Parrot

Pet parrots may listenin to mimic humans, but for wild creatures, eavesdropping can be a matter of survival.

Presenting: The Bird-Brained Burglar Bust

The house in Memphis, Tennessee, sat empty: the coast was clear for a robbery. Quickly and secretively, the three young burglars checked the windows and doors and found a way in. They piled up computers, DVD players, and other electronic equipment.

The thieves talked as they worked, paying no attention to the parrot, nearly motionless in its cage. Only when the crooks were ready to make their getaway did the bird finally pipe up. “JJ,” it said plainly. “JJ, JJ.”

Marshmallow—a six-year-old green parrot— had been quietly eavesdropping. And the private-eye parrot had learned a thing or two, including the nickname of one of the robbers: J.J.

The burglars fled but soon realized that the parrot knew too much. “They were afraid the bird would stool on them,” said Billy Reilly, a local police officer. When the thieves returned to the crime scene to nab the bird, police captured them.

Gopher Snake

Drumming up dinner! A hungry gophersnake follows the foot thumps of communicating kangaroo rats.

The Memphis crooks hadn’t counted on Marshmallow’s talents as an eavesdropper. Why would they? Few people imagine that animals can be highly skilled spies and snoops. Yet nature is filled with them.

More and more, scientists are discovering that creatures—from bugs to baboons—are experts at watching, listening, and prying into the lives of other animals. While Marshmallow’s eavesdropping helped to foil human criminals, wild spies work for their own benefit. Spying can be the best or fastest way to find food or a mate, or get early warning of a predator.

Until recently, researchers preferred to think of communication between animals as similar to two people talking privately. But wildlife sounds and signals are often loud or bright enough that it is easy for others to listen in. It’s like having conversations on Facebook that every one of your friends—and maybe some of your enemies—can read.

Animal messages are often detected by audiences that were not meant to get wind of them. Hungry gopher snakes, for example, use foot-drumming signals between kangaroo rats to locate a snaky snack. Female chickadees listen in on singing contests of territorial males when choosing a mate.

Biologists call it eavesdropping. It sounds sneaky, but it works well. And some animals are doubly sneaky, changing their behavior when they expect to be overheard. The animal communication network is far more complicated than researchers used to believe.

Secret Agent

The stakes in wild spy games are high. Eavesdropping can determine whether animals mate, find a home, or enjoy a sneaky life instead of meeting sudden death. It can reveal whom they should trust and even affect the evolution of songs and signals.

Naturally clever secret agents learn things from snooping that help them survive and pass their genes to the next generation. It’s one more tool that crafty creatures use to understand the world around them.

In nature, prying eyes and ears are everywhere.

Chapter 1: The Spy Who Loved Me

Spying and Prying to Find a Mate

On the grassy floodplains of the Okavango Delta, in the deepening green of an African evening, a young chacma baboon sat watching the members of his troop. While some played or groomed one another, the dominant males—the baboon big shots—each followed a female that was ready to mate. They stuck close, determined to keep other males away.

The young baboon paid careful attention to the couples. He was a subordinate male, meaning he was well down the social ladder. He had no status to challenge other males, and it was lonely at the bottom.

Chacma Baboon

Spying on baboon couples might help a young male find a female alone, giving him a chance to mate.

But the silent baboon wasn’t brooding over his bad luck. He was spying—quietly listening to the intimate exchanges of the baboon pairs. The males uttered distinctive grunts to the females, and the females responded with a high, almost musical call. From these nuptial noises, the young eavesdropper tracked each couple.

Now he heard a sound that excited him: a familiar grunt over here and the matching call over there—a pair had become separated. The young male jumped into action. If he could reach the female before her top-dog male located her, he might sneak a secret mating.

European Robin

Male European robins eavesdrop to know when a neighboring female feels neglected.

For some animals—such as low-ranking male baboons—spying on couples can improve their own mating chances. By eavesdropping on courtship noises and displays, sneaky creatures increase the odds of having young and passing on their genes.

Among birds, male European robins spy on robin pairs that court and nest in the hedgerows and gardens of Europe. When it’s time to lay eggs, a female robin gets her mate’s attention by cheeping a loud begging cry. The male responds by delivering gifts—squishy caterpillars, grubs, and other romantic delicacies—and often the two will mate.

Neighboring males listen in. If a female doesn’t get her treat quickly, she cheeps more frantically. A noisy female means her mate isn’t paying enough attention. For the snoop next door, it may mean the time is right for a secret encounter. He may offer the neglected female a food gift and try to father some of her young.

Uganda Kob

Male Uganda kob may think they’re hot stuff, but females of tens imply copy other females to choose a mate.

Animals that spy for a chance to reproduce are not always male; sometimes females snoop in mating matters. In the flat scrublands of central Africa, for instance, females of two kinds of antelope, Uganda kob and Kafue lechwe, get especially nosy during the breeding season.

The male antelope gather on traditional mating grounds—called leks—to attract the attention of females. Leks offer a kind of onestop shopping for females to compare suitors.

But scientists say the females don’t just compare the males they see; they also snoop on the choices of other females. By sniffing the soil, these antelope detectives can tell which area has had the most female interest, because females urinate during courtship. The male that occupies that territory will be the most popular mate on the lek.

The sniff test is so important to females that biologists have been able to change mate choices by moving urine-soaked soil from one spot to another.

Convict Cichlid

Size matters . Female convict cichlids spy when two males meet to determine which one measures up.

Even after pairing up, female convict cichlids keep their sly eyes open to see how their males compare. These colorful, aggressive little fish live in the streams and lakes of Central America, and many people keep them in aquariums. Males and females usually form lasting pairs, and both parents raise their young.

But in the world of cichlids, bigger is better, and females prefer larger males. With no measuring tape, females size up males by watching them square off with rivals in territory disputes. Researchers say that more than half the females who see other males outsize their mates will abandon the relationship to hook up with the bigger male.

Pygmy Slow Loris

A peeing contest isn’t child’s play. This baby pygmy slow loris must grow up to sniff out a champion.

Nosy about Peeing Contests

Female pygmy lorises know when to stick their noses into others’ business. Many of them do just that to find the best mate.

Lorises are small, slow-moving primates that live in the trees of Southeast Asia. They’re active at night, and very territorial. Males mark their territories with strong-smelling urine. Neighboring males may try to claim the same area or show their higher status by urinating over a rival’s mark in a kind of peeing contest.

Although these toilet-time quarrels are a male–male competition, snoopy females often check the evidence. Their noses are able to sniff out the winner: the male whose scent mark is on top. The females appear to prefer the loris who peed last.

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