![]() The drongo then scoops up and consumes the gecko. On hearing the call, the meerkat drops the food and flees to safety. For instance, if a drongo spots a meerkat in possession of a particularly winsome food item such as a plump gecko, the bird may call falsely-in the absence of any predators at all. But other times drongos do something not as honest, even downright obnoxious. Sometimes this is honest signaling that benefits not only other drongos but also the birds’ neighbors: southern pied babblers and meerkats will dive for safety when they hear the drongo’s calls. ![]() A highly vocal bird called the fork-tailed drongo, a resident of the Kalahari Desert in Africa, emits alarm calls on sighting predators. When attempts to mislead are carried out intentionally, whether through camouflage, mimicry or some other behavior, that is tactical deception.Īs visual primates, we humans may be biased toward recognizing deception based on misdirection of images. Camouflage, mimicry and tactical deception are three key types of animal deception, with blurred boundaries between categories, as the cuttlefish examples illustrate. ![]() It occurs in a specific context (when a male courts a female in the presence of a single rival male). Brilliant-and sneaky!īiologist Culum Brown of Macquarie University in Sydney and his team call the mourning cuttlefish male’s double signaling “tactical deception” because it is deployed with forethought. ![]() To his male competitor, then, this suitor appears to be just another female. On his right side, though, he emits the signals typical of a female. From his left side he issues typical male courtship signals. When a male swims along between a female paramour on the left and a male competitor on the right, he displays two sets of signals containing polar-opposite information. In an Australian species called the mourning cuttlefish, deception goes beyond camouflage. Then, suddenly, he lunged and grabbed her, and the two mated head to head. The male camouflaged himself against the background for six minutes, leaving the female seemingly unaware of his continued presence. The female moved away with apparent indifference. In 2017 marine biologists led by Justine Allen of Brown University reported that they had observed a male common European cuttlefish approach a female as they scuba-dived in the Aegean Sea off Turkey. Their powers of disguise can make mating a turbulent affair. Relatives of the octopus, they have the ability to quickly change color, thanks to pigment-containing cells in their skin called chromatophores. Cuttlefish are masters of such disinformation. Intent to deceiveĭeception in nonhuman animals is defined as the sending out of false signals in an attempt to modify the behavior of another animal in ways that benefit the sender. They mislead, cheat and lie in rampant acts of deception. Many animals carry out disinformation campaigns aimed at others, within and across species. Yet even as we swoon over animal sweetness, there is a risk of that pendulum swinging too far and eclipsing part of the story. The current focus on kindness and care is a necessary corrective to that long-standing view of nature as “red in tooth and claw,” as poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson put it. And in an act of ultimate sacrifice, rats give up a chocolate reward to rescue companions made to tread water in a small pool.įor centuries scholars of animal behavior overemphasized the role of rivalry and violence among animals. Chimpanzees rush to console the loser of a fight, even when they themselves played no part in the altercation. Among chickens, mother hens show empathetic distress when they see their chicks experience mild discomfort. In the sky, variegated fairy wrens and splendid fairy wrens recognize one another, form stable partnerships and jointly defend patches of eucalyptus scrubland. In the ocean, groupers, wrasse and eels form a multispecies team, working together to flush out and consume prey in bouts of collaborative hunting. Evidence for cooperation and compassion among swimming, flying and walking creatures has captured public imagination. The animal world seems to burst with sugar and spice these days.
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