Contact details:

Department of Botany & Zoology
University of Stellenbosch
Private Bag X1
Matieland 7602
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 808-3236
Fax: +27 21 808-2405
E-mail: lwillems@sun.ac.za

Behavioural Ecology

Aliza le Roux

I am currently doing a PhD field study on communication in the yellow mongoose, Cynictis penicillata, under the supervision of professors Michael Cherry (University of Stellenbosch) and Marta Manser (University of Zurich). This species of mongoose is semi-social, denning in groups but mostly foraging alone. The yellow mongoose is mostly a solitary forager, but it faces the pressures (such as foraging competition) of group-living, especially during the breeding season when denning and foraging with 2-3 juveniles. Understanding the communicative repertoire of a semi-social species like this can help shed light on the evolution of complex communicative systems such as that found in the obligately social meerkat, Suricata suricatta .

I am interested to see how the yellow mongoose uses vocalizations in interactions with group members and whether they have a sophisticated alarm call system, as has been found in the meerkat. I will measure the degree of aggression between group members as well as the levels of vigilance maintained during solitary and group foraging as both aggressive interactions and predator encounters can be greatly affected by vocal communication.

Scent marking by means of anal and cheek glands as well as faeces, is a prominent part of yellow mongoose behaviour and the olfactory signals can be used to delineate territories, establish identity or advertise reproductive status. To determine the role scent marks play I am gathering spatial data on all kinds of scent marks, including latrines, and the frequency of marking behaviour. After habituating six groups of yellow mongooses I will gather focal and ad lib data focusing on olfactory behaviour, vocalizations, vigilance and social interactions. These observations will generate hypotheses that I intend testing by means of field experiments in the second field season. Acoustic experiments will include playbacks of vocalizations - such as alarm and begging calls - to determine the biological meaning of auditory signals. Olfactory experiments will take the form of bio-assays in which scent gland secretions and/ or faeces of known individuals will be presented to focal animals to investigate the occurrence of individual recognition based on scent marks, the role of marks in territoriality, and sexual advertisement.

My fieldwork is based in the Northern Cape, just south of the border between South Africa and Botswana, at the Kalahari Meerkat Project run by the University of Cambridge.

The yellow mongoose, Spiney Norman, on guard.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Telescopes.com for their donation of a telescope. To visit Telescopes.com click here.

Thank you to binoculars.com for their donation of a binocular. To visit Binoculars.com click here.

Thank you to Zhumell for their donation of a Zhumell binocular. To visit Zhumell.com click here.