Seismic communication between the burrows of kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis |
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Authors: | J A Randall E R Lewis |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA Fax: +1-415 338-2295 e-mail: jrandall@sfsn.edu, US;(2) Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, US |
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Abstract: | Banner-tailed kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis, footdrum to produce substrate-borne and airborne acoustic energy. Previous studies show that they communicate territorial
ownership via airborne footdrumming signals. The research reported here used simulated footdrum patterns generated by an artificial
`thumper' to address the question of whether kangaroo rats communicate through seismic components of these acoustic signals.
With microphones suspended in sealed burrows, we found that airborne sounds were attenuated by approximately 40 dB as they
passed through the burrow wall into the burrow chamber. The substrate-borne vibrations from the thumper yielded sound approximately
40 dB greater in peak amplitude than the attenuated airborne sound. Thus, 99.9% of the peak power of the thumper was transmitted
directly through the substrate into the burrow. The rats in sealed burrows timed their responses to playbacks of footdrums
from the thumper and a loudspeaker so they did not initiate a drumming sequence during either the seismic or airborne signals.
When these signals were masked by loud noise, the rats continued to drum to the seismic signal but drummed randomly during
the airborne playback. These results suggest that the sealed burrow provides a quiet place in which D. spectabilis can listen for substrate-borne communications from conspecifics.
Accepted: 13 May 1997 |
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Keywords: | Kangaroo rat Footdrum Seismic Communication D spectabilis |
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