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Researched by Lily-Anne H. |
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Basic Definition
The study of animal communication is very complicated and involves many different studies put together to solve the everlasting riddle of animal communication. The need for some source of communication is great. The chain of life makes it so that every being or organism on this earth depends on another in some way. A source of communication makes it so an organism can depend on another like the chain of life demands. A troop of monkeys for example are very social and are constantly on the lookout for danger, but what would they do if they could not tell the other members of the troop when some predator is spotted nearby? Communication is some sort of signal including; sound, color patterns, postures, certain movements or displays, electrical discharge, touch, an odor, or any combination. So a monkey who noticed danger would not be able to do anything except save himself if communicating was impossible. He could not make others notice this danger because to do that he has to do something that would count as communication to make his troop notice him. All he can do is dash up a tree to save himself and leave his troop to their fate. Animal communication is the study of the need of communication, its purpose, and how animals communicate and the meaning of each signal, which will hopefully lead to the ability for animals to communicate with us or us to them.
History
Fairy tales and MythsHumans have been fascinated with animal communication for a very long time. Since the beginning of time humans have made a strong “bond” with animals, eventually bringing them into domestication. This love toward animals makes young children in particular, eager to know what their animal is thinking or saying to them.
Fairy tales and myths also support this interest. In a lot of these stories animals seem to receive the capability to speak, and we humans would understand them. The authors or storytellers seem to assume that animals have meaning to what they do. In some stories humans receive the ability to speak to animals. When young children are told these stories, they then feel an eagerness to talk with the animals just like in the story. These tales also lead to dislikes and to suspicions. In “Little Red Riding Hood” the wolf is taken as a tricky and sly killer after eating Grandma. This story probably has something to do with the fear of wolves in the past and present. These stories influence the mind’s eagerness to communicate with animals.
Important People
Again since the beginning, many scientists have become discouraged trying to crack the animal code. Only ten years ago we found the technology to study animals’ communication. Some scientists from the past helped us get there.
Thomas Edison and many other scientists tried to create a machine that could reproduce sound. Though Edison failed at this a German immigrant was inspired to try for himself. This man Emile Berliner then created a gramophone disk that could reproduce sound.
R.L. Garner was one of the first to use a more modern study of animal communication. Garner used the gramophone disk to record monkeys in the National Zoological Park in Washington D.C.
Charles Darwin was one of the first scientists to study animal communication but became thoroughly discouraged.
Two centuries ago Gilbert White used a pitch pipe to see if owls hoot in the key of b flat. This however also was not successful.
In the mid 19th century Richard Burton, a fine linguist, listed 60 different chimpanzee calls. This was very important to the full study of animal communication.
Currently a scientist named Katherine B. Payne has been in full swing studying animals and the way they communicate. She has studied whale songs for ten years, and led scientists into believing that elephants use ultrasonic sound from an experiment she performed in the Portland Zoo.
Sound
Travel
Sound ItselfSound is a type of energy that travels in a series of waves. Sound is emitted in vibrations then caught by the ear and decoded. The world may often seem silent and so might the oceans but they are very busy with all types of communication. Vocalization is one highly popular way to communicate. But humans can only hear part of the loud, crazy, mess of the world’s sounds. Sound falls into three categories: ultrasound, infrasound and what is audible to us.
Ultra and Infra
Sound is a type of energy that travels in the form of a wave. Ultrasonic sound waves (too high for the human ear) are short and fast but if were to bump into a tree they would bounce back in the form of an echo or would disappear. Infrasonic sound waves (too low for us to hear) are long and slow but if were to bump a tree the sound wave would be able to move around it or to veer the tree. Infrasound therefore would be more efficient in dense forests but ultrasound would go farther on the clear savannas of Africa and would quickly get attention. Ultrasound would then be more efficient overall. But you also have to look at the down side, high pitched sound may also get the attention of predators!
Interesting Note: If you were to add two more octaves (16 more keys) to the high or low end of the piano humans would not be able to hear the last eight keys or so because it would be in ultrasound or infrasound frequencies.
Tools Used to Study Animal Communication
The Goal
Since animals come in all shapes and sizes so do their ways of communicating with each other. That means we also need to use many different methods of studying animal communication and use many different tools in each individual method. It is very difficult to study animal communication because you have to determine what communication is and is not, and after determining what it is you have to decide how to study each style of communication. This study has many different steps to each method and none of them are perfect. This makes it is a slow process. Wouldn't it be much easier if animals could just be able to communicate with us?
Tools Used
Currently most studies of animal communication are only involving sound or displays and gestures because olfactory senses aren't’t used as much as sound is, and humans aren’t exactly interested in communicating using smells from urine on trees. So most of the tools used in this area of study are microphones, tape recorders, speakers, video cameras and the human brain’s use of logic. There is one instrument of a higher level of technology called the sound spectrogram.
A sound spectrogram is a machine similar to those used to measure earthquakes. A stylus jiggles across a long strip of paper that measures cycles of sound per second, frequency and intensity. The stylus jiggles across the paper forming an advanced series of scribbles. The horizontal dimension shows the time the sound is heard from left to right using Hz and kHz. The vertical dimension shows the frequency or pitch of the recorded sound. When the “scribbles” the stylus makes are dark it means the sound is loud, when they are soft “scribbles” the sound is quieter. A sound spectrogram is the best quality you can find for measuring sound. It measures exactly what it hears exactly when it hears it.
Level of Study in Animal Communication
These are a series of steps students use to study animal communication so that they get a brief idea of what the signal might signify. This system does not make it so that we can communicate with animals but that we may get a brief idea of what they are saying.
Syntactic: Mainly used for sound, the first step used is to determine whether there is a meaning to the sound or whether it is a completely normal action. For example, when a lion roars is it because it is yawning, which is completely natural to come out in a sound, or is it saying, “I’m the boss.”
Semantic: Then the question is asked: what could his sound mean? Scientists break down the sound so that they can try to find out why that pitch was used and if it had anything to do with the signal sent. High-pitched notes travel fast and cut through the air with a loud snap and are mainly used for emergencies when danger is near and another organism’s attention needs to be caught quickly. Low-pitched notes are slower and don’t immediately catch the attention of another organism. Your schoolteacher for example, if the teacher had a lower voice your attention wouldn’t be caught as fast as a higher, sharper voice.
Pragmatic: The next step is to find the effect of the signal toward other animals’ behavior. Then they take all theses steps and put them together. If the sound is a way of communicating what could the signal mean? Does the signal’s meaning fit its effect?
The Solution: If a Howler monkey emitted a high-pitched sound would this be a habit that is made everyday for no reason or does it signify something? What does it signify? Does the signal alter the behavior of other organisms and would this action or change in behavior be because of what the signal signifies? So in the end theses steps give us this information: a howler monkey emits a high pitched howl, it is for a reason, this reason is because of a big cat lurking in the bushes, and the other monkeys flee because the signal warned them that the cat was there. Makes sense huh?
Audio Playback Experiment
This method of study is used for vocalized communications or for communication involving sounds. The first thing you do is record the sound you want to experiment with. Then, you play the sound over again and see if there is a response from the animals nearby. Next you mix up the recording on the computer and play it back. You look for another response and then have to think about it, why would there be a response and why not.
An example of this is a recording of certain songbirds. First you would record the songbird’s song, which is supposed to be a territorial song. You would then move to an area of unclaimed songbird territory where other songbirds are within earshot. Here you would play back the recording and look for a response. This experiment has been tried and the response is that the other songbirds stay away from this area. Most of the songbirds you hear are actually males warning other males to back off. So when an area is open it becomes a fight for who claims it first gets it. If you play the song in an open tree the other males won’t bother to try to trespass even if it is just a tape recorder!
Video Playback Experiment
This is exactly the same experiment as the audio playback experiment only it is using a video camera and made for courtship displays. First you tape it. Then you find a place to present the video to another animal of the same species of your taped animal. Then you play it for them. Look for a response of any kind. Then you mix up your taped display and look for a response. Logic is then used to find a meaning to each movement depending on the responses you were given.
Related
Careers
Scientists have been intrigued with the complexity of animal communication and have forever wanted to learn their language. So any job that a person comes in contact with any animal, even a robin on the street, could count as the study of animal communication. Just the fact an animal is there and you can see it is one of the simplest levels of communication. But there are some jobs in particular that involve animal communication.
Zoologists or even zookeepers are always communicating with animals since they are constantly with them. Also zoology is the study of animals, including the way they communicate.
Ethologists are people who study animal instincts. They will study why this animal has certain behavior and if it is a learned behavior. For each animal they study, ethologists prepare an ethogram, which is a list that describes behavior patterns of an animal. Today ethologists have many different ethograms including species of insects, fish, birds, and mammals.
Ecologists study animal relationships. For example animals never live on their own, in one way or another they have to have other organisms’ help. Animals that eat plants for food rely on plants since plants are living and that makes them an organism. Ecologists also look for relationships between animals and where they live. Does this animal depend on the plants growing in its habitat is one question they try to answer.
Veterinarians and animal trainers also are in a way studying animals and the way they communicate. Veterinarians and animal behavior specialists have come to learn a dog’s wagging tail is a sign of happiness. Animal trainers also seem to learn much about the animal they train and what actions mean what feelings.
Related
Sciences
Types of SciencesMany different sciences are used in animal communication. This field has also fascinated many different types of scientists. The science of vocal animal communication is called bioacoustics. Acoustics means sound and bio means life, therefore bioacoustics is life-sounds. So, the acoustic science in general is used as well as ethology, neuroscience, social sciences, and animal behavior.
Ethology is a “branch” of zoology used to study animal instincts. Ethology deals with the marking of territory, courtship, mating and caring for babies. This also deals with the building of the animal’s behavior. Ethologists ask whether something was a learned behavior or an instinct.
Neuroscience is a science dealing with nerves and brain functions. So this is used in animal communication to determine things within the nervous system.
Social sciences focus on reproduction and social communications. When birds use different displays to attract a mate social science comes in because this is a social experience. Also social science is used when a troop of monkeys fill the trees and various vocal sounds fill the forest, scientists who specialize in social sciences will question what these sounds mean within the troop depending on their actions since we have not yet cracked the animal code.
Animal behavior is of course the study of animal behavior. This area fills in the blanks as to all the questions left after many individual scientific studies. This is basically logical reasoning in animal form. It is the study of animal behavior in general.
Ways
of Communicating
Communication
Communication is a signal sent by one organism to another that affects what happens next, like cause and effect. A signal can be a sound, a color pattern, a posture, certain movements and touches, an electrical discharge, the release of an odor or a combination. The fact the sender sends a signal does not make it a full cycle of communication. The sender must give a signal that the receiver in some way responds to. One of the most difficult parts about studying this science is determining whether or whether not communication has occurred. Often the receiver ignores the signal or the signal does not create a need to respond but is still understood. Also since many signals can be decoded by a different species from the sender it has to be determined who the signal was made for and whether the receiver was supposed to receive the signal. Animal communication is very complicated indeed.
Levels of Communication
When the science of animal communication had just begun to be studied a college student put communication into certain levels based on the complexity of communication. Before reading about each individual level you must realize that communication comes in all forms including simply knowing something is there.
Vegetative Level: The first level of communication and the lowest in complexity is the vegetative level. This level is for vegetation only, even plants communicate, even if not recognizable to us without any equipment. When plants grow they go through a process called photosynthesis where plants produce glucose, a type of sugar made from carbon dioxide and a little water which in the making gives off oxygen and some other source of energy. Since energy is the producer of all sources of communication in one way or another it is a way of communicating.
Tonic Level: The next level of communication is the tonic level. On this level mainly jelly fish and other similar creatures with out a vertebra strive. Jellyfish give off a type of electrical energy for catching prey as well as for functional reasons, but on this level other animals are more aware that the jellyfish is there. It is not that plants aren’t noticed they just aren’t noticed in a way that forms communication. When an animal passes a tree and notices it they don’t exactly move away or act any differently, instead they just kind of put it into the back of their minds and ignore it. But if a fish were to pass a jelly fish and notice it is there they will react in some way, whether by coming up closer with interest or flashing its scales as it darts away. There is a stronger reaction to a jellyfish than to a tree.
Phasic Level: The third level of communication is called the phasic level. The phasic level is for moths, fish and worms. The animals on this level are forced to communicate. For example some male moths are forced to follow a female’s scent because of the pheromones mixed in with air born chemicals. The female moth will release a long string of chemo signals that create a strong odor in which the male can follow. This odor can tell the male that the sender is of the same species, even that the sender is a female and the female sender wants to mate. The male is forced to follow the trail of scent. This act of being forced is called taxis. Then the male is forced to respond to the female when he finds her. This is a forced communication.
Signal Level: The signal level is a little more advanced. This time a signal is actually sent. The sender of the signal has developed (with the help of evolution) a special body part that creates sound. Frogs, crickets and birds dwell within this level. The sender of the signal emits a long channel of sound or energy that forms communication. Birds for example have internal muscles that create sound and crickets rub their legs together. Humans still are a little higher in this scale but we have vocal cords, and this is how we use them. “The human vocal system is in a sense multistoried, beginning with the larynx, located toward the upper end of the windpipe or trachea. The muscles of the larynx control the tension of the vocal cords, which are moved by exhaled breath and produce sounds. These are modified by the resonating capacities of the apparatus of the mouth.” Found on page 64 of Animal Talk.
Symbolic Level: Here we come to a level that you will find only primates (ex. monkeys, apes, gorillas, chimps). Primates are on the symbolic level where gestures and movements are made. Chimpanzees share almost the same DNA as we do; only about 3% of our DNA is not the same as theirs. Just think, humans are pretty smart, what could a chimp do? Well, the chimpanzees at Central Washington University’s own chimposium are few of the many chimps being taught American Sign Language. On the symbolic level of communication the animals put in this level give signals with pointed energy. If one monkey sees danger he can react trying to get the attention of HIS TROOP, not just any other animal out there. Yeah, birds might be able to do this too, in a way. Well with primates it is a little different. Chimpanzees have learned how to direct their knowledge of sign language to its caretakers and signal, “I want oatmeal” or “I want ice cream.” This is an aimed energy, or symbolic gesture.
Linguist Level: The highest level is the linguist level. This is where humans rank. We have brought our communication to a degree where we have created a language and can write a message down and someone can read or decode the message. No other animal can do that as far as we know. We have brought our communication to speech, or to talk to our fellow human beings so much to a point science says we are advanced, a higher level of communication, just not as complicated as some other animals and their form of communication.
Ways
Used to Communicate
Communication does indeed play a large role in the lives of animals
including humans. Communication is used for many reasons among
animals and people. Because of the variety of reasons for
communication there is a variety of ways to communicate.
Vocalizing, electrical charges, olfactory senses, movements and
gestures as well as color change and camouflage are just some of them.Touches: Touch and feeling is important to young human children just as much as it is to other young animals. Many animals are blind at birth and to feel a Mother’s soft fur or feathers give the animal comfort that there is something out there and it isn’t dull, dark and dreary every place you go. The symbolic level of communications may only be for primates it doesn’t mean that animals don’t use touches as a way of communicating.
Gestures and Movements: Gestures and movements however are mainly primates. Chimpanzees use facial expressions to tell each other how they are feeling. Humans also have been noticed for their famous facial expressions, even the ones we don’t realize we make. The lifting of one’s eyebrow is often not noticed when one is doing so, but the brain is suspicious or in awe of something and tells the body to lift the brow. Also humans have developed sign language for the deaf who cannot hear which makes it difficult to speak. Since no other animal besides humans have a voice used to speak or talk, we can’t talk with chimps and other smart animals. Instead we have taught them sign language. Other animals use similar actions with their body or hands to create a form of communication.
Displays and Color Change: For courtship purposes birds mainly use Displays and color changes. Often during courtship a dance is performed after a change in plumage. The Japanese Crane (Red-Crowned Crane) of northeast Asia performs a dance during courtship: they bow, turn around, arch their necks and kick up their legs while flapping their wings. Have you ever wondered why peacocks have such beautiful plumage? The fact is their tail feathers are used to attract a mate. The longer, thicker, brighter tail feathers attract the females. If your tail is dull, you’ll be the last option for females. They have it rough, think about it, the long feathers drag on the ground and collect dust, yet somehow you have to keep them beautiful for the ladies, and even still escape predators who easily notice the bright plumage!
Olfactory Senses: Olfactory senses deal with smelling and tasting chemical releases. You may know that many animals mark their territory by urinating on trees and bushes, but what do animals do when they find that marking? When an animal leaves its mark it is called a chemo signal. In the urine certain chemicals can transfer information to a passerby. Other animals will lick and smell the mark to find out about the identity of the marker, where the marker has been a few days before marking this area, and their social state. Taste is used mainly in the under water world but it isn’t strange to find a monkey licking a marked tree. In the water a chemo signal may be released in the current and give many underwater creatures information about the releaser.
Electrical discharges: Mostly underwater animals to locate prey use electrical signals. Some shrimp can send small electrical jolts to find where in the sand it can find plankton and other food resources.
Vocalizations: Vocalizations are used by lots of animals for many reasons but can attract attention of more than an intended receiver. A predator can easily locate its prey by listening to its vocalizations. A lower pitched vocalization is an aggressive signal and a higher pitched signal is either a warning because of fear or recognizing there is danger, or it can be friendly.
Animals and Their Way of Communicating
Animals and Their way of Communicating
Animals individually have their own ways of communication. Dolphins use certain whistles and clicks, while birds use songs and peeps, and even still elephants use rumblings in their throats. As different as animals are is how different their communication from species to species.
Mammals In General
It is interesting to look at animals as individuals but it also is interesting to look at a group of related animals at a time. This section is devoted to visual displays and olfactory based communication in mammals.
Olfactory senses are used in mammals for territorial and breeding purposes. Mammals may lick or smell a marking to find out physical characteristics of the marker. Rodents, marsupials, dogs, primate and elephants use their olfactory senses regularly.
Visual displays are also in regular use by mammals as well. Often you’ll see mammals stretching, jumping, arching their back, moving their arms and legs as well as using facial expressions.
Communication in Dolphins
Dolphins are known for their intelligence; one they are most known for is memory. Dolphins have such a great memory of sounds because their neocortex covers 98% of their brain. In humans the neocortex only covers 96% of the brain. Neocortex is used to memorize and produce sounds quickly. This higher amount of neocortex also helps the dolphin to respond to trainers or other dolphins almost “talking back” to them.
Dolphins use high-pitched whistles and clicks to form a long distance communication. These high-pitched sounds can be used for various reasons. The sounds could be used in a family of dolphins to signal each other where they are or for mothers and babies, to tell where the signaler is. The whistles are also used for navigation. A dolphin can send a high-pitched sound that bounces off a surface to create echolocation underwater. This form of echolocation is so effective a dolphin can tell there is a difference between two sheets of metal, they can also tell the difference of flesh and bones, and they can locate an apple 100 yards away. This echolocation is so effective it is thought by many scientists that dolphins can create a sound laser to stun prey so they can easily catch it. Excess sound creates friction in the water, even yet that friction is made into heat so that any small fish that swims into the laser will be paralyzed. The laser-like sound will return as an echo and the dolphin knows the exact location of the fish and has time to go after it.
Communication in Blue Whales
Blue whales are known for their size and long, mating calls. During mating a song is performed by a male to attract a female. These songs are a mixture of pitches but somehow they from a repeating pattern that almost has musical notes and units. These songs are supposedly learned by the males form previous mating seasons like origin stories, but the songs change. Almost every mating season there is a new song to attract females. Scientists still wonder why this change occurs. The song can last half an hour and much longer. Females hear the song and are attracted to the signal. When a female finds a male they swim close to each other and “sing” together. Other males then try to pry the pair apart so they can have the female.
Communication in Crustaceans
Though many people think that a blue whale or perhaps dolphins are the loudest underwater animals but in reality it is a crustacean called the pilot shrimp. Its claws can snap so hard and so high in pitch that it grabs the attention of divers. The sound is completely normal to the underwater animals.
Snapping one’s claws is not the only way crustaceans communicate. As a matter of fact lobsters raise their claws in a wave to another lobster. Well, that is not completely true. Lobsters are very aggressive and raise their claws in a warning that the other lobster is trespassing. A lobster wave is not a friendly wave. When a female is in her crevice and another female passes the crevice they wave and snap at each other until one backs away. If a male passes a female the male scurries off and doesn’t bother to test the females authority. Same idea for a male in a crevice, the female gets the free way and the male passerby get a couple snaps waved toward him.
Communication in Birds
Often in gardens an American robin will make a rasping call around springtime. This call is actually a warning to the nearby animal that they are trespassing and they need to leave. In general birds are known for their songs and vocalizations. That isn’t their only way of communicating though. They also use visual displays and certain smells and touches.
Displays are used usually during courtship. Sometimes plumage or color change is involved in a display or type of courtship dance. This plumage will show which gender the animal is, and if it is ready to mate. Even more often plumage is bright as to make the females notice the brightly colored male.
Smell, touches and exceedingly great hearing are also used in birds. Touches are a type of reassurance to an animal and a need like the one of a child and their need to touch for comfort. Smell and hearing can be used to locate prey. The Australian magpie can detect larvae by listening to its movements underground.
Bats and Echolocation
Echolocation is not really in a sense a way of communication but it deals with sound and frequencies so it is appropriate information to be mentioned. Bats use high-pitched sound in the ultrasound range. A bat will emit 200 pulses of sound per second in the ultrasonic range. Since high-pitched sounds travel in short fast waves they can’t veer an object so they bounce back as an echo that is detected by the bat. The bat can then determine where the trees are that he needs to fly around and where his food source may be found. Because so many pulses are sent per second the bat’s mind can then form a picture in his head of where everything is.
Elephants
Recently it was discovered by Katy B. Payne that elephants communicate using infrasonic frequencies. That doesn’t mean elephants don’t communicate in the human hearing range. Deep (but audible) elephant calls and infrasonic calls travel long distances. Elephants use these long-distance calls like a cell phone. Elephants keep track of where old family members are and where a group is going. Elephants use low sounds most of the time but they also, scream, trumpet and use loud rumbling sounds.
Wolves
Wolves are known for their long, high pitched howls in the middle of the night. These howls in reality are to either warn other packs “we are already hunting here” or the howling wolf needs to call its pack. The long, sharp sound starts strong and then fades into slow rippling waves. Eventually the entire pack will join in so that every wolf in the area has their nose pointed to the sky.
Wolves also bark, growl, squeak and whine. Wolves bark when they are surprised by something. Pups growl in play and adults growl during a challenge from another wolf. Growling is a sign of aggression. Squeaks and whines are used when playing and feeding. Generally they are expressing happy feelings.
Wolves are highly vocal so of course they have extremely good hearing. When a wolf’s ears are pricked forward they have heard something and are following the sound. Wolves can even find a mouse in the snow by its squeals. Scientists believe they may even use their fantastic hearing to find sounds their prey emits.
Conclusion
Communication plays an important role in many human and animal
lifestyles. The ways animals communicate are as unique as every
species of animal, making it so many different methods of study are
needed. Everyday things can be used to study animal
communication, like a tape recorder. Even still the most complex
devices can be used. There are many different ranges of sound
that we still have not yet explored but science is headed in the right
direction. Already many animals have been studied so thoroughly
we can differentiate aggressive and friendly vocalizations or
actions. The purpose of animal communication is to crack the
animal code and humans have come a long way. Many more studies
have yet to be set up. Think of what we as animals can accomplish!Top of page