Hippos can recognize familiar voices, new study finds
Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Hippopotamuses can tell the difference between strangers and their neighbors based only on the sound of their voices, according to a study published Monday in Current Biology.
The study indicates that the giant herbivores can identify each other by their signature, noisy "wheeze honk." When hippos hear a familiar call, they're less likely to respond with aggression than when they hear a new call for the first time. Advertisement
The results suggest that hippos, which are famously territorial, still rely on communication networks and form complex social groups.
"We found that the vocalizations of a stranger individual induced a stronger behavioral response than those produced by individuals from either the same or a neighboring group," one of the researchers, Nicolas Mathevon, of the University of Saint-Etienne in France, said in a press release. RELATED Curious shark chased away by pod of angry hippos
"In addition to showing that hippos are able to identify conspecifics based on vocal signatures, our study highlights that hippo groups are territorial entities that behave less aggressively toward their neighbors than toward strangers."
