根据新华社7月5日报道，撒哈马拉扎鼬狐猴是生活在马达加斯加岛上的一种灵长类物种。一项新研究发现，这种狐猴能听懂鸟儿的报警鸣叫，从而提前获知捕食者的到来，以提高生存几率。
撒哈马拉扎鼬狐猴已于2012年被列为极度濒危物种，它们主要在夜间活动，白天在树洞里睡觉，喜欢独居。人们对这种狐猴的了解非常有限，迄今不清楚它们如何躲避捕食者。
来自英国布里斯托尔大学等机构的研究人员5日在美国期刊《科学公共图书馆综合卷》上报告说，他们给在树洞里睡觉的撒哈马拉扎鼬狐猴播放马达加斯加特有的两种鸟类——凤头马岛鹃与马岛鹊鸲的报警鸣叫以及其他一些鸟类的“轻松歌唱”，发现这些狐猴听到报警鸣叫时，警惕性显著提高，会抬头扫视四周，寻找危险的来源。
研究人员表示，这项研究测试的是上述狐猴能否理解非灵长类动物的报警鸣叫与其他“语音”之间的区别。研究表明，这种狐猴能通过“监听”其他动物的报警声音，尽早获知捕食者出现。
研究人员表示，这种“监听”可能是撒哈马拉扎鼬狐猴作为独居动物的一种必备能力，这种能力有助其提高其生存几率。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067397
Melanie Seiler, Christoph Schwitzer, Marco Gamba, Marc W. Holderied
Interspecific Semantic Alarm Call Recognition in the Solitary Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur sahamalazensis
As alarm calls indicate the presence of predators, the correct interpretation of alarm calls, including those of other species, is essential for predator avoidance. Conversely, communication calls of other species might indicate the perceived absence of a predator and hence allow a reduction in vigilance. This “eavesdropping” was demonstrated in birds and mammals, including lemur species. Interspecific communication between taxonomic groups has so far been reported in some reptiles and mammals, including three primate species. So far, neither semantic nor interspecific communication has been tested in a solitary and nocturnal lemur species. The aim of this study was to investigate if the nocturnal and solitary Sahamalaza sportive lemur, Lepilemur sahamalazensis, is able to access semantic information of sympatric species. During the day, this species faces the risk of falling prey to aerial and terrestrial predators and therefore shows high levels of vigilance. We presented alarm calls of the crested coua, the Madagascar magpie-robin and aerial, terrestrial and agitation alarm calls of the blue-eyed black lemur to 19 individual Sahamalaza sportive lemurs resting in tree holes. Songs of both bird species’ and contact calls of the blue-eyed black lemur were used as a control. After alarm calls of crested coua, Madagascar magpie-robin and aerial alarm of the blue-eyed black lemur, the lemurs scanned up and their vigilance increased significantly. After presentation of terrestrial alarm and agitation calls of the blue-eyed black lemur, the animals did not show significant changes in scanning direction or in the duration of vigilance. Sportive lemur vigilance decreased after playbacks of songs of the bird species and contact calls of blue-eyed black lemurs. Our results indicate that the Sahamalaza sportive lemur is capable of using information on predator presence as well as predator type of different sympatric species, using their referential signals to detect predators early, and that the lemurs’ reactions are based on experience and learning.
