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Alarm response

Following 30 years of research, Con Slobodchikoff has noticed that prairie dogs react in different ways to different predators. If their calls for a coyote and a badger are in fact different, then playing them back to a colony of prairie dogs should create distinct responses. It turns out the prairie dogs do exactly as the researchers predicted. When they played the alarm calls for coyote, the prairie dogs all ran for their burrows and stood up high - typical behaviour if you want to see the ambush predator coming. When played the alarm calls for the badger, they all ran to their burrows and kept a low profile - exactly what you would expect if you don't want a badger to come and dig up your home.

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2 minutes