Wiline Pangle, visiting scholar in evoution, ecology and organismal behavior, and colleague Jakob Bro-Jorgensen, University of Liverpool, conducted a rare controlled study of this behavior in southwest Kenya. When the two observed male antelopes misusing the alarm snort, the signal that predators are nearby, they were fairly certain they were witnessing the practice of intentional deception, a trait typicallly attributed only to humans.

The two set out on a five-year research "spying" mission, logging a total of 274 hours of observation and some prettty conclusive evidence of what they had suspected. Their results are published online and are scheduled for print publication in the July iisue of the journal, The American Naturalist.

To read more about their study, go to:

researchnews.osu.edu/archive/topimate.htm