DISCRIMINATION OF FOOTDRUMMING SIGNATURES BY KANGAROO RATS, DIPODOMYS SPECTABILIS

Playback experiments were conducted to test whether banner-tailed kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis, use individually distinct footdrumming signatures to communicate identity to territorial neighbours. Responses of territory owners to playbacks of footdrumming signatures of neighbours and strangers that differed in at least one signal element were tested in a year in which population densities were low and then repeated in a year with higher densities. Territory owners footdrummed at higher rates in response to playbacks of a stranger than to playbacks of a neighbour in both years. They either drummed the same footdrumming pattern used during spontaneous territorial footdrumming and in the playback tests, or added extra footrolls to a footdrumming sequence during the playback. Juveniles exhibited the least consistency in drumming patterns in the two contexts. These results demonstrate that D. spectabilis discriminates the footdrumming signatures of neighbours and strangers and suggest that territorial footdrumming functions in neighbour recognition. Familiarity among neighbours promotes a stable social organization in this solitary, nocturnal rodent. © 1994 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.