Researchers in the United States have found that black-tailed prairie dogs ( Cynomys ludovicianus ), famous for their extremely social behavior, not only kiss and caress each other profusely, but do so for longer when someone is looking at them.
Adam Eltorai, a researcher at the University of Washington in St Louis (Missouri, USA), recorded the behavior of 25 prairie dogs in a zoo, noting at all times how many visitors observed them. In this way, he verified that animals behaved differently when they were observed , as happens to humans. Specifically, when the number of observers grew, they relaxed, spent less time fighting and devoted themselves to showing affection to each other , melting into hugs and kisses. Only the juveniles were more tense and less affectionate the more spectators "voyeurs" they had around them.
This North American species is also popular for its complex language , which includes more than a hundred different barks, which they use to communicate if a predator is nearby, its size, the direction it is traveling, how fast and even what color it is. . In other words, the alarm call for a coyote is different from that of a badger or hawk.
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