Animal Communication, interaction between animals in which information transmitted from one animal or group of animals affects the behavior of other animals. Animals typically exchange information using a signal, such as facial expression, sound, or touch. Communication between animals helps them coordinate the vital functions of their lives-namely, gathering food and hunting, staking out territory, mating, caring for young, and defending themselves. Most commonly, animal communication is intraspecific . Mating signals are perhaps the most important intraspecific communication, since animals must be able to identify and attract a potential mate in order to reproduce. The loud roar of a male elephant seal, for example, directs females where to come ashore for breeding. Intraspecific communication also helps distinguish individuals in a particular animal group. Mother gulls learn to recognize the individual calls of their own chicks so that they can quickly find their babies in densely populated gull colonies.
Communication can also be interspecific, occurring between different animal species. Many animals who share habitats learn to use signals from other species as warnings for approaching danger. Langurs respond to the alarm cries or flights of peacocks and deer. Similarly, in Africa, grazing animals such as wildebeests and waterbucks pay close attention to the keen-eared zebra. If a nearby zebra suddenly jumps up and runs, the other animals follow to escape a common predator. The higher an animal's position on the evolutionary scale, the more complex its sense organs and the more elaborate its apparatus for producing communication signals. A few animals, notably the primates, transmit information by multiple signals, such as a combination of gestures, facial expressions, and sounds. This use of multiple signals makes possible a more extensive vocabulary for communicating, which in turn enables animals to transmit more complex information. Physical characteristics play a strong role in determining the types of messages that are transmitted or received. Primates, who have superior vision, rely heavily on visual signals. In contrast, insects see only vague images, so they concentrate more on chemical and tactile messages. Scent organs in most insects' antennae and taste organs in their feet help them use these senses very effectively. Animals whose means of movement leaves no appendages free for signaling must develop other ways of communicating.
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