Wild dogs sneeze to arrive at a group decision about hunting

From The New York Times:

When they want to move as a group, meerkats call to each other. Capuchin monkeys trill. Gorillas grunt. Honeybees make what is called a piping sound.

African wild dogs sneeze. And that’s a first.

No other social animal has been reported to cast a vote, of sorts, by sneezing, although in humans sneezing may once have expressed a negative opinion, as in, “nothing to sneeze at.”

Wild dog sneezing is different. For one thing it seems to indicate a positive reaction to a proposal before a group of dogs. When a pack of these dogs is getting ready to hunt, scientists reported Tuesday, the more sneezes, the more likely they are to actually get moving.

Just about all social organisms make group decisions that require reaching a consensus. If monkeys or meerkats are looking for a better place to forage, they need to reach a consensus about moving on among a minimum number of animals — called a quorum, just like in Congress. Even some bacteria do this before releasing toxins or lighting up with bioluminescence.

For a brief account of how baboons decide where to go during the day, see this post, Baboons Decide, Beethoven 9.