Seville (EFE).- A study has provided evidence that brown bears, in addition to communicating through chemical signals, also do so through visual signals by tearing off the bark of certain trees.
The research, led by the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN), has also had the participation of the Doñana Biological Station (EBD) and the Mixed Institute for Biodiversity Research (IMIB), both part of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).
For the article, published this Tuesday in the ‘Journal of Mammalogy’, the team in charge has worked with the brown bear population of the Cantabrian mountain range using photo and video trapping, whose images obtained have allowed them to analyze the behavior of several dozen individuals, like the 13 males responsible for leaving marks on the trees.
“For a long time it has been considered that communication between mammals was essentially limited to chemical and acoustic signalling”, contextualizes the MNCN researcher Vincenzo Penteriani, who adds that this experimental work has offered, for the first time, “evidence of the existence of a new communication channel for this species”.
The visual markings, which they make by scratching and biting the bark, seem to have a very specific meaning since they are only made by adult males during the mating season and, according to the team that carried out the exploration, they could provide other types of information. as the size of the individual.
This way of communicating would also make the dominance status of each male explicit in search of mating opportunities and would complement the information provided by chemical signals that were already known.
“Knowing the meaning of this form of communication not only represents an advance in our understanding of animal communication, but can also help us to easily locate the areas frequented by bears during the mating season, crucial information for conservation plans. and management of the species”, ditch Penteriani. EFE
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