Mammal Communication Lab, Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Zoo Biol. 2022 Jan;41(1):10-19. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21644. Epub 2021 Aug 16.
The social and cooperative behavior of meerkats (Suricata suricatta), specifically their sentinel behavior, has been intensively studied in free-ranging populations. This study focuses on whether guarding in captive meerkats exhibits a pattern similar to that described for wild groups. Sentinel behavior in captivity has been somewhat neglected because predation is usually not a critical factor. Nonetheless, observations in captivity might reveal whether individual or group experience influences this specific behavior pattern. We observed three captive meerkat groups (in outdoor as well as indoor enclosures) and analyzed the duration of guarding sequences, the number of established guards, the guard posture, and the individual guard positions. We also conducted playback experiments to investigate the reaction of the sentinel and the group to bird calls (songbird vs. predatory bird species). The results demonstrated that captive groups behave much the same as wild groups. Certain individuals performed the guard job more often than other group members. Accordingly, the "super sentinels" observed in the wild also exist in captive groups. Playbacks showed that the sentinels reacted more strongly to the calls of predatory bird species, indicating that captive meerkats are able to categorize bird calls. We also documented major differences in behavioral responses to the calls of specific predatory bird species. Our observations underline that sentinel behavior is probably a combination of an innate, imprinted pattern that is further affected by the experience. Future studies might further investigate this influence of experience, beyond innate behavior, on the group-specific sentinel behavior pattern in captive meerkats.
草原猫鼬（Suricata suricatta）的社会和合作行为，特别是它们的放哨行为，在自由放养的种群中得到了深入研究。本研究重点关注圈养草原猫鼬的放哨行为是否表现出与野生群体描述相似的模式。由于捕食通常不是一个关键因素，因此圈养草原猫鼬的放哨行为在一定程度上被忽视了。尽管如此，圈养观察可能会揭示个体或群体经验是否会影响这种特定的行为模式。我们观察了三个圈养的草原猫鼬群体（在户外和室内围栏中），并分析了放哨序列的持续时间、建立的放哨者数量、放哨姿势以及个体放哨位置。我们还进行了回放实验，以研究哨兵和群体对鸟类叫声（鸣禽与捕食性鸟类物种）的反应。结果表明，圈养群体的行为与野生群体非常相似。某些个体比其他群体成员更频繁地执行放哨工作。因此，在野外观察到的“超级哨兵”也存在于圈养群体中。回放表明，哨兵对捕食性鸟类物种的叫声反应更强烈，表明圈养草原猫鼬能够对鸟类叫声进行分类。我们还记录了对特定捕食性鸟类物种叫声的行为反应的主要差异。我们的观察强调，放哨行为可能是一种先天的、被印记的模式的组合，进一步受到经验的影响。未来的研究可能会进一步调查经验对圈养草原猫鼬群体特定哨兵行为模式的这种影响，超越先天行为。
