Giggles give clues to hyena's social status

A spotted hyena carrying the spine of an antelope giggles as it avoids a higher-ranking group-mate. The picture was taken by a research team led by Kay Holekamp of Michigan State University. (Eli. M. Swanson/Michigan State University) BERKELEY — While dominant hyenas have a steady, confident-sounding giggle, subordinate ones produce a more variable call, allowing the animals to keep track of their social hierarchy, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study. In the first analysis of the giggle call of the spotted, or "laughing," hyena, UC Berkeley researchers show that these calls convey not only information about social status, but also about the age — the pitch goes down as the hyena gets older — and identity of each individual animal. Among hyenas, however, where hypermasculinized females dominate males and there is a strict hierarchy among all animals of a clan, the key message conveyed by the variety of giggles produced by different animals and in different behavioral contexts may well be social stature. "The giggles of Kombo and Kadogo, two dominant animals, are more steady: he – he – he – he.