RUI: Communication and Predator Defense by Ground- Transmitted Vibration

袋鼠鼠是夜间活动的啮齿动物，只在北美的沙漠中发现。虽然它们是美国西南部沙漠中丰富的生命网络的一部分，但在兰德尔博士开始对它们进行研究之前，人们对它们的交流和社会组织知之甚少。她还在继续研究旗尾袋鼠鼠，向其他种类的袋鼠鼠传达它们的身份，并通过后脚在地面上敲鼓来产生空气传播和地面传播的振动来保护自己免受捕食者的伤害。跺脚是一种独特的交流系统，除了旗尾袋鼠鼠之外，还没有对任何其他动物进行过详细的研究。在这个项目中，兰德尔博士通过调查旗尾是否可以在地下从一个地区到另一个地区进行通信，开始了对脚步声作为地震通信的研究。她还将探索跺脚信号文化传播的可能性：母亲的个体跺脚信号可能会被后代学习，然后随着年幼的动物与新邻居在新的领域建立自己的地位而进行修改。最后，兰德尔博士将比以前更详细地研究袋鼠鼠和蛇之间的交流，关注旗尾在蛇面前是否会跺脚，告诉它们被捕食的机会很低，从而诱使它们离开。由于大多数关于哺乳动物声音交流的研究都是在高度社会性的物种中进行的，因此本研究为非社会性哺乳动物声音交流的进化提供了重要的比较证据。此外，这项研究将有助于了解脆弱的沙漠生态系统。由于旗尾袋鼠鼠最近被列为亚利桑那州的濒危物种，兰德尔博士的研究可能对保护工作和恢复计划非常重要，以确保旗尾袋鼠鼠和其他濒危袋鼠鼠物种的生存。

Kangaroo rats are nocturnal rodents found only in the deserts of North America. Although they are part of the rich web of life in the deserts of the Southwestern United States, little was understood about their communication and social organization until Dr. Randall began her research on them. She is continuing to examine how members of one species, the banner-tailed kangaroo rat, communicate their identity to other species of kangaroo rats and protect themselves from predators by drumming their hind feet on the ground to create air-borne and ground-transmitted vibrations. Footdrumming is a unique communication system that has never been studied in detail in any other animal besides the banner-tailed kangaroo rat. In this project, Dr. Randall is opening research into footdrumming as seismic communication by investigating whether or not banner-tails can communicate underground from territory to territory. She will also explore the possibility of cultural transmission of footdrumming signals: Individual footdrumming signatures of mothers are possibly learned by their offspring and then modified as the young animals establish themselves in new territories with new neighbors. Finally, Dr. Randall will examine in much greater detail than before communication between kangaroo rats and snakes, focusing on whether or not banner-tails footdrum in the presence of snakes to induce them to leave by informing them that their chances of predation are low. Because most research on mammalian communication by sound has been done on highly social species, this study provides important comparative evidence for the evolution of sound communication in nonsocial mammals. In addition, the research will contribute to an understanding of fragile desert ecosystems. Because the banner-tailed kangaroo rat was recently listed as an endangered species in Arizona, Dr. Randall's research could become very important in conservation efforts and recovery programs to assure the survival of the banner-tail and other endangered kangaroo-rat species.