Why Do Drongos Trick Meerkats With Fake Alarm Calls? The Kalahari Bird That Steals Food With Deception

Living in the Kalahari Desert requires a lot of thinking on your feet. Food is not always readily available, and animals must work together if they are going to survive in the desert environment. For instance, meerkats will spend hours scouring the ground for insects and other food sources while others in the group watch for predators.

In this desert environment, a bird has learned how to benefit from the group efforts without working for the food itself.

The fork-tailed drongo has learned a trick that allows it to steal food without working for it. It does not compete for food like other animals; instead, it creates a panic. It will mimic the calls that mean danger is present, which sends all the other animals running for safety. In the chaos, the drongo swoops in and eats the food that was left behind.


Researchers studying this unusual behavior say it reveals just how complex animal communication can be.

The behavior has been explored in the research paper “Evidence of Tactical Deception in a Wild Bird,” published in Nature Communications. Scientists working in the Kalahari Desert observed how drongos regularly used false alarm calls to manipulate animals such as meerkats and pied babblers.

Over time, the researchers noticed something surprising. A large portion of the drongo’s daily food actually came from these deceptive tricks rather than from hunting.

How Drongos Use Alarm Calls to Trick Other Animals

Alarm calls play a major part in the survival of many animals in the Kalahari. When a predator is present, a warning call goes out among the animals. This warning is heeded by all animals in the group almost immediately. This is because if they do not, they become the predator's next meal.

The Drongo birds have learned how to trick other animals.

Field observations described in the Nature Communications research show that drongos sometimes produce alarm calls even when no predator is present. When meerkats hear the warning, they drop their food and rush toward shelter. That moment of confusion gives the drongo enough time to grab the abandoned meal.

What makes this even more remarkable is that the bird is able to change its call. This is because drongos do not make just one call. In fact, they can imitate several different alarm calls, including those made by other birds.

According to reports cited in National Geographic and Smithsonian Magazine, what this does is ensure that the drongo does not get caught in its own lie. This is because, if it were simply repeating its own call, other birds could easily get used to it and ignore it.

Researchers who have been studying vocal mimicry have done so from a more general point of view. Research, as highlighted by Current Biology and Behavioral Ecology, shows that when animals are employing a form of deception, they are always mindful of the responses of others. When the deception is threatened, the animal changes its strategy.

This seems to be the case with the drongos as well.

A Small Bird With Big Influence in the Desert

The impact of all these tricks is not only on one insect. Every time a meerkat or any other animal reacts to an alarm call, it is not getting to eat. If it continues like this, then the meerkats’ ability to find food can be affected.

Scientists studying animal communication see this interaction as part of an evolutionary contest. On one side are animals that rely on alarm calls for protection. On the other hand, there is a species that has learned how to exploit those warnings.

According to a study referenced in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, such deception can encourage another species to change the way it acts. When the prey begins to realize the trick, it may change the way it reacts. This may then extend to the way alarm calls are utilized within the group.

The fork-tailed drongo is a rare look into the world of animal intelligence. The bird is not simply squawking for the sake of squawking. There is an understanding of when to create a panic situation and when to remain silent.

Out here in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, speed and strength are essential for survival. However, the bird shows that sometimes the key to survival is not necessarily strength-based.