SQUIRRELS learn to ignore false alarm calls from panicky friends. It’s the
first time anyone has found the “crying wolf” effect in an animal that isn’t a
primate.
James Hare and Brent Atkins of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg,
Canada, recorded alarm calls from Richardson’s ground squirrels when they saw an
artificial predator— a brown hat thrown nearby. The scientists played the
cries back to other squirrels. They made some of the individuals’ warnings sound
authentic by wheeling in a stuffed badger—the other calls were false
alarms because no predator showed up.
Initially, all the alarm calls made…
