2. INTRODUCTION
Animal communication is the passage of information
b/w two animals.
The animal which sends is called signaller and the
animal that recieves signal is called reciever.
Animal communication is also known as Biological
communication.
The study of animal communication is called
Zoosemiotics
The classical ethological view of communication was
developed by Niko Tinbergen.
Niko Tinbergen
3. TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
Intraspecific communication
◦ communication within a single species
Eg. Honeybee dance
Interspecific communication
◦ Prey to predator
Eg. warning colouration in wasps
◦ Predator to prey
Some predators communicate to prey make
them easier to catch, in effect deceiving them.
Eg. Angler fish
◦ Human/animal communication
During domestication of animals
4. BASIC COMPONENTS
Signaller : An individual which emits signal.
Reciever : An individual which recieves signal
Signal : The behaviour emitted by the signaller
Channels : A pathway through which normally a signal
travels. (ie means of communication)
Visual
Auditory
Chemical
Tactile
Electrical
Suface vibration
5. VISUAL COMMUNICATION
Information transmitted by visual means is called
visual communication.
The visual signals may be given by various means
like
◦ movement
◦ posture or shape of the body
◦ Facial expressions.
◦ colour identification
◦ light etc.
Visual signals are used most often by species that
are active during day.
Light as a visual means is used in night.
6. EXAMPLES
1) Visual communication in Bees
The worker bees communicate about food mainly by a
dance language.
It was decoded by Karl von Frisch in 1965.
Bees mainly perform 2 types of dances.
◦ Round dance - If source of nectar is less than about 100m
away. Does not communicate the direction.
◦ Waggle dance – If source of nectar more than 100m away
from hive. Communicates both distance and direction.
7. Round dance
◦ Runs around in narrow circles, suddenly reversing
direction to her original course.
◦ After the round dance has ended, she often
distributes food to the bees following her.
◦ Essentially says "there is food closeby, get out and
find the food, which smells like this.”
8. Waggle dance
◦ Runs straight ahead for a short distance, returns in
a semicircle to the starting point, runs again
through the straight course, then makes a
semicircle in the opposite direction to complete a
full, figure-eight circuit.
◦ While running the straight-line course of the dance,
the bee wags abdomen, vigorously sideways.
◦ The angle that the bee adopts, relative to vertical
represents the angle in
which food is found.
10. 2) Postures
Some mammal
species give specific
signals by the
position adopted by
head, ears & tail.
Eg. Flattened ear –
fear/ suspicion
Wagging of tail –
Complete
submission.
Retraction of lips to
display teeth - threat
display.
12. 4) Colours and Displays
During mating season the male
goldfinch has a bright yellow body
The gila monster's bright orange
colored splotches are a warning to
predators that it is poisonous and they
should back-off.
When an animal exhibits a behavior
that can be seen by other animals, it is
called a display.
Male fiddler crabs wave their giant
claw to attract female fiddler crabs.
Male peacock exhibits a visual display
as part of its courtship rituals.
13. 5) Light (Bioluminescence)
Certain insects and deep sea fishes communicate via their
light signals.
Luminuous insects are glow worms and their relatives the
fireflies.
Eg. of light producing fish includes Anglerfishes
Glow worms
Fireflies.
Anglerfishes
14. AUDITORY COMMUNICATION
Sending information from one member to another by
sound production is called auditory signal or bioacoustic
signal.
Sound is a good means of communicating over long
distances both in air and water.
It may have a vocal origin or it may be produced by some
other organs
For eg. Calls of mammals and birds – vocal origin ; sound
produced by crickets is rhythmic oscillation of forewings.
Sound is more effective signal at night and darkness
It can go around obstacles that would interfere with visual
signals.
It is better than visual signals in getting attention of a
reciever.
15. EXAMPLES
Deathwatch beetle signal to each
other by producing clicking sound
made by tapping their head against
wood.
Red squirrels will make a series of
loud rattles and screeches to warn off
intruders.
The bottlenose dolphin has a wide
range of vocalizations. Each dolphin
also has its own unique whistling
sound that it uses to identify itself.
Male birds sing a song during breeding
season.
Deathwatch beetle
Red squirrels
Bottlenose dolphin
16. ODOUR OR CHEMICAL
COMMUNICATION
Molecules used for chemical communication between
individual animals are called pheromones.
Pheromones are involved in mate identification, marking
territory, alarm spreading etc.
Odour signals can transmit informations in dark, can
travel long distances, can last for hours or number of days.
Usually the message causes an immediate response.
Chemical messages that pass between animals of the same
species.
Chemical communication is the most primitive type of
communication.
17. EXAMPLES
Female silkworm attract males by releasing a pheromone
bombykol.
Queen honeybee attract males by 9 – oxodecenoic acid.
Alarm pheromones are produced in ants in the form of
formic acid to protect themselves from enemies.
Ants lay down an initial trail of pheromones as they
return to the nest with food.
A female gypsy moth may influence male moths few
kilometres away by producing a pheromone called
"disparlure".
Dogs and some other animals of dog family use urine to
mark the boundaries of their
territories.
18. TACTILE COMMUNICATION
Information transmitted in the form of physical contact
(touch signal) is called tactile communication.
Antennae of ants, termites and honeybees are involved in
this process
Eg. 1) Female primates often hold and frequently
cuddle their young. Helps in establishing a bond
2) Termites – blind workers totally
depend on his phenomenon.
Two worker ants in tactile communication
19. ELECTRICAL SIGNALS
It is a means of communication in some fishes.
Torpedo (Electric ray), and sharks (Scyliorhinus
caniculus) have electro receptors that they use in
communication.
Sharks detect the electric field produced by prey flatfish
that are buried in the sand by a specialized organ called
the ampulla of lorenzini.
Electric fish communicate information about species
identity and sex by discharging electric field.
20. SURFACE VIBRATIONS
In some animals information may be communicated
by patterns of surface vibrations.
Eg. Water spider send out ripples of certain
frequency and receptive female respond by moving
towards the source.
Cannibalistic male spiders vibrate threads of web of
his prospective partner communicating that it is not
a prey.
21. FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION
Agonistic interaction – threat displays during
competition over food, mates or territory
Mating rituals – to attract and maintain the attention of
potential mate
Ownership/territorality – to claim or defend territory
Food-related signals – to lead members of a social group
to a food source
Alarm calls – to warn of a threat from a predator
22. RECENT TRENDS
Dr. Jayne Yack of Carlton University in Ottawa,
found that the walnut sphinx caterpillar has
a special way of communication with its
predators.
Make a squeaking sound that
fends off attacking birds like
Warblers .
Sound is made by blowing air out of two
holes found in the abdominal spiracles.
It was found that they are mimicking the
alarm call of another predatory bird.
Communication in walnut sphinx caterpillar (Journal of
experimental biology, Jan issue, 2012)
23. CONCLUSION
Animals do communicate which involves information
transfer from the sender to a receiver.
They can convey their needs, desires and reactions to the
environment via some sophisticated signaling of their
own.
No animals have however evolved the sophistication of
the human language - communication system.
The understanding of animal communication is essential
for understanding the animal world in general.
24. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prasad S, Animal Behaviour (2004), CBS Publishers and
Distributors, New Delhi
Harjinder Singh, A textbook of Animal Behaviour (1995),
1st edition, Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.
Aubrey Manning and Marian Stamp Dawkins, An
introduction to Animal Behaviour, 5th edition, Cambridge
university Press.
www. nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep3.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2011/01/08/january
-8-2011/
www. youtube.com/ waggledance.
