Kalahari Meerkat Project

Animal behavior can be decomposed into a sequence of discrete activity bouts over time. Analyzing the statistical structure of such behavioral sequences can provide insights into the drivers of behavioral decisions. Laboratory studies, predominantly in invertebrates, have suggested that behavioral sequences exhibit multiple timescales and long-range memory, but whether these results can be generalized to other taxa and to animals in natural settings remains unclear. By analyzing accelerometer-inferred predictions of behavioral states in three species of social mammals (meerkats, white-nosed coatis, and spotted hyenas) in the wild, we found surprisingly consistent structuring of behavioral sequences across all behavioral states, all individuals, and all study species. Behavioral bouts were characterized by decreasing hazard functions, wherein the longer a behavioral bout had progressed, the less likely it was to end within the next instant. The predictability of an animal's future behavioral state as a function of its present state always decreased as a truncated power-law for predictions made farther into the future, with very similar estimates for the power law exponent across all species. Finally, the distributions of bout durations were also heavy-tailed. Why such shared structural principles emerge remains unknown, and we explore multiple plausible explanations, including environmental nonstationarity, behavioral self-reinforcement, and the hierarchical nature of behavior. The existence of highly consistent patterns in behavioral sequences across our study species suggests that these phenomena could be widespread in nature, and points to the existence of fundamental properties of behavioral dynamics that could drive such convergent patterns.

Abstract Animal populations in arid environments, where extreme temperatures and erratic rainfall are normal, are particularly vulnerable to climate change. While numerous studies have examined the effects of temperature and rainfall on the breeding success and survival of arid‐zone species, the mechanistic pathways linking climate variation to demography remain poorly described for most species. Using long‐term data from meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in the Kalahari Desert, we show that increases in rainfall and primary productivity (as measured by normalized difference vegetation index) were associated with improved foraging success, daily body mass gain, and body condition, which in turn contributed to enhanced breeding success and survival. Conversely, high summer temperatures were associated with reduced foraging performance and body condition. Foraging efficiency declined when daily maximum summer temperatures exceeded 35°C, and at temperatures above 37°C, diurnal mass gains often failed to offset overnight mass losses. While high temperatures had short‐term detrimental effects, runs of hot days were relatively infrequent and often coincided with periods of high primary productivity. As a result, individuals were rarely in poor condition during the hottest periods of the year, suggesting that they could recover any mass lost on hot days during subsequent cooler periods. Only when high temperatures persisted alongside low primary productivity did body condition drop sharply. Although temperature variation has not yet affected the demography of our meerkat population as strongly as rainfall variation, further warming in the region and the potential for more frequent and severe hot droughts are likely to have major implications for the species' distribution and persistence. Our study emphasizes the need to consider both rainfall and temperature variations across seasons, as well as their interactions, to better understand and predict the impacts of climate change on arid‐zone animals. It also demonstrates the value of long‐term, high‐resolution behavioral and physiological data, including frequent, year‐round weighing of animals, in establishing causal links between climate and demography.

Diverse information encoding systems, including human language, the vocal and gestural systems of non-human animals and the structure of DNA and proteins, have been found to conform to ‘Menzerath’s Law’—a negative relationship between the number of units composing a sequence, and the size of those units. Here, we test for the presence of Menzerath’s Law in the vocal bouts produced in a submissive context by meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Using a suite of Bayesian mixed effects models, we examined 1676 vocal bouts produced by 89 wild meerkats, ranging from 1 to 590 calls in length, to determine whether the number of calls composing each bout had a negative relationship with the duration of those calls or their inter-call intervals. In contradiction to Menzerath’s Law, we found that the duration of vocalizations had a positive relationship with the number of calls in a bout. However, the duration of intervals between calls did have a negative relationship with bout size. Moreover, both calls and intervals had longer durations the closer they were positioned to the end of the bout. These findings highlight the multi-faceted ways in which efficiency trade-offs can occur in the vocal repertoires of non-human animals, shaping variability in the production of signal forms.

Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) are productive businesses owned by individuals or legal entities that meet the requirements of a business. Micro- and small-sized businesses continue to confront a variety of financial and non-financial issues. Therefore, to encourage improved business performance, MSMEs are provided with coaching and/or mentoring by the Integrated Business Service Center-Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (PLUT-UMKM). Most of the MSMEs assisted by PLUT-UMKM in Bandar Lampung City are food MSMEs. The focus of this study is to determine the achievement of PLUT-UMKM coaching targets, determine the performance of MSMEs, and analyze the effect of achieving PLUT-UMKM coaching targets on MSME performance. The method used in this research is a survey. The sampling technique in this study used proportional stratified random sampling. The data collection method used was interviews. This research employs quantitative descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression analysis to analyse the data. The results of this study indicate that the achievement of PLUT-UMKM coaching targets is in the good enough category, the performance of MSMEs assisted by PLUT-UMKM is in the good category, and the variables that have a significant effect on MSME performance are the variables of access to financing and business networks.

Audio playbacks are a common experimental tool in vocal communication research. However, low directionality of sound makes it hard to control the audience exposed to the stimuli. Parametric speakers offer a solution for transmitting directional audible signals by using ultrasonic carrier waves. The targeted transmission of vocal signals offers exciting opportunities for testing the diffusion of information in animal groups and mechanisms for resolving informational ambiguities. We have field tested the quality and directionality of a commercial parametric speaker, Soundlazer SL-01. Additionally, we assessed its usability for performing playback experiments by comparing behavioural responses of free-ranging meerkats (Suricata suricatta) with calls transmitted from conventional and parametric speakers. Our results show that the tested parametric speaker is highly directional. However, the acoustic structure of meerkat calls was strongly affected and low frequencies were not reliably reproduced by the parametric speaker. The playback trials elicited weakened behavioural responses probably due to the partial distortion of the signal but also indicating the potential importance of social facilitation for initiating mobbing events in meerkats. We conclude that parametric speakers can be useful tools for directed transmission of animals calls but after a careful assessment of signal fidelity.

BackgroundIn mammals, the gut microbiota has important effects on the health of their hosts. Recent research highlights that animal populations that live in captivity often differ in microbiota diversity and composition from wild populations. However, the changes that may occur when animals move to captivity remain difficult to predict and factors generating such differences are poorly understood. Here we compare the bacterial gut microbiota of wild and captive Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis) originating from a population in the southern Kalahari Desert to characterise the changes of the gut microbiota that occur from one generation to the next generation in a long-lived, social rodent species.ResultsWe found a clear divergence in the composition of the gut microbiota of captive and wild Damaraland mole-rats. Although the dominating higher-rank bacterial taxa were the same in the two groups, captive animals had an increased ratio of relative abundance of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes compared to wild animals. The Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) that were strongly associated with wild animals were commonly members of the same bacterial families as those strongly associated with captive animals. Captive animals had much higher ASV richness compared to wild-caught animals, explained by an increased richness within the Firmicutes.ConclusionWe found that the gut microbiota of captive hosts differs substantially from the gut microbiota composition of wild hosts. The largest differences between the two groups were found in shifts in relative abundances and diversity of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes.

Banking is one of the sources of funds, including in the form of credit for the community. Banks in providing credit will be very careful and will go through a more in-depth analysis. However, in providing credit, often the credit given to the debtor cannot be returned on time. This condition is called bad credit. The purpose of this study is to determine what factors cause bad credit in the banking sector and how to solve it in non-litigation ways. The method used in this research is the juridical-normative method, in which the research is carried out by means of literature study of law books, statutory regulations, literature and other references. The results of this study indicate that the factors causing the occurrence of bad credit in the banking sector include failure to accept the debtor's business, bad faith from the debtor, the discovery of credit loans without the knowledge of the family which can lead to a lack of responsibility, credit abuse by debtors and the presence of debtors. debtors who work as laborers, farmers, fishermen so that their finances cannot be guaranteed at all times, but only at certain times. As for the way to settle bad credit through non-litigation channels, namely by negotiation which can be done in three ways including rescheduling, reconditioning, and restructuring.

Abstract In some mammals that breed cooperatively, nonbreeding female helpers nurse offspring born to the breeding female in their group, a process known as allonursing. Previous laboratory studies have suggested that primiparous and multiparous females (those that have successfully given birth once or more, respectively) are more likely to contribute to allonursing than nulliparous females (those that have not given birth). In contrast, few field studies have been able to demonstrate whether breeding experience, or parity, affects the likelihood or duration of allonursing. In this study, we investigated whether the likelihood and duration of allonursing by subordinate female meerkats (Suricata suricatta) were associated with variations in their parity (number of pregnancies reaching a viable gestational age) and their immediate pregnancy status. Comparisons showed that nonpregnant nulliparous females were less likely to allonurse than nonpregnant primiparous and multiparous females, although parity was not related to variation in allonursing duration. Parity may enhance the expression of maternal behavior when exposed to foster pups, especially since mammary gland development has been shown to be directly associated with parity in other mammals.

Abstract In many cooperatively breeding mammals, an unrelated dominant pair monopolizes reproduction in the social group while subordinates help to raise their offspring. In Kalahari meerkats (Suricata suricatta), dominant males are usually immigrants while dominant females are natal animals that have not left the group where they were born. However, in around 20% of cases, a natal male acquires and holds the dominant position – despite being closely related to the dominant female. Natal dominant males seldom mate within their group (either with the dominant female or with subordinate females) and the benefits they accrue from acquiring and maintaining the dominant position are not obvious. Here, we describe the circumstances in which natal males acquire dominance and explore the possible benefits they gain by comparing the life history, growth and behavioural differences between natal dominants, natal subordinates and immigrant dominants in wild groups. We show that natal dominant males do not appear to obtain any survival, nutritional or reproductive benefits from their status while they remain in the natal group. However, after dispersing from their natal group, they have a higher chance of acquiring dominant status in another breeding group, suggesting that acquiring dominance in their natal group has deferred direct fitness benefits for male meerkats.

ABSTRACT This study aims to determine the level of health of the Palembang KODIM Business Cooperative 2017-2019 based on the Regulation of the Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia Number 06 / Per / Dep.6 / IV / 2016 concerning aspects of capital, efficiency and liquidity. This research is a quantitative descriptive research. The subject of this research is the Palembang KODIM Makmur Business cooperative. The data analysis technique in this research is descriptive quantitative. In this study the data were collected through documentation and literature study methods. Keywords: Capital aspects, efficiency aspects, liquidity aspects. ABSTRAK Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui tingkat kesehatan koperasi Usaha Makmur KODIM Palembang tahun 2017-2019 berdasarkan pada Peraturan Menteri Koperasi dan Usaha Kecil dan Menengah Republik Indonesia Nomor 06/Per/Dep.6/IV/2016 yang menyangkut atas aspek permodalan, efisiensi, dan likuiditas. Penelitian ini merupakan jenis penelitian deskriptif kuantitatif. Subjek penelitian ini adalah koperasi Usaha Makmur KODIM Palembang. Teknik analisis data dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kuantitatif. Dalam penelitian ini data yang dikumpulkan melalui metode dokumentasi dan studi pustaka.Kata Kunci : Aspek permodalan, aspek efisiensi, aspek likuiditas.