Different naked mole-rat colonies maintain distinctive colony dialects in their vocalizations.
Naked mole-rats live in large underground societies, where most animals are closely related and a breeding queen leads the colony. Researchers have found that colonies can develop recognizable patterns in their soft chirps and other calls. Young animals learn the colony’s vocal pattern, helping members distinguish familiar group sounds from those of outsiders.
The dialect is maintained socially rather than being determined only by anatomy. Experiments have shown that exposure to a new queen or colony can influence the calls produced by young animals. This makes naked mole-rats an unusual example of socially learned vocal behavior in a mammal.
A colony dialect is not a human-style language. It is a population-specific acoustic pattern that supports group identity and coordination. The finding also shows that vocal learning is not restricted to birds, whales, primates, or domesticated animals.