OMG! I take back anything bad I ever said about squirrels

(Well, OK, maybe that is not entirely true)



Discovery News Brief

Squirrel Speak Deciphered
Study: Squirrels Have Complex Language
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Nov. 11, 2005 — Squirrels can be very vocal animals, as backyard and park observers know, and now scientists have translated some of their squirrel-speak.

The findings, published recently in the journal Animal Behavior, present some of the most detailed information to date on squirrel vocalizations, which the researchers now believe constitute a complex language that is unique to the animals.

The team of zoologists focused their analysis on alarm calls of the Richardson's ground squirrel, Spermophilus richardsonii, which is the most common ground squirrel in Canada.

Squirrels often communicate with whistles, chirps and chucks, which sound like the word "chuck." Whistles and chirps resemble the sounds that many birds make.

"A chuck is a short duration trailing element, which when added to the end of a syllable, harshens the offset of a call so that it punctuates the end of the syllable with a click," explained James Hare, one of the study's authors.

...

Hare and his colleagues believe such sounds are part of a sophisticated language that he said "likely evolved just as all other communication systems have: by chance association of certain cues with significant events at first and selection favoring individuals who detected and responded appropriately to the broadcast of such cues."

Although squirrels risk their lives when they call out to warn others of threats, Hare said other squirrels might admire this behavior, thus increasing the caller's social status, not unlike humans who look up to heroes.

The squirrel caller also can aid relatives and demonstrate vigilance to predators, who often are less likely to attack possible prey that is aware of their presence.

Hare said other animals, such as birds, probably understand at least some squirrel language, since they also may benefit from the alarm calls.

In fact, another Canadian study found that deep-voiced, black-capped chickadees have their own language too.

Source: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051107/squirrelspeak_ani.html