2024-01-18 08:57:44
Cheetahs have a very diverse repertoire of sounds: Katharina Prager from the Institute for Sound Research researches cats’ acoustic communication.
The cheetahs in Schönbrunn Zoo are currently being eavesdropped on – in the name of science. Katharina Prager, a doctoral student in the biology department at the Institute for Sound Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, is researching the acoustic communication of cats. To do this, she records their sounds using special devices. Before heading to the African savannah, Prager first practices with the Schönbrunn cheetahs.
“Unlike representatives of the big cats, cheetahs cannot roar. However, they have a very diverse repertoire of sounds. When communicating with familiar conspecifics, cheetahs often make high-frequency chirping calls, which are referred to as ‘chirps’. These sounds are confusingly similar to birdsong and can therefore also cause confusion for people,” said zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck.
As part of the project, research will be carried out in various Austrian zoos. However, the focus of the work is in South Africa. “Cheetahs communicate with each other acoustically, among other things – how exactly they do this still needs to be researched. The cheetah’s ‘chirp’ is particularly interesting because it is unusually high-frequency for an animal of this size. Part of the research will therefore be to “To find out why cheetahs use these chirping calls as a contact call,” Prager was quoted as saying. It is possible that this is an acoustic camouflage so that stronger predators such as lions or their prey do not attract attention, she emphasizes. “To research this, we play the ‘chirps’ to wild animals such as lions in South Africa,” explained the scientist.
1705569296
#Austrian #researches #chirping #cheetahs #Schönbrunn