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– It is not just domesticated animals that can communicate with humans. A first study of its kind shows that kangaroos can do the same. Researchers from the University of Roehampton in England and the University of Sydney in Australia presented eleven kangaroos from various Australian zoos with an “unsolvable problem task”, which took the form of a sealed plastic container of food. Although they are familiar with humans, these kangaroos are still considered untamed. Realizing that they couldn’t get to the food without help, 10 of the kangaroos ‘actively’ looked at study author Alan McElligott, who had handled the container, while nine kangaroos peered between the container and McElligott, the report said. New York Times. The latest move is “an increased form of communication,” according to a release.
“We previously thought that only domesticated animals try to ask for help with a problem,” said Alexandra Green, co-author of the study published Wednesday in Biology Letters, CNN tells. But some kangaroos actually used their noses to push [McElligott] and some came closer [him] and started scratching at him and asking for help. The kangaroos exhibited “a similar behavioral pattern that we have seen in dogs, horses and even goats,” said McElligott, who notes that a group of wolves attacked the containers without any request for help. The kangaroos are thought to have learned to socialize. adapt signals to interact with humans as they are a social species, but McElligott believes that “the potential of intentional communication with humans by animals has been underestimated” and hopes that similar research will be conducted with other wild animals. (Read more stories about kangaroos.)