I've always found this very interesting, especially their seemingly built-in vocabulary. It's definitely not news though as the blog suggests. I remember having heard about this for years. Here's a reference from 2005: <a href="http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2005/prairie_dog.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2005/prairi...</a>.
Off-topic, but if you manage a content site, and you cannot say with a straight face that your mobile site is objectively better for mobile devices in some way, GET RID OF THE MOBILE SITE.
Some years ago, I read about chickadees (small birds found in parts of the U.S. and Canada) having a similar alarm system (1) -- certain types of calls for certain types of predators (e.g., hawks, cats, or owls) and additional modifications based on the perceived threat (including lengthening the call for more dangerous animals).<p>One of the most interesting aspects of these calls is the "mobbing" signal, which is used to call other chickadees and even other bird species.<p>The birds are quite endearing; they have a small black cap on a white head and two easily recognizable calls -- the "chicka-dee-dee-dee" alarm call and a sad-sounding, two- or three-note call (2). If you live in the northeast U.S. and set up a bird feeder during the winter, you'll probably get them to visit.<p>1) <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2005/06/23/chickadees-alarm-calls-carry-information-about-size-threat-of-predator/" rel="nofollow">http://www.washington.edu/news/2005/06/23/chickadees-alarm-c...</a><p>2) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l41nXK4ZdUA" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l41nXK4ZdUA</a>
Animals do not have language in the same way that humans do. Yes, the may have a way to communicate with each other by sounding their voices in different pitches, and yes, some apes can learn sign language, but that does not mean that they understand language in the way humans do. Human language has grammar, syntax, and recursion in a way that animals do not.
funny, a friend of mine has been just a few days ago to the vienna zoo and told me she spent 40 mins in front of the prairie dogs claiming they're talking to humans and also posing for photos and laughing at some people.<p>i didn't know what to say, so i just laughed, now i have to tell her that link ...
I knew Timon could talk! (OK, I know meerkat and prairie dogs are in different orders.)<p>By the way, similar vocal studies have been done with zebra finch:
<a href="http://ofer.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/" rel="nofollow">http://ofer.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/</a>
What a beautiful, inspiring surprise, that prairie dogs would have such a powerful language.<p>Just showed it to some kids, who were as fascinated as I was and peppered me with a million questions. Science is awesome.
Incredible. I owe several degu which are very similar to praire dogs (both rodents, both are highly social, both live in prairies etc). They produce a large number of sounds, and I always thought that their sounds are just are a bunch of noise. Now, I understand, after heard prairie dog's sound that it's not so simple.
Does this use an academic meaning of the term "language" I don't know about? It sounds like prairie dogs effectively have <i>words</i>, but there's no indication that they use grammar, syntax, etc., so describing their vocalizations as "language" seems misleading.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language</a><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_communication" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_communication</a>
The more we learn about animals, the more I wonder about our casual treatment of them.<p>It's led me to the conclusion that there are certainly species at least on our level of cognitive development, they just might have different value systems such that our pursuit of technology seems very foreign and strange.<p>It's also why I'm transitioning into vegetarianism (though still eating chicken eggs, which I can't find an ethical issue with).