Birds listen in on prairie dog calls to stay safe

If we told you that some birds listen in on the calls of prairie dogs, you might think they should keep their beaks out.

But, what if we told you that they are doing it to stay safe?

Prairie dogs, which are rodents and are closely related to squirrels, bark to let each other know if there are predators nearby.

Researchers have found that these calls are being picked up and used by long-billed curlews too.

Prairie dogs use barks to let each other know that predators are nearby

Prairie dogs are hunted by a long list of predators from birds of prey to foxes and even large snakes.

Long-billed curlews are vulnerable to some of these predators too.

Research, which was published in the journal Animal Behaviour, found the birds listen to the sounds of the rodents to find out if predators are on the way.

It gives them more time to react to the nearby danger.

Long-billed curlews are vulnerable to some of the same predators as prairie dogs

Long-billed curlews nest their eggs in short grass on the ground, and when they hear the prairie dog call, they get as low as possible and try to camouflage themselves.

As part of the research, a team made a fake predator, in the form of a stuffed badger on a remote controlled car.

This was then driven towards nests in Montana in the US, sometimes while playing the calls of prairie dogs, sometimes in silence.

When the birds could hear the fake barks from the remote-controlled badger, theyducked down into the grass to hide when it was more than three times the distance away, compared to when no barks were played.