In the Amazon, birds and monkeys share information with each other, through a fantastic “zoological Wi-Fi”.
When taking a walk in the countryside to disconnect from work and calm your nerves after a busy week, the chirping of birds can be exactly what allows you to relax.
But what sounds reassuring to humans can signal danger to other animals – and trigger fear.
In a new study, this Monday in Current Biologyit was shown that when some animals see a predator they emit a warning cry that is picked up by others and propagated through the forest. For some time, different species are connected in a network of shared information – what is called “Floresta Wi-Fi”.
Birds and monkeys
On an expedition to a remote area of Amazon Peruvian, working with a falconer, the investigation used birds of prey trained to trigger warning calls in birds and primates. These calls were recorded and then reproduced in the forest, monitoring how the community reacted.
It was already known that birds sometimes repeat the warnings of others – occasionally even those of different species, or primates. What we sought to know was to what extent this behavior is widespread in the animal community.
It found that alarm calls produced by small bird species – less than 100 grams – were the most frequently transmitted. Other small birds living in the canopy were most likely to relay the call, but other animals also joined in.
Larger speciesincluding capuchin monkeys and spider monkeys, sometimes also responded. Two canopy species in particular – birds known as black-fronted nunbirds and white-fronted nunbirds – stood out as especially prone to repeat and propagate your neighbors’ warnings throughout the forest – in network.
Sounds and silence
Alarm calls from species living in the understory were much less likely to propagate and be relayed by other birds or primates.
However, even when these alarm calls were not repeated, altered the soundscape of the forest.
The small birds in the canopy almost completely stopped singing after hearing a predator alert. At the same time, animals in the lower layers of the forest often continued to produce sounds despite the perceived threat.
Taken together, the findings suggest that the Amazon canopy is not only the most mysterious layer of the rainforest – largely unexplored and home to much of its biodiversity – but also functions as an information highway, like a fiber optic network through which animals quickly share signals with each other.
A new layer of the “Forest Internet”
In the last decade, the idea of a “Forest Internet” became popular through the concept of “wood wide web”, where Plants exchange resources and information through root systems and fungal networks.
The new work points to another communication system, one that operates high above the ground.
Suspended above our heads is a vast ecosystem where animals constantly listen to each other, forming a listening network that propagates critical information within seconds.
