Piper's Whistling Watch

Piper was the voice of his colony. A standard agouti degu, he was incredibly vocal. His communications were complex: short, sharp chirps for alarm; long, rising whistles for excitement (usually when he saw us coming with food); and soft, chittering sounds for social interactions with his cagemates. Listening to them was like listening to a foreign language we were slowly learning. He was the sentinel, often standing on the highest platform, whistling at anything new. The silence from their cage is now a stark void, missing the intricate, chattering conversation that made it feel so alive.