Con Slobodchikoff

Con Slobodchikoff
Born (1944-04-23) April 23, 1944
Shanghai, China
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley
Known forreferential communication in prairie dogs
Scientific career
WorkplacesNorthern Arizona University

Constantine "Con" Slobodchikoff (born April 23, 1944[1][2]) is an animal behaviorist and conservation biologist. He is a professor at Northern Arizona University where he studies referential communication, using Gunnison's prairie dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) as a model species. Much of his recent research has shown a complex communicative ability of the Gunnison prairie dog alarm calls.[3] In early 2008 he formed the Animal Language Institute to create a place where people can find and share research in animal communication, including language.[4]

Background

He was born in Shanghai, China, to Russian émigré parents.[5] The family arrived in the United States on December 5, 1955,[6] and settled in San Francisco. He received an A.A. degree from City College of San Francisco in 1964, and a B.S. in 1966 and Ph.D. degree in 1971, both from the University of California, Berkeley.[7] He subsequently joined the biology faculty of Northern Arizona University, where he was a tenured professor.[3][8] He also was a Fulbright Fellow and a visiting professor at Kenyatta University in Kenya in 1983.[7][9]

Research

Beetles

His initial research involved the behavior and ecology of tenebrionid beetles and their response to vertebrate predators.[10]

Prairie dogs

In the mid-1980s, he shifted his research to prairie dog social behavior and communication. He and his students discovered that prairie dogs use a sophisticated alarm system to specify a predator's type, size, shape, and color. Crucially, their communication exhibits displacement—the ability to discuss absent subjects—a linguistic process previously thought unique to humans.[11][12] In addition, his work with prairie dogs shows they also have different escape behaviors in response to the specific predators identified in the calls of other prairie dogs, even when the predator is not visible or scented, i.e., based purely on recorded calls.[13][14] His research with prairie dogs also helps to explain why animals have social behavior. Because these animals form a colony, they form a set of different social groups, which apparently exist for other reasons besides mating and may be a way to take advantage of limited resources.[13]

Through Slobodchikoff's research, prairie dogs demonstrated productivity—the ability to construct new words for novel objects or animals—a trait previously thought exclusive to humans.[15] His team has used computer technology to analyze prairie dog grammar, revealing how vocalizations combine into word-like structures and sentences.[11]

Slobodchikoff advocates for preserving prairie dog habitats, particularly in New Mexico, where urban expansion threatens them. Although often viewed as pests for digging in parks, prairie dogs are keystone species essential to ecosystem survival. Amid destructive eradication methods like poisoning and bulldozing, fought by groups like Prairie Dog Pals, his research highlights their remarkable intelligence to drive conservation efforts. [16]

Dogs

He also researches dogs' communication[17] and writes a Dog Behavior Blog which gives some advice on how to solve behavior issues and has several short essays about some of the research about dogs and dog behavior.[18] He has taken what he has learned from the findings of his research with prairie dogs to offer consultations about problems that pets may have with behavior and offer advice to correct those problems. He has also offered dog training classes based on what he has learned in his research.[11]

Published writings

Slobodchikoff has published papers in animal behavior, ecology, and evolution. Notable works include the 1981 co-authored paper with Thomas G. Whitham, "Evolution of individuals, plant-herbivore interactions, and mosaics of genetic variability: the adaptive significance of somatic mutations in plants" in Oecologia,[19] and the 1991 paper, "Semantic information distinguishing individual predators in the alarm calls of Gunnison's prairie dogs" in Animal Behaviour.[20] His books include Concepts of Species (1976),[21] A New Ecology: Novel Approaches to Interactive Systems (1981),[22] The Ecology of Social Behavior (1988),[23] Prairie Dogs: Communication and Community in an Animal Society published by Harvard University Press (2009),[24] and Learning the Language of Animals – Chasing Doctor Dolittle published by St. Martin's Press (2012).[25]

Media

Slobodchikoff has appeared on the BBC.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "United States Public Records, 1970–2009, Con Slobodchikoff, 2007-2008". FamilySearch. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  2. ↑ Birch, Douglas (1991-09-28). "They could be talking about you ... Prairie dogs tailor alarm calls to individuals, researcher finds". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  3. 1 2 "Con Slobodchikoff home page at Northern Arizona University". Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  4. ↑ "The Animal Language Institute". Archived from the original on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  5. ↑ Clifton, Merritt (2016-03-21). "Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals". Animals 24-7. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  6. ↑ "California, Northern U.S. District Court Naturalization Index, 1852–1989, Irene Or Irene Vladimirovna Teltoft Or Slobodchikoff-Teltoft, 1961". FamilySearch. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Con Slobodchikoff C.V." Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  8. ↑ Soussan, Tania (2004-11-26). "Scientist: Prairie dogs 'talk' –Albuquerque Journal and Arizona Republic". Archived from the original on 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  9. ↑ "Con Slobodchikoff, Department of Biological Sciences, NAU". Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  10. ↑ "C. N. Slobodchikoff research publications". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  11. 1 2 3 "Yips, Barks and Chirps: The Language of Prairie Dogs". Archived from the original on 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2013-02-22.
  12. ↑ "prairie-dogs". Archived from the original on 4 September 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Prairie dogs use complex language". BBC. 2010-02-02. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  14. ↑ Jabr, Ferris (2017-05-12). "Can Prairie Dogs Talk?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  15. ↑ Abumrad, Jad; Krulwich, Robert (2011-01-20). "New Language Discovered: Prairiedogese". NPR. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  16. ↑ Solisti, Kate; Tobias, Michael Tobias, eds. (2006). Language of Prairie Dogs, Chapter in book: Kinship with Animals (1st Updated ed.). San Francisco: Council Oak Books. ISBN 978-1571781895. OCLC 66463458.
  17. ↑ Venezia, Barbara (2013-09-25). "Venezia: Learning to talk to the animals – for real". Orange County Register. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  18. ↑ Slobodchikoff, Con. "Con Slobodchikoff". Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  19. ↑ Slobodchikoff, C. N.; Whitham, Thomas G. (1 July 1981). "Evolution of individuals, plant-herbivore interactions, and mosaics of genetic variability: the adaptive significance of somatic mutations in plants". Oecologia. 49 (3). Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer: 287–292. Bibcode:1981Oecol..49..287W. doi:10.1007/BF00347587. PMID 28309985. S2CID 20411802.
  20. ↑ Slobodchikoff, C. N.; Kiriazis, J.; Fischer, C.; Creef, E. (1991). "Semantic information distinguishing individual predators in the alarm calls of Gunnison's prairie dogs". Animal Behaviour. 42 (5): 713–719. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80117-4. S2CID 53174059.
  21. ↑ Slobodchikoff, C.N., ed. (1976). Concepts of Species. Benchmark Papers in Systematic and Evolutionary Biology. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross. p. 368. ISBN 978-0470151341.
  22. ↑ Price, Peter W.; Slobodchikoff, C. N.; Gaud, William S. (1981). A New Ecology: Novel Approaches to Interactive Systems. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. pp. 515. ISBN 978-0471896708.
  23. ↑ Slobodchikoff, C. N. (1988). The Ecology of Social Behavior. Academic Press. p. 429. ISBN 978-0126487800.
  24. ↑ Slobodchikoff, C. N.; Perla, B. S.; Verdolin, J. L. (2009). Prairie dogs: Communication and community in an animal society. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-0674031814.
  25. ↑ Slobodchikoff, Con (2012). Learning the Language of Animals – Chasing Doctor Dolittle. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312611798.
  26. ↑ Narrated by Rob Brydon, Produced by Stephen Dunleavy (9 July 2010). "Prairie Dogs – Talk of the Town". Natural World. Series 29. Episode 12. London. BBC. BBC Two, BBC HD. Retrieved 11 December 2010. This offbeat film narrated by Rob Brydon takes us to the Wild West where prairie dogs live in huge colonies known as 'towns'. Like meerkats, they are comical to watch, but there is a whole lot more to prairie dogs than just being cute – they can talk.
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