Meerkats use ‘sunning calls’ to maintain relationships
Meerkats make soft, tonal vocalisations during their joint morning sunbaths.
A new study has revealed how meerkats use ‘vocal grooming’ to manage relationships and maintain their social hierarchy.
Research from the University of Konstanz examined how these vocalisations, known as sunning calls, could help meerkats achieve social bonding through sound rather than touch.
Meerkats live in cohesive groups with a strict dominance hierarchy. This hierarchy is led by a dominant breeding pair, supported by subordinates which rear offspring, defend territory and maintain social stability.
Social bonding is usually maintained through physical grooming, with individuals touching each other’s fur or skin to remove parasites or dirt.
However, while this is a well-established method of reinforcing social bonds, it requires close contact and time. This makes it challenging for large or spatially dispersed groups.
Researchers have now discovered the use of sunning calls as an alternative, low-key way for meerkats to stay socially connected and manage group hierarchies. These soft, tonal vocalisations are produced by meerkats during morning sunning sessions.
While these sounds may resemble noises typically used for conflict reduction, their use during meerkats’ joint morning sunbath suggests they are instead a form of social interaction.
To examine their use, sunning calls were recorded from a known meerkat group in the Kalahari Desert. Recordings were made from individuals where their social status was known, then played back to other focal group members for their responses.
Researchers discovered that more subordinate members of the mob increased their calling significantly when exposed to dominant individuals. Meanwhile, dominant meerkats showed little change in response to calls from subordinates.
Vocal exchanges were more intensive when they were directed up the hierarchy, suggesting they instead function as appeasement or relationship management to higher group members.
Female meerkats responded more strongly to recorded sunning calls than males, which suggested there may be more sex-based difference to social strategies.
Researchers suggest that meerkats are therefore using sunning calls to support social interaction, particularly in groups without close contact or time. The communication was especially important to lower hierarchy meerkats seeking to stabilise or improve their relationships.
Vlad Demartsev, a postdoctoral researcher who led the study, said: “Our findings suggest that these vocal exchanges are not random chatter, but a strategic part of meerkat social life,”
“Engaging in continuous reciprocal interaction can signal cooperation and commitment, which may promote tolerance and improve social affinity. For subordinate meerkats, stable relationships with dominants are crucial, and vocal exchanges might be one of the mechanisms to achieve that.”
The full study can be found in the journal Behavioural Ecology.
Image © Shutterstock.com/Brian Stuart Nel
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