Some animals show a remarkable ability to recognize their own young, for example the penguin – which can recognize its own young among a sea of other offspring on the Arctic ice. Also, professor Houlihan mentioned in class that human mothers are able to memorize the smells of their newborns just by hold them and then are able to identify them among other babies. Clearly the ability of mammals to recognize their own young is pretty widespread.
In the study done by Dr Elodie Breifer and Dr Alan McElligott, they discovered that kid goats – no older than a week – are able to identify their mother’s calls. The same occurs for the mother goat, as it is able to recognize its own young’s call and respond to it. The researchers suggested that the ability of the young offspring to recognize their mothers’ calls is genetic – which makes sense given the fact that goats no older than a week are able to distinguish among calls of many goats.
The fact that there may be a genetic basis to this recognition ability is something that should be of a crucial interest to all animal communication researchers. Perhaps many mammals share the same genes for this ability because it would make sense that the ability to recognize one’s own young should have evolved early in the evolutionary tree. Understanding how mammals are able to do this would certainly unlock a key point in animal communication.
Posted by James Lin (5)
It makes sense that nurturing animals like goats and penguins can recognize parents/children, as they raise/are raised by them. Do animals that abandon their children recognize them, or are recognized by them? Beyond nurturing, it makes sense when mating and perhaps even resource competition comes into play.
ReplyDeleteBy Joseph Needleman
I think the reliance of young mammals on their mothers (for milk, nutrients, and protection) has driven the common adaptation of recognizing mothers' smell/call upon birth. I wonder if this sort of recognition has been seen in animals with very little-no parental investment? My guess would be probably not, but it'd certainly be something interesting to look into!
ReplyDeletePosted by Brianna Eddy
I wonder since the young needs an adult more, maybe they can recognize their mothers but not vice versa. Also maybe their are some behaviors that are particular to the parent that gets transferred to the child and therefore can be recognized by the mother.
ReplyDeleteJobin Oommen
Researchers could conduct a different experiment that could give further evidence that this ability of recognition is genetic. Perhaps they could take an baby goat that has been separated from its mother at very soon after birth than reintroduced after a period of time. This would eliminate the possibility of a potential learning period, and could give insight into how this recognition works.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sara Corey
It would be very interesting to compare the calls of genetically similar goats (mothers and kids) to see if there are any similarities between the calls that are discernible using technology such as Raven. If similarities between related goat calls could be detected, it could elucidate the mechanical means by which the goats are able to recognize each other.
ReplyDelete-Posted by Johanna Brophy
A lot of animals show remarkable ability to recognize their young. I found the study on goats recognizing the calls of their young very interesting. I wonder how do the goats distinguish between the difference in calls between their own young and others offspring Is the ear in the goats more developed to make this acute distinction? I wonder if their exists some cue in all animals whether it be smell, visual, or sound that is used to recognize offspring.
ReplyDeleteposted by nick gast
From an evolutionary point of view, this is very advantageous. Survival and reproduction are the most important objectives in animals. To be able to recognize young gives the opportunity to protect ones own genes and not make the mistake on spending resources to promote the survival of the genes of other individuals.
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Shi
I agree, knowledge of this gene can really help the understanding of animal communication. I see the advantage to a mother and young recognition in animals for protecting ones young, but many animals flee from their babies after they give birth, such as snakes and turtles. I wonder if they possess this gene for recognition, even though they do not use it, just from their ancestors and such. I feel as though it could still be advantageous to those that flee from their babies after birth in some ways too. It would be interesting to compare these animals to ones that do stay with their young after giving birth.
ReplyDeletePosted by Abbie Saranteas
It is amazing to me how many abilities animals have that are simply provided to them to benefit their own survival. Are all animals that stick around to care for their offspring able to do this is some shape or form? Goats are vocal animals, so it would be the obvious and most beneficial development to have an inherent recognition of your mother's call, but what about more silent animals? I would think that some rodents could base recognition completely off of smell, or species with brilliant markings would also have keen eyesight to differentiate their own offspring by how they look.
ReplyDeletePosted by Chelsea Van Thof
@Chelsea - I also wondered if all animals that stick around to care for their offspring are able to do this in some shape or form. My guess is that a good majority of them do and we have seen quite a few examples in class already. As for the more silent animals, smell definitely plays a huge role in recognition.
ReplyDelete@Joesph and Abbie - I'm not sure if animals that abandon their young at birth are able to recognize their offspring or not. My guess is probably not, but it definitely is something I would be interested in looking into in a future blog post.
@Nick - Having more sensitive ears is definitely a possibility as to how the parent goats are able to recognize their offspring's calls. But more likely, I think there's a genetic factor that helps them recognize their offspring's calls.
Posted by James Lin
Were you aware that we have goats here at UMass, at the Hadley Livestock Barn? You can also join goat group and earn credit. I was once an animal science major and was invited to participate in the several animal groups offered. Within this group you have the the privilege to watch goats giving birth and you have the opportunity to help nurture the the kids. You should look into it. =)
ReplyDeletePosted by: Em Arsenault