I know a lot of people have been wondering about the odd sounds that these animals make, so I have dedicated this blog to just that. Therefore, I did some more research on these sounds, and I found out that prairie dog language is almost as difficult as human language. They have specific words for different events to keep their town safe from harm. However, there are also different sounds for each of these events. Some sound like an alarm clock, and some sound like a squeaky toy. And then there are some that sound like dogs barking. It all depends on what's going on. The alarm clock sound is for wide spread alerts of danger near by. The squeaky toy sound is used mostly for social communications within the towns. And the barking sound is used for both alerts and just a way of making themselves heard from a far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAkLJbK5JlE This is a link to a Youtube video of Prairie dogs barking.
Another thing that I find very amusing is that they sometimes fall over while barking. Mine have done this multiple times, and it is the funniest thing ever. This is also shown in the video link above.
Unfortunately, I can't get my own prairie dogs to bark anymore, and when they do I can't tape it quick enough. I think they have a bit of stage fright in front of a camera.
I also wanted to add on to my last post about them kissing. While I was researching their sounds I came across more information about the kissing thing. I found that the taste of each others saliva is what they use to identify one another.
Here is another Youtube video that goes into more detail on the prairie dogs language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcB5kySUxWA
Personally I had no idea how amazing these creatures were until now!
I love how they fall down. It's like the excitement is too much for them. Great blog. You seem to be truly exploring your subject.
ReplyDeleteThat first video was adorable. When those little guys fall down, do they ever get hurt from that? Oh, and about your own prairie dogs having "stage fright", do they know that they are being recorded? Can they be that smart to know exactly what's happening around them?
ReplyDeleteThat is cool how they communicate with the different sounds. I liked the way you talked about the prairie dogs having stage fright . They sound adorable. To catch them when they are barking maybe try to set a camera up for the whole day and try to catch them that way if you can.
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