movement may therefore have strengthened selection for delayed dispersal and sociality in this and other species, and favoured the conduct of brief forays over extended periods of floating. Our findings have implications too for understanding the rank-related distribution of physiological stress in animal societies, as extra-territorial movements are often conducted solely by subordinates.

Vocalize to localize

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta B. Manser ◽  
Lindsay B. Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Gaze Direction ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
General Behaviour ◽  
Acoustic Structure ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
High Urgency ◽  
High Stimulus ◽  
Functionally Referential ◽  
Stimulus Specificity

In this study of the functionally referential alarm calls in the meerkats (Suricata suricatta), we tested the hypothesis that the ability to refer to a specific location was an important factor in the evolution of discrete vocalizations. We investigated what information receivers gained about the location of the predator from alarm calls with high stimulus specificity compared to alarm calls with low stimulus specificity. Furthermore, we studied whether visual cues about the localization of the predator may be available from the posture of the caller. We described the general behaviour of the caller, the caller’s posture, and in particular its gaze direction. We then observed receivers responding to the different call types, to determine whether the acoustic structure of the calls was enough for them to respond in the appropriate way, or whether they used additional visual cues from the caller. We tested this with specific manipulation experiments, using three set ups of playback experiments: (1) no caller visible; (2) model guard with specific gaze direction; and (3) live sentinel. Natural observations and experiments confirmed that in high urgency situations the meerkats have enough information from the acoustic structure of the call to respond appropriately. When hearing low urgency calls that are less stimuli specific, meerkats used visual cues as an additional source of information in a few cases. This may indicate that functionally referential calls evolved to denote the location of the predator, rather than the predator type or its velocity of approach. However, when discussing this result in comparison to other functionally referential calls, such as the food associated calls and recruitment calls, this localization hypothesis does not appear to apply to the functionally referential calls in general.

Acute Pancreatitis in Slender-Tailed Meerkats (Suricata suricatta)

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Naples ◽  
Claude Lacasse ◽  
Jennifer A. Landolfi ◽  
Jennifer N. Langan ◽  
Jörg M. Steiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acute Pancreatitis ◽  
Suricata Suricatta

scholarly journals The influence of stress hormones and aggression on cooperative behaviour in subordinate meerkats

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1863) ◽  
pp. 20171248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Dantzer ◽  
Ines Braga Goncalves ◽  
Helen C. Spence-Jones ◽  
Nigel C. Bennett ◽  
Michael Heistermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Glucocorticoid Receptor ◽  
Receptor Antagonist ◽  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Stress Hormones ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Stress Hormone ◽  
Suricata Suricatta

In cooperative breeders, aggression from dominant breeders directed at subordinates may raise subordinate stress hormone (glucocorticoid) concentrations. This may benefit dominants by suppressing subordinate reproduction but it is uncertain whether aggression from dominants can elevate subordinate cooperative behaviour, or how resulting changes in subordinate glucocorticoid concentrations affect their cooperative behaviour. We show here that the effects of manipulating glucocorticoid concentrations in wild meerkats ( Suricata suricatta ) on cooperative behaviour varied between cooperative activities as well as between the sexes. Subordinates of both sexes treated with a glucocorticoid receptor antagonist (mifepristone) exhibited significantly more pup protection behaviour (babysitting) compared to those treated with glucocorticoids (cortisol) or controls. Females treated with mifepristone had a higher probability of exhibiting pup food provisioning (pup-feeding) compared to those treated with cortisol. In males, there were no treatment effects on the probability of pup-feeding, but those treated with cortisol gave a higher proportion of the food they found to pups than those treated with mifepristone. Using 19 years of behavioural data, we also show that dominant females did not increase the frequency with which they directed aggression at subordinates at times when the need for assistance was highest. Our results suggest that it is unlikely that dominant females manipulate the cooperative behaviour of subordinates through the effects of aggression on their glucocorticoid levels and that the function of aggression directed at subordinates is probably to reduce the probability they will breed.

Brutpflegeverhalten Und Ontogenese Des Verhaltens Bei Surikaten (Suricata Suricatta Schreb., Viverridae)

Behaviour ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerti Dücker
Keyword(s):  
Suricata Suricatta

AbstractI. Zwei im Juli 1959 geborene weibliche Surikaten wurden mit dem Muttertier zusammen 10 Monate lang beobachtet. Das Brutpflegeverhalten des Muttertieres wurde unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Säugens und der Säugestellungen beschrieben. Bei den Jungsurikaten untersuchte ich die körperliche Entwicklung und das damit zum Teil korrelierte Auftreten der einzelnen Verhaltensweisen. Lautäusserungen, Bewegungsweisen, Nahrungsaufnahme, Körperpflege, Abwehr- und Drohverhalten und Spiele wurden vom ersten Auftreten an bis zur Ausreifung bzw. bis zur Verhaltensnorm der Adulten verfolgt und z.T. durch Beobachtungen am Muttertier ergänzt. 2. Viele Verhaltenskompouenten haben die Surikaten mit andereren Viverriden, so vor allem mit anderen Arten der gleichen Unterfamilie der Herpestinen gemeinsam. So stimmen weitgehend Lautäusserungen, Schlafstellung, Scharrbewegungen, Sich-Strecken und Droh- und Abwehrreaktionen überein. 3. Ein Vergleich mit dem Verhalten anderer Raubtierfamilien lässt eine Verwandt-schaft der Surikaten bzw. der gesamten Herpestinen mit den meist als taxonomisch fernstehend betrachteten Musteliden möglich erscheinen. 4. Bei dem nur in einer kurzen jugendperiode auftretenden Zuscharren einer Grube (vielleicht ebenfalls bei dem auch bei Adulten erhalten bleibendem Ausscharren einer Grube vor dem Koten) handelt es sich wahrscheinlich um ein Instinktrudiment.

scholarly journals Small mammals of the Addo Elephant National Park

Koedoe ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Swanepoel
Keyword(s):  
Introduced Species ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
National Park ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Rattus Rattus ◽  
Reproductive Activity ◽  
Body Measurements ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Rhabdomys Pumilio ◽  
Mus Minutoides

A survey of the small mammals of the Addo Elephant National Park resulted in a checklist, as well as information on relative numbers, distribution within the Park, reproductive activity, sex ratios, and body measurements. Forty mammals species occur in the Park, while three re-introduced species probably do not occur any longer. Of the 40 species 28 are considered small mammals comprising 13 rodent, eight carnivore, two shrew, two bat, one primate and one lagomorph species, as well as the aardvark: Crociduraflavescens, C. cyanea infumata, Rousettus aegyptiacus, Eptesicus capensis, Cercopithecus pygerythrus, Canis mesomelas, Ictonyx striatus, Poecilogale albinucha, Genetta sp., Herpestes pulverulentus, Suricata suricatta, Proteles cristatus, Felis caracal, Orycteropus afer, Lepus saxatilis, Cryptomys hottentotus, Hystrix africae-australis, Pedetes capensis, Graphiurus murinus, Aethomys namaquensis, Praomys natalensis, Rhabdomys pumilio, Mus minutoides, Rattus rattus, Saccostomys campestris, Desmodillus auricularis, Otomys irroratus and 0. unisulcatus.

Suricata suricatta (Mierkat)

1967 ◽  
pp. 117-119
Author(s):  
T. C. Hsu ◽  
Kurt Benirschke
Keyword(s):  
Suricata Suricatta

scholarly journals Meerkat Clan Algorithm: A New Swarm Intelligence Algorithm

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 354
Author(s):  
Ahmed T. Sadiq Al-Obaidi ◽  
Hasanen S. Abdullah ◽  
Zied O. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Swarm Intelligence ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Traveling Salesman ◽  
Organizational Skills ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Kalahari Desert ◽  
Intelligence Algorithm ◽  
Swarm Intelligence Algorithm

<p>Evolutionary computation and swarm intelligence meta-heuristics are exceptional instances that environment has been a never-ending source of creativeness. The behavior of bees, bacteria, glow-worms, fireflies and other beings have stirred swarm intelligence scholars to create innovative optimization algorithms. This paper proposes the Meerkat Clan Algorithm (MCA) that is a novel swarm intelligence algorithm resulting from watchful observation of the Meerkat (Suricata suricatta) in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. This animal shows an exceptional intelligence, tactical organizational skills, and remarkable directional cleverness in its traversal of the desert when searching for food. A Meerkat Clan Algorithm (MCA) proposed to solve the optimization problems through reach the optimal solution by efficient way comparing with another swarm intelligence. Traveling Salesman Problem uses as a case study to measure the capacity of the proposed algorithm through comparing its results with another swarm intelligence. MCA shows its capacity to solve the Traveling Salesman’s Problem. Its dived the solutions group to sub-group depend of meerkat behavior that gives a good diversity to reach an optimal solution. Paralleled with the current algorithms for resolving TSP by swarm intelligence, it has been displayed that the size of the resolved problems could be enlarged by adopting the algorithm proposed here.</p>

scholarly journals Drought decreases cooperative sentinel behavior and affects vocal coordination in meerkats

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1558-1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramona Rauber ◽  
Tim H Clutton-Brock ◽  
Marta B Manser
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Cooperative Behavior ◽  
Drought Condition ◽  
Drought Period ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
Cooperative Behaviors

Abstract Cooperative breeding often evolved in harsh and arid habitats characterized by high levels of environmental uncertainty. Most forms of cooperative behavior have energetic costs and previous studies have shown that the contributions of individuals to alloparental provisioning are conditional on their food intake. However, the effect of naturally occurring, extreme environmental conditions on the persistence of costly forms of cooperative behaviors and their coordination by communication remain unknown. Here, we show that in meerkats (Suricata suricatta) the probability to act as sentinel, a cooperative vigilance behavior, was the same for typically occurring dry and wet conditions, but significantly reduced during a drought condition with almost no rain, especially in young individuals, members of small groups and groups with pups. The duration an individual stayed on sentinel guard, however, was most reduced during dry conditions. Besides reductions in sentinel behavior, the vocal coordination of foraging meerkats differed when comparing drought and wet conditions. Individuals responded more strongly to playbacks of sentinel “all-clear” calls and close calls, resulting in less vigilance and more foraging behavior during the drought condition. We conclude that while meerkats are adapted to commonly occurring dry periods with low rainfall, the extreme drought period with almost no rain, led to a decrease of the frequency of costly forms of cooperative behaviors in favor of behaviors that maximize direct fitness benefits and also affected the vocal coordination among group members.

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