Mammalian vocalizations containing complex structure, or syntax — such as those of whales and bats — may be more common than previously thought.
Arik Kershenbaum at the University of Haifa in Israel and his colleagues analysed the calls of the male rock hyrax (Procavia capensis; pictured), a small mammal common in Africa and the Middle East. Hyrax songs are made up of five types of syllable — wail, chuck, snort, squeak and tweet. The authors found that animals living within a few kilometres of each other produced songs with a similar syllable order. Over larger areas, there was no relationship between syntax and location, suggesting that hyraxes have a limited territorial range and that their songs may be a socially learned behaviour.
Proc. R. Soc. B http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.0322 (2012)
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Mammal sings with syntax. Nature 484, 418 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/484418c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/484418c
