SQUIRRELS learn to ignore false alarm calls from panicky friends. It鈥檚 the
first time anyone has found the 鈥渃rying wolf鈥� effect in an animal that isn鈥檛 a
primate.
James Hare and Brent Atkins of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg,
Canada, recorded alarm calls from Richardson鈥檚 ground squirrels when they saw an
artificial predator鈥� a brown hat thrown nearby. The scientists played the
cries back to other squirrels. They made some of the individuals鈥� warnings sound
authentic by wheeling in a stuffed badger鈥攖he other calls were false
alarms because no predator showed up.
Initially, all the alarm calls made other squirrels alert and vigilant. But
after listening around 10 times, they learned to ignore the untrustworthy cries
(Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol 51, p 108).
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