The fork-tailed drongo is known for its deceptiveness in the animal kingdom – the bird has exceptional mimetic capabilities and is not afraid to use them.
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In this clip from the BBC TV series Africa, it’s a family of meerkats that falls victim to the drongo’s shenanigans. While the meerkats are beginning to search for breakfast, the bird is preparing for the show.
“The drongo can now begin his tricks – but he must first earn the confidence of his victims,” narrates Attenborough.
As an eagle sweeps across the sky, expertly scanning the desert for its next catch, the drongo seizes the opportunity and sounds a warning – sending the meerkats gratefully skittering away to safety.
“Danger over,” says Attenborough.
Or is it?
The drongo has now earned the meerkats’ trust – and so he promptly sounds another warning call.
But this time, it’s a false alarm. The meerkat scurries away, leaving the worm it just caught up for grabs. The drongo swoops in – mission accomplished.
The bird’s second attempt doesn’t succeed. Meerkats aren’t stupid and seem to have learned from their mistakes. The scorpion remains theirs for now, so the drongo needs to up his game.
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“Suddenly, the sound of a sentry’s warning – no meerkat can ignore that. Sentries never lie,” narrates Attenborough.
A meerkat sentry is a designated lookout within a group, the one that stands in the characteristic upright position on high ground and watches for predators while the rest forage.
The meerkats have no reason to not believe their lookout’s alarm call – so they abandon their meal and scurry away. But there’s no danger. The trickster drongo swoops in once again, the scorpion finally his.
The bird’s exceptional mimicry skills allow him to imitate the meerkats’ own warning call.
This sophisticated strategy might give the impression that the bird has a surprisingly developed understanding of what’s going on in other animal’s heads – but scientists are of the general opinion that the drongo’s strategy has more likely been learned through simple processes of trial and error.
Even still, the tactic works.
“And now he can enjoy his prize. A gang of meerkats, outsmarted by a bird,” concludes Attenborough.
Top image credit: Dario Endara/Getty Images
