Posted on 09/06/2017 9:31:40 AM PDT by Silentgypsy
Do pack animals just follow their leader? Or if not, how do they reach a consensus? According to observations taken of African wild dogs in Botswana, one option is sneezing.
According to new research, if enough animals in the pack sternutate, that constitutes a quorum that it's time to get up and go hunting.
The research was initiated by Neil Jordan of the UNSW Centre for Ecosystem Science, who was studying the dogs' social rallies. This is when the dogs, when they have finished resting, conduct energetic greeting ceremonies before running off to hunt.
Jordan started to notice that, prior to these rallies, the dogs would sneeze a lot more than usual.
"I wanted to better understand this collective behaviour, and noticed the dogs were sneezing while preparing to go," he said.
"We recorded details of 68 social rallies from 5 African wild dog packs living in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and couldn't quite believe it when our analyses confirmed our suspicions."
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
We had a cat that turned the turn signals on and opened the power windows while Mr. Sg was driving on I 40. I was following him in the car and wondered why he was swerving all over the place. They can really discombobulate us!
Perfectly clear my Friend.
That expression just didn’t travel too well.
((Hugs))
Sneezing? I certainly hope they are eligible for Obamacare. After all, they’re African.
I’m more concerned about natural disasters, famine, violence, etc. I don’t pray about my expressions traveling well. It’s not lack of concern for the feelings or perceptions of others; the issue is that I’m accountable for my actions and the intent thereof. Not accountable for anything else. Trust me, my backyard needs a lot of cleaning. However, being deliberately mean to people isn’t one of the issues. (((Hugs back atcha!)))
Sadly, Obamacare doesn’t translate into healthcare, so hopefully those poor babies can afford the sky-high premiums (premia?). Oh, wait—I forgot....
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