Sentry behaviour in captive meerkats (Suricata suricatta)
Amy Spies
746773
Abstract
Sentry duty is an important social behaviour in which guards scan the surrounding area for potential threats. In species such as meerkats, this behaviour is so instinctive that they continue to perform it even in captivity. The aim of this study was to establish an understanding of the sentry behaviour in captive meerkats. This was done by observing meerkats in the Johannesburg Zoo and determining the behaviour of both sentries and non-sentries. Results showed that sentries were mostly adults, occupied high vantage points, scanned the sky more frequently, engaged in resting and foraging most commonly after duty and the time without a sentry was minimal. Results also showed that non-sentries foraged slightly more than they were vigilant. This indicates that sentry duty may be a state-dependent behaviour and that it allows non-sentries to relax their vigilance and forage more. Understanding how captivity affects behaviours like sentry duty is important for conservation, particularly reintroductions.
Key words: sentry, captive, meerkats, behaviour, conservation. …show more content…
This, together with the fact that the sentry makes vocalizations announcing its presence to other group members, allows other members to relax their vigilance behaviour and maximize their foraging efficiency (Price, 2003). However, sentinels may in fact benefit from early detection of predators and since foraging increases the longer a guard is on duty, this behaviour may not be entirely cooperative (Bednekoff, 1997; Wright et al., 2001). In species such as meerkats, this behaviour is so instinctive that they continue to perform sentry duty even in captivity where the predation risk is virtually non-existent (Hollen and Manser,
Amy Spies
746773
Abstract
Sentry duty is an important social behaviour in which guards scan the surrounding area for potential threats. In species such as meerkats, this behaviour is so instinctive that they continue to perform it even in captivity. The aim of this study was to establish an understanding of the sentry behaviour in captive meerkats. This was done by observing meerkats in the Johannesburg Zoo and determining the behaviour of both sentries and non-sentries. Results showed that sentries were mostly adults, occupied high vantage points, scanned the sky more frequently, engaged in resting and foraging most commonly after duty and the time without a sentry was minimal. Results also showed that non-sentries foraged slightly more than they were vigilant. This indicates that sentry duty may be a state-dependent behaviour and that it allows non-sentries to relax their vigilance and forage more. Understanding how captivity affects behaviours like sentry duty is important for conservation, particularly reintroductions.
Key words: sentry, captive, meerkats, behaviour, conservation. …show more content…
This, together with the fact that the sentry makes vocalizations announcing its presence to other group members, allows other members to relax their vigilance behaviour and maximize their foraging efficiency (Price, 2003). However, sentinels may in fact benefit from early detection of predators and since foraging increases the longer a guard is on duty, this behaviour may not be entirely cooperative (Bednekoff, 1997; Wright et al., 2001). In species such as meerkats, this behaviour is so instinctive that they continue to perform sentry duty even in captivity where the predation risk is virtually non-existent (Hollen and Manser,