Kangaroos can also 'communicate' with humans like dogs, horses or goats: Study

A study has found that non-domesticated animals such as Kangaroos can communicate with humans, contrary to the notion that this behaviour is restricted to domesticated animals like dogs, horses or goats. The research indicates that the iconic Australian marsupial can seek to 'engage with humans' for problem-solving. A team of scientist at the University of Roehampton in London and the University of Sydney in a rare discovery found that the kangaroos have also depicted signs of trying to interact with humans when they gazed for food or showed eye gestures in order to get the closed plastic container, no verbal communication usually typical of dogs. 

The study published in the journal Biology Letters on December 16 found that the Kangaroos' eye gestures and gazes to the humans for solving the unsolvable task are the species' method of 'referential intentional communication'. Kangaroos imitated the behaviour that is usually expected from the domesticated animals, according to the scientists. “Their gaze was pretty intense,” said co-author Dr Alexandra Green, a post-doctoral researcher in the Sydney School of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney. “We’ve previously thought only domesticated animals try to ask for help with a problem. But kangaroos do it too," he added.

[Dr Alan McElligott with a kangaroo at the Australian Reptile Park. Credit: University of Sydney]

[Researchers found the roos tried to interact with humans to gain help. Credit: University of Sydney]

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“Through this study, we were able to see that communication between animals can be learnt and that the behaviour of gazing at humans to access food is not related to domestication. Indeed, kangaroos showed a very similar pattern of behaviour we have seen in dogs, horses and even goats when put to the same test," Dr McElligott, lead author of the study said. 

Behavioural analysis of 11 kangaroos

Furthermore, Green asserted that the Kangaroo species often used their nose to nudge the human and some approached the human and started scratching at him asking for assistance. These acts, as per the lead author of the study, were a means of communication. Scientists conducted the behavioural analysis of at least 11 kangaroos in an experiment. Of the total, nearly 10 kangaroos showed gaze alternations between the food container and the person, a heightened form of communication, according to the scientists. Lead author Dr Alan McElligott from the University of Roehampton compared this behaviour with the domesticated goats which used eye gazes to give humans cues. Kangaroos, therefore, are social animals McElligott’s confirmed in the research. 

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