Communication between animals of different species. Forms and means of animal communication Optical form of communication example in animals

The social organization of animals as a whole is the sum total of the interactions between members of the community.

Communication is the essence of all social behavior. It is difficult to imagine social behavior without the exchange of information, or a system of information transmission that would not be in some sense public. When an animal performs an action that changes the behavior of another individual, we can say that information has been transferred. This is a very broad definition, which also includes those cases when, for example, a calmly feeding or, conversely, an anxiously alert animal, only by its posture influences the behavior of other members of the community. Therefore, ethologists who study the process of communication ask the question: is the signal transmitted “intentionally” or does it only reflect the physiological and emotional state of the animal?

Can such social animals as monkeys, dolphins, wolves or ants convey to each other accurate information, for example, about what point in space the food source is located and how it is more convenient to reach this point? Studying the limits of the communicative capabilities of animals is one of the most interesting and controversial problems in ethology.

How signals work

It is known that different groups of animals are more or less specialized in the sensory modality of the signals used, depending on the degree of development of certain sense organs in them. Thus, tactile communication dominates the interactions of many invertebrates, such as the blind worker termites that never leave their underground tunnels, or the earthworms that crawl out of their burrows at night to mate. In invertebrates, the sense of touch is closely related to chemical sensitivity, since specialized tactile organs, such as the antennae of insects, are often equipped with chemoreceptors. Social insects convey a large amount of information through a combination of tactile and chemical signals.

Tactile communication due to its nature, it is only possible at close range. The long antennae of cockroaches and crayfish allow them to explore the world within a radius of one body length, but this is almost the limit of their sense of touch. Other sensory systems - vision, hearing and smell - provide communication over a considerable distance. Sound and smell have the added benefit of being able to overcome natural obstacles such as dense vegetation.

Sound signals. Long-distance signals are usually screams. Birds of open landscapes (larks, meadow pipits) sing, flying high above their territory.

Chemical signals especially well developed in insects and mammals. Butterfly pheromones are picked up by males 4–5 km downwind and are the most persistent of insect pheromones.

Visual cues can operate only at a relatively short distance, within sight. The exception is simple alarm signals, in the form of white spots on the body, such as the tails of deer and rabbits, visible from a great distance. Visual signals also include widespread identification marks, many of which operate on a “yes or not” principle.

In natural conditions, signals are often combined into effective combinations, combining, for example, both sound and visual stimuli. A good example is the mating rituals of birds of paradise, which include characteristic postures, displays of "ritual" feathers, jumping, calling and flapping wings.

For a normal life, each individual needs accurate information about everything that surrounds it. This information is obtained through systems and means of communication. Animals receive communication signals and other information about the outside world through physical and chemical senses.

In most taxonomic groups of animals, all sense organs are present and function simultaneously, depending on their anatomical structure and lifestyle, the functional roles of the systems differ. The sensor systems complement each other well and provide full information living organism about environmental factors. At the same time, in the event of a complete or partial failure of one or even several of them, the remaining systems strengthen and expand their functions, thereby compensating for the lack of information. For example, blind and deaf animals are able to navigate their environment using their sense of smell and touch. It is well known that deaf and mute people easily learn to understand the speech of their interlocutor by the movement of his lips, and blind people - to read using their fingers.

Depending on the degree of development of certain sense organs in animals, different methods of communication can be used when communicating. Thus, in the interactions of many invertebrates, as well as some vertebrates that lack eyes, tactile communication dominates. Many invertebrates have specialized tactile organs, such as the antennae of insects, often equipped with chemoreceptors. Due to this, their sense of touch is closely related to chemical sensitivity. Due to the physical properties of the aquatic environment, its inhabitants communicate with each other mainly through visual and audio signals. The communication systems of insects are quite diverse, especially their chemical communication. The most great importance they have for social insects, whose social organization can rival that of human society.

Fish use at least three types of communication signals: auditory, visual and chemical, often combining them.

Although amphibians and reptiles have all the sensory organs characteristic of vertebrates, their forms of communication are relatively simple.

Bird communications reach a high level of development, with the exception of chemocommunication, which is present in literally a few species. When communicating with individuals of their own, as well as other species, including mammals and even humans, birds use mainly audio as well as visual signals. Thanks to the good development of the auditory and vocal apparatus, birds have excellent hearing and are able to produce many different sounds. Schooling birds use a greater variety of sound and visual signals than solitary birds. They have signals that gather the flock, notify about danger, signals “everything is calm” and even calls for a meal. In communication terrestrial mammals quite a lot of space is occupied by information about emotional states - fear, anger, pleasure, hunger and pain.

However, this far from exhausts the content of communications - even in non-primate animals.

Animals wandering in groups, through visual signals, maintain the integrity of the group and warn each other about danger; bears, within their territory, peel off the bark on tree trunks or rub against them, thus informing about the size of their body and gender; skunks and a number of other animals secrete odorous substances for protection or as sexual attractants; male deer organize ritual tournaments to attract females during the rutting season; wolves express their attitude by aggressive growling or friendly tail wagging; seals in rookeries communicate using calls and special movements; angry bear coughs threateningly.

Mammalian communication signals were developed for communication between individuals of the same species, but often these signals are also perceived by individuals of other species that are nearby. In Africa, the same spring is sometimes used for watering at the same time by different animals, for example, wildebeest, zebra and waterbuck. If a zebra, with its keen sense of hearing and smell, senses the approach of a lion or other predator, its actions inform its neighbors at the watering hole, and they react accordingly. In this case, interspecific communication takes place.

Man uses his voice to communicate to an immeasurably greater extent than any other primate. For greater expressiveness, words are accompanied by gestures and facial expressions. Other primates use signal postures and movements in communication much more often than we do, and use their voice much less often. These components of primate communication behavior are not innate - animals learn different ways of communicating as they grow older.

Raising cubs in wildlife based on imitation and the development of stereotypes; they are looked after most of the time and punished when necessary; they learn what's edible by watching their mothers and learn gestures and vocal communication mostly through trial and error. The assimilation of communicative behavioral stereotypes is a gradual process. The most interesting features of primate communication behavior are easier to understand when we consider the circumstances in which different types of signals are used - chemical, tactile, auditory and visual.
6.3.1. TACTIL SENSITIVITY. TOUCH
On the surface of the body of animals there is a huge number of receptors, which are the endings of sensory nerve fibers. Based on the nature of sensitivity, receptors are divided into pain, temperature (heat and cold) and tactile (mechanoreceptors).

The sense of touch is the ability of animals to perceive external influences, carried out by receptors of the skin and musculoskeletal system.

The tactile sensation can be varied, as it arises as a result of complex perception various properties irritant acting on the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Through touch, the shape, size, temperature, consistency of the stimulus, position and movement of the body in space, etc. are determined. The basis of touch is the irritation of specialized receptors and the transformation of incoming signals in the central nervous system into the appropriate type of sensitivity (tactile, temperature, pain).

But the main receptors that perceive these irritations and partly the position of the body in space in mammals are hair, especially whiskers. Vibrissae react not only to touching surrounding objects, but also to air vibrations. In burrowers, which have a wide surface of contact with the walls of the burrow, the vibrissae, except for the head, are scattered throughout the body. In climbing forms, for example, squirrels and lemurs, they are also located on the ventral surface and on parts of the limbs that come into contact with the substrate when moving through trees.

The tactile sense is caused by irritation of mechanoreceptors (Pacini and Meissner corpuscles, Merkel discs, etc.) located in the skin at some distance from each other. Animals are able to quite accurately determine the location of irritations: insects crawling on the skin or their bites cause a sharp motor and defensive reaction. The highest concentration of receptors in most animals is observed in the head area, respectively, areas of the scalp, mucous membranes oral cavity lips, eyelids and tongue have the highest sensitivity to touch. In the first days of life of a baby mammal, the main tactile organ is the oral cavity. Touching the lips causes sucking movements in him.

Continuous exposure to mechano- and thermoreceptors leads to a decrease in their sensitivity, i.e. they quickly adapt to these factors. Skin sensitivity is closely related to internal organs (stomach, intestines, kidneys, etc.). So it is enough to irritate the skin in the stomach area to get increased acidity of gastric juice.

When pain receptors are irritated, the resulting excitation is transmitted along sensory nerves to the cerebral cortex. In this case, incoming impulses are identified as emerging pain. The feeling of pain is of great importance: pain signals problems in the body. The threshold for excitation of pain receptors is species specific. So, in dogs it is slightly lower than, for example, in humans. Irritation of pain receptors causes reflex changes: increased release of adrenaline, increased blood pressure and other phenomena. When exposed to certain substances, such as novocaine, pain receptors are switched off. This is used to administer local anesthesia during operations.

Irritation of the skin's temperature receptors causes sensations of heat and cold. There are two types of thermoreceptors: cold and heat. Temperature receptors are distributed unevenly in different areas of the skin. In response to irritation of temperature receptors, the lumens of blood vessels reflexively narrow or widen, as a consequence of this, heat transfer changes, and the behavior of animals changes accordingly.

Tactile communication in different taxonomic groups
Although the sense of touch is somewhat limited in its ability to transmit information compared to other senses, in many respects it is the main channel of communication for almost all types of living matter that respond to physical contact.

Invertebrates . Tactile communication appears to dominate the social interactions of many invertebrates; for example, in the blind workers in some termite colonies, which never leave their underground tunnels, or in earthworms, which crawl out of their burrows at night to mate. Tactile signals are the main ones in a number of aquatic coelenterates: jellyfish, sea anemones, hydras. Tactile communication is of great importance for colonial coelenterates. So, when you touch a separate area of ​​a colony of hydroid polyps, the animals immediately shrink into tiny lumps. Immediately after this, all other individuals of the colony shrink. Tactile communication, by its nature, is only possible at a very close distance. The long antennae of cockroaches and crayfish act as "scouts" that allow them to explore the world within a radius of one body length, but this is almost the limit of touch. In invertebrates, the sense of touch is closely related to chemical sensitivity because specialized tactile organs, such as the antennae or palps of insects, are often also equipped with chemoreceptors. Social insects, through a combination of tactile and chemical signals, convey a large amount of various information to members of their colony families. In a colony of social insects, individuals constantly come into direct bodily contact with each other. The constant licking and sniffing of each other by ants indicates the importance of touch as one of the means of organizing these insects into a colony. In the colonies of some wasp species, where the females are united in a hierarchy, a sign of submission upon meeting is the regurgitation of food, which the dominant wasp immediately eats.

Higher vertebrates . Tactile communication remains important in many vertebrates, in particular in birds and mammals, the most social species of which spend a significant portion of their time in physical contact with each other. The so-called grooming, or care of feathers or fur, occupies an important place in their relationships. It consists of mutual cleaning, licking or simply sorting through feathers or fur. Grooming carried out by the female in the process of raising offspring and the mutual grooming of the cubs in the litter plays an important role for their physical and emotional development. Bodily contact between individuals in social species serves as a necessary link in regulating relationships between members of the community. Thus, one of the most effective methods that small songbirds, finches, usually resort to in order to pacify an aggressive neighbor is “demonstration of an invitation to feather cleaning.” In case of possible aggression of one of the birds directed at another, the object of attack raises its head high and at the same time puffs up the plumage of the throat or back of the head. The aggressor's reaction is completely unexpected. Instead of attacking its neighbor, it begins to obediently finger the loose plumage of its throat or the back of its head with its beak. A similar demonstration occurs in some rodents. When two animals occupying different levels of the hierarchical ladder meet, the subordinate animal allows the dominant to lick its fur. By allowing a high-ranking individual to touch him, the low-ranking individual thereby shows his submission and transfers the potential aggressiveness of the dominant into another direction.

Friendly bodily contacts are widespread among highly organized animals. Touch and other tactile signals are widely used in communication by monkeys. Langurs, baboons, gibbons and chimpanzees often hug each other in a friendly manner, and a baboon may lightly touch, poke, pinch, bite, sniff or even kiss another baboon as a sign of genuine affection. When two chimpanzees meet for the first time, they may gently touch the stranger's head, shoulder or thigh.

Monkeys constantly sort through their fur - cleaning each other, which serves as a manifestation of true closeness and intimacy. Grooming is especially important in primate groups where social dominance is maintained, such as rhesus monkeys, baboons and gorillas. In such groups, a subordinate individual often communicates, by loudly smacking her lips, that she wants to groom another who occupies a higher position in the social hierarchy. In monkeys, grooming is a typical example of sociosexual contact. Although this kind of relationship often unites animals of the same sex, nevertheless, such contacts are more often observed between females and males, with the former playing an active role, licking and combing the males, while the latter are limited to exposing certain parts of their body to their partner. This behavior is not directly related to sexual relationships, although occasionally grooming leads to copulation.
6.3.2. CHEMOCOMMUNICATION
Perception of taste. The sense of taste is of great importance for animals. Based on taste, they determine whether the product being tested is edible or inedible. Substances used as medicines or mineral supplements have a very special taste. The taste of food is of great importance for animals; many of them have very special taste preferences. Owners of various pets are well aware of how picky their pets sometimes turn out to be when it comes to food.

The sensation of taste arises as a result of the action of chemical solutions on the chemoreceptors of the taste formations of the tongue and oral mucosa; in this case, sensations of bitter, sour, sweet, salty or mixed taste arise. The sense of taste in newborn babies awakens before all other sensations.

Based on the selective and highly sensitive reaction of sensory cells, the sense of taste and smell arises.

Olfactory communication , sense of smell. Smell is the perception by animals through the appropriate organs of a certain property (smell) of chemical compounds in the environment. The sense of smell differs from taste perception in that the odorous substances perceived with its help are usually present in lower concentrations. They serve only as signals indicating certain objects or events in the external environment. Terrestrial animals perceive odorous substances in the form of vapors delivered to the olfactory organ with air flow or by diffusion, and aquatic ones - in the form of solutions. For many animals: insects, fish, predators, rodents, smell is more important than sight and hearing, since it gives them more information about the environment. Sensitivity to odors is sometimes simply fantastic: for example, the males of some butterflies react to several molecules of the female sex pheromone in a cubic meter of air. The degree of development of the sense of smell can vary quite greatly even within the same taxonomic group of animals. Thus, mammals are divided into macrosmatics, whose sense of smell is well developed (most species include them), microsmatics - with a relatively weak development of the sense of smell (seals, baleen whales, primates) and anosmatics, who lack typical olfactory organs (toothed whales). The sense of smell serves animals to search and select food, track prey, escape from an enemy, for bioorientation and biocommunication (marking territory, finding and recognizing a sexual partner, etc.). Fish, amphibians, and mammals are good at distinguishing the odors of individuals of their own and other species, and common group odors allow animals to distinguish “friends” from “strangers.”

The number of odorous substances is enormous, and the smell of each of them is unique: no two different chemical compounds have exactly the same smell. Based on the effect of odors on a dog’s body, they can be divided into attractive and exciting, repulsive and indifferent. Attractive and stimulating odors have a positive physiological significance for the animal’s body. These odors include: the smell of food, the smell of female secretions during the breeding season, the smell of the owner for the dog, etc.

Repulsive odors do not have a positive physiological meaning and cause reactions in the body aimed at freeing themselves from their effects. An example of such odors can be the strong odors of perfumes, tobacco, and paint. For some animals, this smell will be the smell of a predator.

Olfactory acuity (absolute threshold) is measured by the minimum concentration of odorants that causes an olfactory response. The sensitivity of the sense of smell to the same odor in an animal can vary depending on its physiological state. It decreases with general fatigue, runny nose, as well as with fatigue of the olfactory analyzer itself, and with too long exposure to a sufficiently strong odor on the animal’s olfactory cells.

To determine the direction of the source of the smell, the moisture in the animal's nose is important. It is necessary to determine the direction of the wind, and therefore the direction from which the smell comes. Without wind, animals detect odors only at very close distances. The side cutouts on the nose of mammals are designed to perceive odors brought by side and rear winds.

Pheromones. A special group of odorous substances consists of pheromones, which are secreted by animals, usually with the help of special glands, into the environment and regulate the behavior of representatives of the same species. Pheromones are biological markers of their own species, volatile chemosignals that control neuroendocrine behavioral reactions, developmental processes, as well as many processes associated with social behavior and reproduction. If in vertebrates olfactory signals act, as a rule, in combination with others - visual, auditory, tactile signals, then in insects the pheromone can play the role of the only “key stimulus” that completely determines their behavior.

Communication with the help of pheromones is usually considered as a complex system that includes mechanisms of pheromone biosynthesis, its release into the environment, its distribution in it, its perception by other individuals and the analysis of received signals.

Interesting ways to ensure species specificity of pheromones. A pheromone always contains several chemicals. Usually these are organic compounds with low molecular weight - from 100 to 300. Species differences in their mixtures are achieved in one of three ways: 1) the same set of substances with different ratios for each species; 2) one or more common substances, but different additional substances for each species; 3) completely different substances for each species.

The most famous pheromones are:

• 
  epagons, “love pheromones” or sex attractants;
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  odmichnions, “guiding threads” indicating the way to the house or to the prey found, they are also markers on the boundaries of the individual territory;
• 
  toribones, pheromones of fear and anxiety;
• 
  gonophions, pheromones that change sexual properties;
• 
  gamophions, puberty pheromones;
• 
  etophions, behavior pheromones;
• 
  lychneumones, taste pheromones.

Individual scent. The smell is a kind of “calling card” of the animal. He is purely individual. But at the same time, the smell is species-specific; by it, animals clearly distinguish representatives of their species from any other. Members of the same group or flock, in the presence of individual differences, also have a common specific group smell.

The individual smell of an animal is formed from a number of components: its gender, age, functional state, stage of the sexual cycle, etc. This information can be encoded by a number of odorous substances that make up urine, their ratio and concentration. Individual odor can change under the influence of various reasons throughout the life of the animal. The microbial landscape plays a huge role in creating an individual scent. Microorganisms living in the cavities of the skin glands take an active part in the synthesis of pheromones. The sources of odor are the products of incomplete anaerobic oxidation of secretions secreted by animals in various body cavities and glands. The transfer of bacteria from individual to individual can occur during the interaction of group members: mating, feeding the young, childbirth, etc. Thus, within each population a certain group-wide microflora is maintained, providing a similar smell.

The role of smell in some forms of behavior
The sense of smell is extremely important in the lives of animals of many taxonomic groups. With the help of smell, animals can orient themselves relative to certain physiological states that are currently inherent in other members of the group. For example, fear, excitement, saturation, and illness are accompanied in animals and humans by a change in the usual body odor.

Olfactory communication is especially important for processes associated with reproduction. Many vertebrate and invertebrate animals have specific sex pheromones. Thus, some insects, fish, and tailed amphibians have pheromones that stimulate the development of female gonads and secondary sexual characteristics in females. Pheromones from males of some fish accelerate the maturation of females, synchronizing population reproduction.

Termites and closely related ants are endowed with a functional system for inhibiting the development of females and males. While the worker ants lick the required doses of gonophions from the abdomen of the oviparous female, there will be no new females in the nest. Its gonophions suppress the development of ovaries in worker ants. But as soon as oviparous female dies, and now some worker ants begin to bear fruit. In 1954, Butler discovered that the jaw glands of the queen bee secrete a special queen substance, which she spreads over her body, allowing the worker ants to lick it off. Its main role is to suppress the development of ovaries in worker bees. But as soon as the uterus disappears, and with it this pheromone, many ordinary family members immediately begin to develop ovaries. These bees then lay eggs, even though they are not fertilized. The same thing happens when there is not enough queen pheromone for all members of the bee family. Biological activity this pheromone is so high that a worker bee only needs to touch the body of a living or dead queen with its proboscis, and the development of the ovaries is inhibited.

Pheromones secreted by females to attract males are of great importance for sexual behavior. During the period of estrus in female mammals, the secretion of many skin glands increases, especially those surrounding the anogenital zone, in the secretion of which sex hormones and pheromones appear at this time. In yet more During estrus, these substances are also found in the urine of females. They help create odors that attract the attention of males.

A number of pheromones - gonophions, described in invertebrates, contribute to the change in the sex of an animal during its life. The marine polychaete worm Ophriotroch is always male at the beginning of its life, and when it grows up, it turns into a female. Adult females of these worms secrete gonophion into the water, causing the females to turn into males. Something similar happens in some gastropods. They are also males when young and then become females.

Males of many insects different parts They carry glands in their bodies, the secretion of which gives females an incentive to reproduce. Adult male desert locusts, releasing special pheromones, accelerate the maturation of young locusts.

In mammals, gamophions have been described, perceived mainly by the sense of smell. They play a significant role in reproduction. Mice have been the best studied in this regard. The urine of aggressive males contains an aggression pheromone, which contains metabolites of male sex hormones. This pheromone can promote aggression in dominant males and a submissive reaction in low-ranking males. In addition to aggression, the smell of urine from male house mice causes many other behavioral and physiological reactions in individuals of the same species. For example, the smell of an unfamiliar male suppresses the exploration of a new territory by other males, attracts females, blocks pregnancy, causes synchronization and acceleration of estrus cycles, accelerates puberty in young females and suppresses the normal development of spermatogenesis in young males.

Since the sex hormones and pheromones of all mammals are basically the same, similar phenomena are observed in animals of other species.

Smell is one of the earliest senses that “turns on” in ontogenesis. Cubs already in the first days after birth remember the smell of their mother. By this time, the nervous structures that provide the perception of smell have already fully developed. The smell of the cubs plays an important role in the development of normal maternal behavior in the bitch. During lactation, females produce a special, maternal pheromone, which gives a specific smell to the cubs and ensures normal relationships between them and the mother.

A specific smell also appears when the animal experiences fear. With emotional excitement, the secretion of sweat glands sharply increases. Sometimes animals experience an involuntary release of secretion from the odorous glands, urination, and even feces. The scent marks that animals use to mark their possessions are of great informational value.

Marking territory. The sense of smell plays a huge role in the territorial behavior of animals. Almost all animals mark their areas with a specific smell. Marking is an extremely important form of behavior for many species of terrestrial animals: leaving odorous substances in different points their habitat, they signal about themselves to other individuals. Thanks to odorous marks, a more uniform and, most importantly, structured distribution of individuals in the population occurs; opponents, avoiding direct contacts that could lead to injury, receive fairly complete information about the “master,” and sexual partners find each other more easily.

Skin glands of mammals. The entire skin of mammals is densely permeated with numerous glands. Based on the structure and nature of the secretions secreted, the skin glands are divided into two types - sweat and sebaceous. The secretions of all skin glands are secretion products of the glandular cells that make up their walls.

Sweat glands, which secrete a liquid secretion - sweat - play the role of additional excretory organs in the body. In addition, sweating helps cool the skin and plays an important role in thermoregulation. The intensity of sweating depends to a large extent on the ambient temperature, but can also occur under the influence of other factors, including emotional ones. Sweating is regulated by the endocrine system and nerve centers located in the brain and spinal cord. The sebaceous glands have a slightly different type of secretion than the sweat glands. Nevertheless, they usually function together, having common external excretory ducts.

In addition to the usual skin glands, some mammals also have specific odorous glands called musk glands. Their secretions have multiple functions: it facilitates the meeting of individuals of different sexes, is used to mark an occupied territory, and serves as a means of protection from enemies. These are the musk glands of musk deer, musk ox, shrews, muskrats, and muskrats; caudal, perineal and anal glands of some carnivores; ungulate and horn glands of goats, chamois and some other artiodactyls; preorbital glands of deer and antelope, etc. The odorous glands of some mustelids are of exceptional protective importance. For example, in a skunk, these secretions are so caustic that they cause nausea and sometimes fainting in a person exposed to them. In addition, the smell of skunk secretions is extremely persistent and remains in the external environment for a long time.

Territory marking . Most animals are in one way or another attached to their habitat. The intensity of competition for territory is to some extent prevented by the marking of an occupied habitat by its owner. This phenomenon is widespread among mammals and is carried out by leaving their traces in visible places; marks in the form of secretions of odorous glands, excrement, scratches or scratches on the bark of trees, stones or dry soil, preserving the smell of secretions of the plantar glands. Deer and some antelopes mark the territory they occupy with the abundantly secreted odorous secretion of the preorbital glands, for which they rub their muzzles against branches and tree trunks. During the rutting period, roe deer, chamois, and snow goats butt the bushes, leaving odorous secretions of the subcorneal gland on them. The musk peccary lays out an odorous trail, wiping off the secretion of the dorsal musk gland on the hanging branches along the way. The bear also sometimes leaves an odorous trail, rising on its hind legs near tree trunks and rubbing its muzzle and back against them, but more often it tears off the bark with its claws, applying the secretion of the plantar glands to the scratches. Animals living in burrows constantly leave odorous traces on the walls of the burrow. In rural areas and cities it is easy to trace markings in domestic cats. Passing by the marked object, the cat stops, turns its back to it and splashes out a little urine with a particularly pungent odor, while making characteristic movements of its tail. All “outstanding” objects are subject to marking: roof ridge, corners of buildings, pillars, hummocks, tree trunks, car wheels, etc. Subsequently, such points are marked by all cats in the area. Marking urination is fundamentally different from “hygienic” urination, when the cat first digs a hole in the substrate and then carefully buries its derivatives to mask the smell. All members of the canine family also mark territory using urine. Males raise their legs and mark all possible prominent objects: trees, pillars, stones, etc. Each subsequent male always tries to leave his mark higher than the previous one. Bitches also mark their territory. Marking behavior is especially intensified before and during estrus. In places where domestic dogs walk on a large scale, specific urinary points are formed. By sniffing marks left by other dogs while walking, dogs receive a lot of valuable and interesting information. Cal also has informational value. When defecating, many animals try to leave it on the highest possible places, sometimes even sticking it to tree trunks or stones.

The boundaries of the habitat of a pack of dogs or wolves are intensively marked with urine. This is usually done by the dominant male. As F. Mowat writes (1968), a pack of wolves makes the rounds of the “family lands” approximately once a week and refreshes boundary signs. The English researcher F. Mowat studied the behavior of polar wolves in Alaska and lived in a tent on the territory of the pack. One day, when the wolves went hunting at night, the scientist decided to “stake out” “his” territory of about three hundred square meters in the same way. Returning from the hunt, the male wolf immediately noticed F. Mowat’s marks and began to study them... “Rising to his feet, he sniffed my sign again and, obviously, made a decision. Quickly, with a confident look, he began a systematic walk around the area , which I staked out for myself. Approaching the next “border” sign, he sniffed it once or twice, then carefully made his mark on the same tuft of grass or on a stone, but from the outside. After some fifteen minutes, the operation was completed "Then, the wolf came out onto the path where my domain ended, and began to trot towards the house, providing me with food for the most serious thoughts." (F. Mowat. Don’t cry wolf! M., 1968, p. 75.)

This example shows that the marks of an individual of one species can be understandable and informative for individuals of another species.
6.3.3. VISUAL COMMUNICATION
Vision plays a huge role in the lives of animals. This is one of the important sensory channels connecting with the outside world. While sound signals can be perceived by animals at a fairly large distance, and olfactory signals turn out to be quite informative even in the absence of other individuals in the field of vision or hearing, visual signals can act only at a relatively short distance.

A key role in visual communication is played by postures and body movements, with the help of which animals communicate their intentions. In many cases, such poses are complemented by sound signals. At a relatively large distance, alarm signals can act in the form of flashing white spots: the tail or spot on the back of deer, the tails of rabbits, upon seeing which, representatives of the same species rush to flight, without even seeing the source of danger itself.

Communication using visual signals is especially characteristic of vertebrates, cephalopods and insects, i.e. for animals with well-developed eyes. It is interesting to note that color vision is almost universal among all groups except most mammals. The bright, multicolored coloring of some fish, reptiles and birds contrasts strikingly with the universal gray, black and brown coloring of most mammals.

Many arthropods have well-developed color vision, but visual signaling is not very common among them, although color signals are used in courtship displays, for example in butterflies or beckoning crabs.

In vertebrates, visual communication plays a particularly important role in the process of communication between individuals. In almost all of their taxonomic groups there are many ritualized movements, postures and entire complexes of fixed actions that play the role of key stimuli for the implementation of many forms of instinctive behavior.

The visual analyzer consists of a perceptive apparatus - the eye, pathways - the optic nerve and a visual center in the cerebral cortex.

The light-refracting structures of the eye form a system of specialized formations. The transparent cornea has a convex shape. Behind the iris is a transparent biconvex body - the lens. It is the main part of the eye that refracts light. The shape of the lens changes during the process of accommodation of the eye to see near or distant objects. When an animal looks into the distance, the ciliary muscle relaxes, and the lens ligaments tighten - this causes the lens to flatten. If the object in question is at a close distance, the ciliary muscle contracts, as a result of which the lens ligaments relax, and the lens, as an elastic body, takes on a more convex shape. Primates have the greatest ability to accommodate, while nocturnal species have the least.
Features of vision of representatives of different taxonomic groups
In different representatives of the animal world, depending on their anatomical structure and living conditions, the organs of vision are arranged somewhat differently.

Arthropods. Vision plays a significant role in the communication of crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans. The brightly colored claws of male crabs attract females while warning rival males to keep their distance. Some species of crabs perform a mating dance, in which they swing their large claws in a rhythm characteristic of that species. Many deep-sea marine invertebrates, such as the marine worm Odontosyllis, have rhythmically flashing luminous organs called photophores.

Insects. Insect visual signals serve various functions. The pinnacle of development of the instinctive components of communication behavior is the ritualization of behavior, which consists of a certain sequence of movements, which is especially clearly manifested in the sexual behavior of insects, in particular in the “courtship of males” with females. Threatening movements also turn out to be highly ritualized. An extremely interesting form of visual communication, which can operate over very long distances, is observed in fireflies. Their means of attracting individuals of the opposite sex are luminescent flashes of cold yellow-green light produced with a certain frequency. In addition, some species of fireflies use light signals for other purposes. Thus, unfertilized female fireflies Photuris versicolor emit species-specific complexes of flashes of light in response to signals from males who approach them to mate. After mating, the female stops glowing and her behavior changes over the next two nights. It adopts a predatory pose with its front legs raised and its jaws open. Now she begins to glow again, but no longer uses the code characteristic of her species. It emits signals characteristic of its related smaller species from the same genus. When a male cricket of this species approaches her, she kills and eats him.

Dancing bees. Bees, having discovered a food source, return to the hive and notify other bees about its location and distance through special movements on the surface of the hive (the so-called bee dance). Bee dancing is a very advanced method of visual communication, the like of which is not even found in higher vertebrates. Having found a food source and returned to the hive, the bee distributes nectar samples to other foraging bees and begins the “dance”, which consists of running through the honeycombs. The dance pattern depends on the location of the detected food source: if it is located next to the hive (at a distance of 2-5 meters from it), then a “push dance” is performed. It consists in the fact that the bee runs randomly through the honeycombs, wagging its abdomen from time to time. If food is detected at a distance of up to 100 meters, then a “circular” dance is performed, consisting of running in a circle, alternately clockwise and counterclockwise. If nectar is found at a greater distance, then a “waggling” dance is performed, consisting of runs in a straight line, accompanied by wagging movements of the abdomen with a return to the starting point, either to the right or to the left. The intensity of the wagging movements indicates the distance of the find: the closer the food object is, the more intense the dance is performed. In addition to distance, bees also use dance to indicate the direction to food. Thus, in the second form of the dance, the angle between the line of movement and the vertical on vertically located honeycombs corresponds to the angle between the line of flight of the bee from the hive to the food object and the position of the sun. A bee dancing on a honeycomb immediately attracts the attention of other foragers, who immediately after the dance ends, fly off to collect a bribe.

Fish. Pisces have good eyesight, but they see poorly in the dark, for example in the depths of the ocean. Most fish perceive color to some degree. This is important during the mating season because the bright colors of individuals of one sex, usually males, attract individuals of the opposite sex. The color changes serve as a warning to other fish not to invade another's territory. During the breeding season, some fish, such as the three-spined stickleback, perform mating dances; others, such as catfish, display threat by turning their mouths wide open towards an intruder.

Amphibians. Visual communication plays a major role in orientation in terrestrial amphibians. Compared to fish, the cornea of ​​amphibians is more convex and is protected from drying out by eyelids. Stationary amphibians distinguish only moving objects, but when they move, they begin to distinguish stationary objects as well.

In the spring, during the breeding season, the males of many amphibian species acquire bright colors, which, in combination with a complex of ritual movements, have important for sexual selection. In some many species of frogs and toads, a brightly colored throat, for example dark yellow with black spots, is observed not only in males, but also in females, and usually in latest color its brighter. Some species use seasonal throat coloration not only to attract a mate, but also as a visual signal warning that territory is occupied. Among amphibians, there are quite a few species that have glands with a caustic or poisonous secretion. Many of them have bright warning colors.

Reptiles. Many reptiles drive away strangers of their own or other species invading their territory, demonstrating threatening behavior - they open their mouths, inflate body parts (like a spectacled snake), beat their tails, etc. Snakes have relatively poor vision; they see the movement of objects, and not their shape and color; Species that hunt in open areas have sharper vision. Some lizards, such as geckos and chameleons, perform ritual dances during courtship or sway in a peculiar way when moving. Many lizards, for example, steppe agamas, acquire bright colors during the breeding season, which intensify during aggressive encounters.

Birds. Since visual communication is the leading one for birds, they have well-developed eyes. Birds have exceptional vigilance and are able to distinguish colors and shades well, as well as visual stimuli with different lengths waves. The visual acuity of some birds of prey represents a world record among other representatives of the animal world. Since birds have well-developed color vision, a variety of color signals are of great importance to them. Thus, birds remember wasp bites well and subsequently avoid dealing with insects colored yellow and black. Male robins show aggression towards any image of a red-breasted bird. Male bower birds, native to Australia and New Guinea, build and decorate special bowers to attract females. Typically, the duller the color of the bird, the richer and more elaborately its bower is decorated. Some birds pick up snail shells, bones that have turned white with time, as well as anything that is colored blue: flowers, feathers, berries. Birds, mainly males, use their striking appearance to scare away rival males and attract females. However, bright plumage attracts predators, so females and young birds have camouflage colors. The inside of the chicks' mouth is brightly colored, which acts as a key stimulus for their feeding procedure.

During the breeding season, males of many bird species adopt complex signaling postures, preen their feathers, perform courtship dances, and perform various other actions accompanied by sound signals. The head and tail feathers, crowns and crests, even the apron-like arrangement of breast feathers are used by males to demonstrate their readiness to mate. The mandatory love ritual of the wandering albatross is a complex mating dance performed jointly by the male and female.

The mating behavior of male birds sometimes resembles acrobatic stunts. Thus, the male of one of the species of birds of paradise performs a real somersault: sitting on a branch in full view of the female, presses his wings tightly to his body, falls from the branch, makes a complete somersault in the air and lands in his original position. Various ritualized movements associated with defensive behavior are also widespread in the bird world.

Vision becomes especially important during long-range orientation of migrating birds. Thus, the orientation of birds according to topographical features, for example, along the coastline, polarized illumination of the sky and astronomical landmarks - the sun, stars, has been well studied.

Mammals. Mammalian visual communication primarily involves conveying information through facial expressions, postures, and movements. They contribute to the development of ritualized forms of behavior that are important for maintaining hierarchical order in the group. Such postures and facial movements are characteristic of all species of mammals, but they acquire the greatest significance in species with a high level of socialization. Thus, about 90 stereotypical species-specific sequences of movements have been identified in dogs and wolves. This is, first of all, facial expressions. Changing the expression of the “face” is achieved through movements of the ears, nose, lips, tongue, and eyes. Another important means of expressing a dog's state is its tail. When calm, he is in the normal position characteristic of the breed. Threatening, the animal holds its tousled tail tensely raised up. Low-ranking animals lower their tail low, tucking it between their legs. Speed ​​and amplitude are important in tail movement. Free tail wagging is observed in interactions of a friendly nature. During the greeting ritual, tail wagging is intense. The tension of the whole body, the raising of hair on the back of the neck, etc., also speak volumes. In stable groups, interactions take the form of demonstrations, in which the social rank of the animal is revealed. It manifests itself especially clearly during meetings. A high-status dog behaves actively, sniffing its partner with its tail held high. A low-ranking dog, on the contrary, tucks its tail, freezes, allowing itself to be sniffed, the final pose of submission is falling on its back, exposing the most sensitive areas of its body to the dominant. Between these extreme positions there are many transition states.

Observations of the behavior of wolves in an enclosure show that battles between them, which can cause the death of one of them, are extremely rare. As K. Lorenz notes, the key signal for them, as if turning off aggressive behavior, is the turning of one of the wolves towards the opponent with a curved neck. By exposing his most vulnerable part (the place where the jugular vein passes), he, as it were, surrenders himself to the mercy of the winner, and he immediately accepts “surrender.” Wolves in battle act as if according to a pre-thought-out ritual. Therefore, all these phenomena are called ritual behavior. It is possessed not only by predators, but to a greater or lesser extent by all mammals. Ritual behavior is often formed from the most ordinary movements of an animal, initially associated with completely different needs. For example, the mating position often becomes a position of dominance of one animal over another. Visual communication is of great importance for primates. Their language of facial expressions and gestures reaches great perfection. The main visual signals of great apes are gestures, facial expressions, and sometimes also body position and muzzle color. Among the threatening signals are sudden jumping to your feet and drawing your head into your shoulders, striking the ground with your hands, violently shaking trees and randomly throwing stones. By displaying the bright color of its muzzle, the African mandrill tames its subordinates. In a similar situation, the proboscis monkey from Borneo shows off its huge nose. Staring in a baboon or gorilla means a threat. In the baboon, it is accompanied by frequent blinking, movement of the head up and down, flattening of the ears and arching of the eyebrows. To maintain order in the group, dominant baboons and gorillas periodically cast icy gazes at females, cubs and subordinate males. When two unfamiliar gorillas suddenly come face to face, staring can be a challenge. First, a roar is heard, two powerful animals retreat, and then suddenly approach each other, bending their heads forward. Stopping just before they touch, they begin to gaze intently into each other's eyes until one of them retreats. Real contractions are rare.

Signals such as grimacing, yawning, moving the tongue, flattening the ears, and smacking the lips can be either friendly or unfriendly. So, if a baboon flattens its ears, but does not accompany this action with a direct gaze or blinking, its gesture means submission.

Chimpanzees use rich facial expressions to communicate. For example, a tightly clenched jaw with exposed gums means a threat; frown - intimidation; a smile, especially with the tongue sticking out, is friendliness; pulling back the lower lip until teeth and gums show - a peaceful smile; by pouting her lips, the mother chimpanzee expresses her love for her baby; Repeated yawning indicates confusion or difficulty. Chimpanzees often yawn when they notice someone is watching them.

Some primates use their tails to communicate. For example, a male lemur rhythmically moves his tail before mating, and a female langur lowers her tail to the ground when the male approaches her. In some species of primates, subordinate males raise their tails when a dominant male approaches, indicating that they belong to a lower social rank.
6.3.4. ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATION
Acoustic communication in its capabilities occupies an intermediate position between optical and chemical. Like visual signals, sounds made by animals are a means of transmitting emergency information. Their action is limited to the time of the current activity of the animal transmitting the message. Apparently, it is no coincidence that in many cases expressive movements in animals are accompanied by corresponding sounds. But, unlike visual ones, acoustic signals can be transmitted over a distance in the absence of visual, tactile or olfactory contact between partners. Acoustic signals, like chemical ones, can operate over long distances or in complete darkness. But at the same time, they are the antipode of chemical signals, since they do not have a long-term effect. Thus, the sound signals of animals are a means of emergency communication for transmitting messages both in the case of direct visual and tactile contact between partners, and in its absence. The transmission range of acoustic information is determined by four main factors: 1) sound intensity; 2) signal frequency; 3) the acoustic properties of the medium through which the message is transmitted and 4) the hearing thresholds of the animal receiving the signal. Sound signals transmitted over long distances are known in insects, amphibians, birds, and many species of medium- and large-sized mammals.

The propagation of sound is a wave process. The sound source transmits vibrations to the particles of the environment, and they, in turn, to neighboring particles, thus creating a series of alternating compressions and rarefactions with an increase and decrease in air pressure. These particle movements are graphically depicted as a sequence of waves, the peaks of which correspond to compression, and the troughs between them correspond to rarefaction. The speed of movement of these waves in a given medium is the speed of sound. The number of waves passing per second through any point in space is called the frequency of sound vibrations. The ear of a particular species of animal perceives sound only in a limited range of frequencies, or wavelengths. Waves with a frequency below 20 Hz are not perceived as sounds, but are felt as vibrations. At the same time, vibrations with a frequency above 20,000 Hz (so-called ultrasonic) are also inaccessible to the human ear, but are perceived by the ears of a number of animals. Another characteristic of sound waves is the intensity, or loudness, of the sound, which is determined by the distance from the peak or trough of the wave to the midline. Intensity also serves as a measure of sound energy.

Sound signals. Sound signals emitted by animals can be perceived by them at a great distance. The tone and frequency of sound signals depend on the lifestyle of the animals. Thus, low-frequency sounds penetrate best through dense vegetation; this type of signal usually includes forest calls tropical birds, as well as the monkeys that inhabit these forests. The sounds produced by many primates are specifically designed to be heard over long distances. The propagation of a sound signal also depends on the method of its production. Territorial birds sing their songs, choosing the most high point terrain (“song post”), which increases the efficiency of their distribution. Birds of open landscapes, such as larks and meadow pipits, sing as they fly high above their breeding grounds. In water, sounds travel with less attenuation than in air, and therefore aquatic animals widely use them for communication. The record for range in animal sound communication is set by humpback whales; their songs can be perceived by other whales located at a distance of several tens of kilometers.

Acoustic communication is of great importance for reproduction. Thus, the roar of bull deer has a stimulating effect on the sexual sphere of females, this ensures synchronization of puberty. During the mating season, only males roar. In foxes and cats, both males and females give voice. In moose, the female is the first to signal her location by snoring, and then the male responds.

The means of acoustic communication characteristic of representatives of the canine family are divided by most researchers into two groups: contact and distant. Contact signals include growling, whining, snorting, squealing, and squeaking. These signals are emitted by animals in situations of direct contact between animals. All of them can manifest themselves in different situations. Whining is the first signal that appears in puppies. At its core, whining is a response to discomfort. Adult animals whine when exposed to pain, social isolation, during friendly interactions, or impatience. A squeal is a signal of pain, and in most cases it blocks the attacker's aggression. A growl is made by a dog during aggressive interactions; it is a signal of threat. A large proportion of games, especially puppy games, are accompanied by growling. Wary animals usually snort. In domestic dogs or domesticated animals, such signals are often directed towards a person and can serve as a call for contact, a sign of impatience, or a request for something. Each of them has many modulations.

Distant signals include barking and howling. Dogs bark in completely different ways in different situations. Barking can be of different tones, volumes and frequencies. Based on the nature of a dog's barking, an attentive owner can almost always determine its cause. For example, a hunter accurately determines what kind of game his husky has discovered. She barks completely differently at an elk or a bear, a squirrel or a hazel grouse. The nature of the barking of hounds can also be completely different when chasing a hare or a fox, following a scent or “sighted”. Most roughly, barking can be divided into the following categories: barking of varying intensity with an active-defensive reaction of varying degrees; barking of varying intensity with varying degrees of passive-defensive reaction; bark greeting; barking in the game; barking indoors or on a leash; barking - a demand to attract attention, etc.

Howl - common remedy communications of representatives of the canine family leading a gregarious lifestyle. Its significance in the lives of jackals, wolves and coyotes is manifold. Researchers of wolf behavior believe that the group howl of wolves plays the role of a territorial mark, i.e. indicates that there is a group of wolves in this area. With the help of howls, wolves and jackals call partners.

A.N. Nikolsky and K.H. Frommolt (1989) divide wolf howls into individual and group ones. Among group howls, one can distinguish spontaneous ones, when all members of the flock begin to howl almost simultaneously, and caused ones, which arise in response to the howl of one of the members of the flock located at a distance. Spontaneous and caused howls have different seasonal dynamics.

The howl of wolves and jackals serves to exchange a variety of information between packs. Domestic dogs howl less often than wolves; perhaps this trait was partially eliminated by selection during the process of domestication. They most often howl in isolation or in response to sounds that irritate them, such as music. Obviously, such sounds are analogous to the spontaneous howl of wolves, which is excited by an evoked howl.
Acoustic communication of representatives of different taxonomic groups
Aquatic invertebrates. Bivalve molluscs, barnacles and other similar invertebrates make sounds by opening and closing their shells or houses, and crustaceans such as spiny lobsters make loud scraping sounds by rubbing their antennae against their shells. Crabs warn or scare off strangers by shaking their claws until they begin to crack, and male crabs emit this signal even when a person approaches. Due to the high sound conductivity of water, signals emitted by aquatic invertebrates are transmitted over long distances.

Insects. Insects, perhaps the first on land, began to make sounds, usually similar to tapping, popping, scratching, etc. These noises are not particularly musical, but they are produced by highly specialized organs. Insect calls are influenced by light intensity, the presence or absence of other insects nearby, and direct contact with them.

One of the most common sounds is stridulation, i.e. a chattering sound caused by rapid vibration or rubbing of one part of the body against another at a certain frequency and in a certain rhythm. This usually happens according to the “scraper-bow” principle. In this case, one leg (or wing) of the insect, which has 80-90 small teeth along the edge, quickly moves back and forth along the thickened part of the wing or other part of the body. Grasshoppers and grasshoppers use just such a chirping mechanism, while grasshoppers and trumpeters rub their modified forewings against each other.

The male cicadas produce the loudest chirping sounds. On the underside of the abdomen of these insects there are two membranous membranes - the so-called. timbal organs. These membranes are equipped with muscles and can bend in and out, like the bottom of a tin. When the tymbal muscles contract rapidly, the pops or clicks merge, creating an almost continuous sound.

Insects can make sounds by banging their heads on wood or leaves and their abdomens and front legs on the ground. Some species, such as the death's-head hawk-moth, have actual miniature sound chambers and produce sounds by drawing air in and out through membranes in these chambers.

Many insects, especially flies, mosquitoes and bees, make sounds in flight by vibrating their wings; some of these sounds are used in communication. Queen bees chatter and buzz: the adult queen hums, and the immature queens chatter as they try to escape from their cells.

The vast majority of insects do not have a developed hearing system and use antennas to capture sound vibrations passing through air, soil and other substrates. Some insects have a number of special ear-like structures that facilitate a more subtle discrimination of sound signals.

Fish. The statement “silent as a fish” was refuted by scientists a long time ago. Fish make many sounds by beating their gill covers and using their swim bladder. Each species makes special sounds. For example, the gurnard “clucks” and “clucks,” the horse mackerel “barks,” the drummer fish of the croaker breed makes noisy sounds that really resemble a drumbeat, and the sea burbot purrs and “grunts” expressively. The sound power of some sea fish is so great that they caused explosions of acoustic mines, which became widespread in the Second World War and were naturally intended to destroy enemy ships. Sound signals are used to gather in a flock, as an invitation to breed, to protect territory, and also as a method of individual recognition. Fish do not have eardrums, and they hear differently from humans. The system of thin bones, the so-called. Weber's apparatus transmits vibrations from the swim bladder to the inner ear. The range of frequencies that fish perceive is relatively narrow - most do not hear sounds above the upper “C” and best perceive sounds below the “A” of the third octave.

Amphibians. Among amphibians, only frogs, toads and tree frogs make loud sounds; Of the salamanders, some squeak or whistle quietly, others have vocal folds and emit a quiet bark. The sounds made by amphibians can mean a threat, a warning, a call for reproduction, they can be used as a signal of trouble or as a means of protecting the territory. Some species of frogs croak in groups of three, and a large chorus may consist of several loud-voiced trios.

Reptiles. Some snakes hiss, others make cracking noises, and in Africa and Asia there are snakes that chirp using scales. Since snakes and other reptiles do not have external ear openings, they only sense vibrations that pass through the soil. So rattlesnake hardly hears his own crackling sound.

Unlike snakes, tropical gecko lizards have external ear openings. Geckos click very loudly and make sharp sounds.

In the spring, male alligators roar to attract females and scare away other males. Crocodiles make loud alarm sounds when they are frightened and hiss loudly, threatening an intruder who has invaded their territory. Baby alligators squeak and croak hoarsely to get their mother's attention. The Galapagos giant or elephant tortoise makes a low, raspy roar, and many other tortoises hiss menacingly.

Birds. Acoustic communication has been better studied in birds than in any other animal. Birds communicate with members of their own species, as well as other species, including mammals and even humans. To do this, they use sound (not only voice), as well as visual signals. Thanks to the developed hearing system, consisting of the outer, middle and inner ear, birds hear well. The vocal apparatus of birds, the so-called. The lower larynx, or syrinx, is located in the lower part of the trachea.

Schooling birds use a more diverse range of sound and visual signals than solitary birds, which sometimes know only one song and repeat it over and over again. Flocking birds have signals that gather a flock, notify about danger, signals “all is calm” and even calls for a meal.

In birds, it is predominantly males who sing, but more often not to attract females (as is usually believed), but to warn that a given territory is under protection. Many songs are very intricate and are provoked by the release of the male sex hormone - testosterone - in the spring. Most of the “conversations” in birds take place between the mother and the chicks, who beg for food, and the mother feeds, warns or calms them.

Bird song is shaped by both genes and learning. The song of a bird raised in isolation turns out to be incomplete, i.e. devoid of individual “phrases” that make up a song of this type.

A non-vocal sound signal - the wing drum - is used by the collared grouse during the mating period to attract a female and warn male competitors to stay away. One of the tropical manakins clicks its tail feathers like castanets during courtship. At least one bird, the African honeyguide, communicates directly with humans. The honey guide feeds on beeswax, but cannot extract it from hollow trees where bees make their nests. By repeatedly approaching the person, calling loudly and then heading towards the tree with the bees, the honey guide leads the person to their nest; after the honey is taken, it eats the remaining wax.

Terrestrial mammals. The sounds produced by apes and apes are relatively simple. For example, chimpanzees often scream and squeal when they are scared or angry, and these are truly basic signals. However, they also have an amazing noise ritual: periodically they gather in the forest and drum their hands on the protruding roots of trees, accompanying these actions with screams, squeals and howls. This drumming and singing festival can last for hours and can be heard from at least a kilometer and a half away. There is reason to believe that in this way chimpanzees call their fellows to places abounding in food.

Interspecific communication is widespread among primates. Langurs, for example, closely monitor the alarm calls and movements of peacocks and deer. Grazing animals and baboons respond to each other's warning calls, so predators have little chance of surprise attacks.

Aquatic mammals. Aquatic mammals, like land mammals, have ears consisting of an external opening, a middle ear with three auditory ossicles, and an inner ear connected by the auditory nerve to the brain. Rumor marine mammals excellent, it is also helped by the high sound conductivity of water.

Seals are among the noisiest aquatic mammals. During the breeding season, females and young seals howl and moo, and these sounds are often initiated by the barks and roars of males. Males roar mainly to mark territory, in which they each gather a harem of 10-100 females. Vocal communication in females is not so intense and is associated primarily with mating and caring for offspring.

Whales constantly make sounds such as clicking, creaking, low-pitched sighs, as well as something like the creaking of rusty hinges and muffled thuds. It is believed that many of these sounds are nothing more than echolocation, used to detect food and navigate underwater. They can also be a means of maintaining group integrity.

Among aquatic mammals, the undisputed champion in emitting sound signals is the bottlenose dolphin. The sounds made by dolphins have been described as moaning, squeaking, whining, whistling, barking, squealing, meowing, creaking, clicking, chirping, grunting, shrill screams, as well as being reminiscent of the noise of a motor boat, the creaking of rusty hinges, etc. These sounds consist of a continuous series of vibrations at frequencies ranging from 3,000 to more than 200,000 Hertz. They are produced by blowing air through the nasal passage and two valve-like structures inside the blowhole. Sounds are modified by increasing and decreasing tension in the nasal valves and by the movement of "reeds" or "plugs" located inside the airways and blowhole. The sound produced by dolphins, similar to the creaking of rusty hinges, is “sonar,” a kind of echolocation mechanism. By constantly sending these sounds and receiving their reflections from underwater rocks, fish and other objects, dolphins can easily move even in complete darkness and find fish.

Dolphins certainly communicate with each other. When a dolphin makes a short, sad whistle, followed by a high-pitched, melodious whistle, it is a distress signal, and other dolphins will immediately swim to the rescue. The cub always responds to the mother's whistle addressed to him. When angry, dolphins "bark" and the yapping sound, made only by males, is believed to attract females.
Ultrasonic location
Bats and a number of other animals have developed a unique mechanism for orientation using ultrasonic location. Its essence lies in capturing, with the help of very fine hearing, high-frequency sounds reflected by objects, emitted by the animal’s vocal apparatus. By increasing ultrasonic pulses and capturing their reflections, bat capable of determining not only the presence of an object, but also the distance to it, etc. This location almost completely replaces poorly developed vision. A similar type of device is also found in cetaceans, which are capable of moving in completely opaque water without encountering obstacles. The peculiar ultrasonic language of dolphins has been studied quite well. Echolocation created the preconditions for the emergence of a unique communication system inaccessible to other animals.

The use of echolocation for communication can be combined with special communication signals. Dolphins have been found to have whistle signals called identification signals. Zoologists believe that this given name animal. The dolphin, placed in a separate room, continuously generates its call signs, clearly trying to establish sound contact with the herd. The identification signals of different dolphins are clearly different. Sometimes animals generate “alien” call signs. Perhaps the dolphins imitate each other or, with the help of other people’s call signs, call out to their comrades, inviting certain animals to a “conversation”.

QUESTIONS FOR CONTROL:

1. 
   What is meant by animal language?
2. 
   What are the main functions of chemical communication?
3. 
   What role does individual smell play in the life of animals?
4. 
   Why do animals mark territory?
5. 
   What is the role of visual communication in animal communication?

All animals have to get food, defend themselves, guard the boundaries of their territory, look for marriage partners, and take care of their offspring. All this would be impossible if systems and means of communication, or communication, of animals did not exist.

Communication occurs when an animal or group of animals gives a signal that causes a response. Usually (but not always) those who send and those who receive a communication signal belong to the same species. An animal that has received a signal does not always respond to it with a clear reaction. For example, a dominant ape in a group may ignore a signal from a subordinate ape; however, even this dismissive attitude is a response because it reminds the subordinate animal that the dominant ape occupies a higher position in the social hierarchy of the group.

Most species do not have a “real language” as we understand it. Animal “talk” consists of relatively few basic signals that are necessary for the survival of the individual and the species; These signals do not carry any information about the past and future, as well as about any abstract concepts. However, according to some scientists, humans will be able to communicate with animals, most likely aquatic mammals, in the coming decades.

A communication signal can be transmitted by sound or a system of sounds, gestures or other body movements, including facial movements; position and color of the body or its parts; release of odorous substances; finally, physical contact between individuals.

Animals receive communication signals and other information about the outside world through the physical senses of sight, hearing and touch, and the chemical senses of smell and taste. For animals with highly developed vision and hearing, the perception of visual and sound signals is of primary importance, but in most animals the “chemical” senses are most developed. Relatively few animals, mainly primates, convey information using a combination of different signals - gestures, body movements and sounds, which expands the capabilities of their “vocabulary”.

The higher the position of an animal in the evolutionary hierarchy, the more complex its sense organs and the more perfect its biocommunication apparatus. For example, insects' eyes cannot focus, and they see only blurry silhouettes of objects; on the contrary, vertebrates' eyes focus, so they perceive objects quite clearly. Humans and many animals produce sounds using the vocal cords located in the larynx. Insects make sounds by rubbing one part of their body against another, and some fish “drum” by clicking their gill covers.

All sounds have certain characteristics - vibration frequency (pitch), amplitude (loudness), duration, rhythm and pulsation. Each of these characteristics is important for a particular animal when it comes to communication.

In humans, the organs of smell are located in the nasal cavity, taste - in the mouth; however, in many animals, such as insects, the olfactory organs are located on the antennae, and the taste organs are located on the limbs. Often the hairs (sensilla) of insects serve as organs of tactile sense, or touch. When the senses detect changes in the environment, such as a new sight, sound, or smell, the information is transmitted to the brain, and this “biological computer” sorts and integrates all incoming data so that its owner can respond accordingly.

AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES Aquatic invertebrates communicate primarily through visual and auditory signals. Bivalve molluscs, barnacles and other similar invertebrates make sounds by opening and closing their shells or houses, and crustaceans such as spiny lobsters make loud scraping sounds by rubbing their antennae against their shells. Crabs warn or scare off strangers by shaking their claws until they begin to crack, and male crabs emit this signal even when a person approaches. Due to the high sound conductivity of water, signals emitted by aquatic invertebrates are transmitted over long distances.

Vision plays a significant role in the communication of crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans. The brightly colored claws of male crabs attract females while warning rival males to keep their distance. Some species of crabs perform a mating dance, in which they swing their large claws in a rhythm characteristic of that species. Many deep-sea marine invertebrates, such as the sea worm

Odontosyllis, have rhythmically flashing luminous organs called photophores.

Some aquatic invertebrates, such as lobsters and crabs, have taste buds at the base of their legs. Others do not have special olfactory organs, but most of the body surface is sensitive to the presence of chemicals in the water. Among aquatic invertebrates, chemical signals are used by the ciliated ciliates suvoika (

Vorticella) and sea acorns, from European land snails - grape snail (Helix pomatia) . Suvoyki and sea acorns simply stand out chemical substances, which attract individuals of their species, while the snails shoot thin, dart-shaped “love arrows” at each other. These miniature structures contain a substance that prepares the recipient for sperm transfer.

A number of aquatic invertebrates, mainly some coelenterates (jellyfish), use tactile signals for communication. If one member of a large colony of coelenterates touches another, it immediately contracts, turning into a tiny lump. Immediately all other individuals of the colony repeat the action of the contracted animal.

FISH Fish use at least three types of communication signals: auditory, visual and chemical, often combining them. Fish make sounds by rattling their gill covers, and using their swim bladders they make grunts and whistles. Sound signals are used to gather in a flock, as an invitation to breed, to defend the territory, and also as a method of recognition. Fish do not have eardrums, and they hear differently from humans. The system of thin bones, the so-called. Weber's apparatus transmits vibrations from the swim bladder to the inner ear. The range of frequencies that fish perceive is relatively narrow - most do not hear sounds above the upper “C” and best perceive sounds below the “A” of the third octave.

Fish have good eyesight, but see poorly in the dark, such as in the depths of the ocean. Most fish perceive color to some degree. This is important during the mating season because the bright colors of individuals of one sex, usually males, attract individuals of the opposite sex. The color changes serve as a warning to other fish not to invade another's territory. During the breeding season, some fish, such as the three-spined stickleback, perform mating dances; others, such as catfish, display threat by turning their mouths wide open towards an intruder.

Fish, like insects and some other animals, use pheromones - chemical signaling substances. Catfish recognize individuals of their species by tasting the substances they secrete, probably produced by the gonads or contained in the urine or mucous cells of the skin. The taste buds of catfish are located in the skin, and any of them can remember the taste of the other’s pheromones if they have ever been close to each other. The next meeting of these fish may end in war or peace, depending on the previously established relationship.

INSECTS Insects are generally tiny creatures, but their social organization rivals that of human society. Insect communities could never form, much less survive, without communication between their members. Insects communicate using visual cues, sounds, touch and chemical cues, including gustatory stimuli and odors, and are extremely sensitive to sounds and odors.Insects were perhaps the first on land to make sounds, usually similar to tapping, popping, scratching, etc. These noises are not particularly musical, but they are produced by highly specialized organs. Insect calls are influenced by light intensity, the presence or absence of other insects nearby, and direct contact with them.

One of the most common sounds is stridulation, i.e. a chattering sound caused by rapid vibration or rubbing of one part of the body against another at a certain frequency and in a certain rhythm. This usually happens according to the “scraper-bow” principle. In this case, one leg (or wing) of the insect, which has 80-90 small teeth along the edge, quickly moves back and forth along the thickened part of the wing or other part of the body. Grasshoppers and grasshoppers use just such a chirping mechanism, while grasshoppers and trumpeters rub their modified forewings against each other.

The male cicadas produce the loudest chirping sounds. On the underside of the abdomen of these insects there are two membranous membranes - the so-called. timbal organs. These membranes are equipped with muscles and can bend in and out, like the bottom of a tin. When the tymbal muscles contract rapidly, the pops or clicks merge, creating an almost continuous sound.

Insects can make sounds by banging their heads on wood or leaves and their abdomens and front legs on the ground. Some species, such as the death's-head hawk-moth, have actual miniature sound chambers and produce sounds by drawing air in and out through membranes in these chambers.

Many insects, especially flies, mosquitoes and bees, make sounds in flight by vibrating their wings; some of these sounds are used in communication. Queen bees chatter and buzz: the adult queen hums, and the immature queens chatter as they try to escape from their cells.

The vast majority of insects do not have a developed hearing system and use antennas to capture sound vibrations passing through air, soil and other substrates. More subtle discrimination of sound signals is provided by tympanic organs similar to the ear (in moths, locusts, some grasshoppers, cicadas); hair-like sensilla, consisting of vibration-sensitive bristles on the surface of the body; chordotonal (string-shaped) sensilla located in various parts of the body; finally, specialized so-called popliteal organs in the legs that perceive vibration (in grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, bees, stoneflies, ants).

Many insects have two types of eyes - simple ocelli and paired compound eyes, but in general their vision is poor. They can usually only perceive light and dark, but some, such as bees and butterflies, can perceive colors.

Visual signals serve various functions. Some insects use them for courtship and threats. Thus, in fireflies, luminescent flashes of cold yellow-green light, produced with a certain frequency, serve as a means of attracting individuals of the opposite sex. Bees, having discovered a food source, return to the hive and notify other bees about its location and distance through special movements on the surface of the hive (the so-called bee dance).

The constant licking and sniffing of each other by ants indicates the importance of touch as one of the means of organizing these insects into a colony. In the same way, by touching the abdomen of their “cows” (aphids) with their antennae, the ants inform them that they must secrete a drop of “milk”.

Pheromones are used as sexual attractants and stimulants, as well as warning and trace substances by ants, bees, butterflies, including silkworms, cockroaches and many other insects. These substances, usually in the form of odorous gases or liquids, are secreted by special glands located in the mouth or abdomen of the insect. Some sexual attractants (such as those used by moths) are so effective that they can be perceived by individuals of the same species at a concentration of only a few molecules per cubic centimeter of air.

Amphibians and reptiles Forms of communication between amphibians and reptiles are relatively simple. This is partly due to a poorly developed brain, as well as the fact that these animals lack care for their offspring.Amphibians. Among amphibians, only frogs, toads and tree frogs make loud sounds; Of the salamanders, some squeak or whistle quietly, others have vocal folds and emit a quiet bark. The sounds made by amphibians can mean a threat, a warning, a call for reproduction, they can be used as a signal of trouble or as a means of protecting the territory. Some species of frogs croak in groups of three, and a large chorus may consist of several loud-voiced trios.

In the spring, during the breeding season, the throat of many species of frogs and toads becomes brightly colored: it often becomes dark yellow, strewn with black spots, and usually in females its color is brighter than in males. Some species use seasonal throat coloration not only to attract a mate, but also as a visual signal warning that territory is occupied.

Some toads, in defense, emit a highly acidic fluid produced by the parotid glands (one behind each eye). The Colorado toad can spray this poisonous liquid up to 3.6 m away. At least one species of salamander uses a special “love drink” produced during the mating season by special glands located near the head.

Reptiles. Some snakes hiss, others make cracking noises, and in Africa and Asia there are snakes that chirp using scales. Since snakes and other reptiles do not have external ear openings, they only sense vibrations that pass through the soil. So the rattlesnake is unlikely to hear its own rattle.

Unlike snakes, tropical gecko lizards have external ear openings. Geckos click very loudly and make sharp sounds.

In the spring, male alligators roar to attract females and scare away other males. Crocodiles make loud alarm sounds when they are frightened and hiss loudly, threatening an intruder who has invaded their territory. Baby alligators squeak and croak hoarsely to get their mother's attention. The Galapagos giant or elephant tortoise makes a low, raspy roar, and many other tortoises hiss menacingly.

Many reptiles drive away strangers of their own or other species invading their territory, demonstrating threatening behavior - they open their mouths, inflate body parts (like a spectacled snake), beat their tails, etc. Snakes have relatively poor vision; they see the movement of objects, and not their shape and color; Species that hunt in open areas have sharper vision. Some lizards, such as geckos and chameleons, perform ritual dances during courtship or sway in a peculiar way when moving.

The sense of smell and taste is well developed in snakes and lizards; in crocodiles and turtles it is relatively weak. Rhythmically sticking out its tongue, the snake enhances its sense of smell, transferring odorous particles to a special sensory structure - the so-called so-called sensory structure located in the mouth. Jacobson's organ. Some snakes, turtles and alligators secrete musky fluid as warning signals; others use scent as a sexual attractant.

BIRDS Communication in birds has been better studied than in any other animal. Birds communicate with members of their own species, as well as other species, including mammals and even humans. To do this, they use sound (not only voice), as well as visual signals. Thanks to the developed hearing system, consisting of the outer, middle and inner ear, birds hear well. The vocal apparatus of birds, the so-called. The lower larynx, or syrinx, is located in the lower part of the trachea.

Schooling birds use a more diverse range of sound and visual signals than solitary birds, which sometimes know only one song and repeat it over and over again. Flocking birds have signals that gather a flock, notify about danger, signals “all is calm” and even calls for a meal.

In birds, it is predominantly males who sing, but more often not to attract females (as is usually believed), but to warn that the territory is under protection. Many songs are very intricate and are provoked by the release of the male sex hormone - testosterone - in the spring. Most of the “conversations” in birds take place between the mother and the chicks, who beg for food, and the mother feeds, warns or calms them.

Bird song is shaped by both genes and learning. The song of a bird raised in isolation is incomplete, i.e. deprived of individual “phrases” sung by other birds.

A non-vocal sound signal - the wing drum - is used by the collared grouse during the mating period to attract a female and warn male competitors to stay away. One of the tropical manakins clicks its tail feathers like castanets during courtship. At least one bird, the African honeyguide, communicates directly with humans. The honey guide feeds on beeswax, but cannot extract it from hollow trees where bees make their nests. By repeatedly approaching the person, calling loudly and then heading towards the tree with the bees, the honeyguide leads the person to their nest; after the honey is taken, it eats the remaining wax.

During the breeding season, males of many bird species adopt complex signaling postures, preen their feathers, perform courtship dances, and perform various other actions accompanied by sound signals. The head and tail feathers, crowns and crests, even the apron-like arrangement of breast feathers are used by males to demonstrate their readiness to mate. The mandatory love ritual of the wandering albatross is a complex mating dance performed jointly by the male and female.

The mating behavior of male birds sometimes resembles acrobatic stunts. Thus, the male of one of the species of birds of paradise performs a real somersault: sitting on a branch in full view of the female, presses his wings tightly to his body, falls from the branch, makes a complete somersault in the air and lands in his original position.

TERRESTRIAL MAMMALS It has long been known that land mammals make mating calls and threat sounds, leave scent marks, sniff and gently caress each other. However, compared to what we know about the communication of birds, bees and some other animals, information about the communication of land mammals is rather scarce.

In the communication of terrestrial mammals, quite a lot of space is occupied by information about emotional states - fear, anger, pleasure, hunger and pain. However, this far from exhausts the content of communications even in non-primate animals. Animals wandering in groups, through visual signals, maintain the integrity of the group and warn each other about danger; bears within their territory peel off the bark on tree trunks or rub against them, thus informing about the size of their body and gender; skunks and a number of other animals secrete odorous substances for protection or as sexual attractants; male deer organize ritual tournaments to attract females during the rutting season; wolves express their attitude by aggressive growling or friendly tail wagging; seals in rookeries communicate using calls and special movements; angry bear coughs threateningly.

Mammalian communication signals were developed for communication between individuals of the same species, but often these signals are also perceived by individuals of other species that are nearby. In Africa, the same spring is sometimes used for watering at the same time by different animals, such as wildebeest, zebra and waterbuck. If a zebra, with its keen sense of hearing and smell, senses the approach of a lion or other predator, its actions inform its neighbors at the watering hole, and they react accordingly. In this case, interspecific communication takes place.

Man uses his voice to communicate to an immeasurably greater extent than any other primate. For greater expressiveness, words are accompanied by gestures and facial expressions. Other primates use signal postures and movements in communication much more often than we do, and use their voice much less often. These components of primate communication behavior are not innate - animals learn different ways of communicating as they grow older.

Raising cubs in the wild is based on imitation and the development of stereotypes; they are looked after most of the time and punished when necessary; they learn what's edible by watching their mothers and learn gestures and vocal communication mostly through trial and error. The assimilation of communicative behavioral stereotypes is a gradual process. The most interesting features of primate communication behavior are easier to understand when we consider the circumstances in which different types of signals are used - chemical, tactile, auditory and visual.

Chemical signals. Chemical signals are most often used by primates that are potential prey and occupy a limited territory. The sense of smell is of particular importance for tree-dwelling primitive nocturnal primates (prosimians), such as tupai and lemurs. Tupai mark territory using secretions from glands located in the skin of the throat and chest. In some lemurs such glands are located in the armpits and even on the forearms; As the animal moves, it leaves its scent on the plants. Other lemurs use urine and feces for this purpose.

Great apes, like humans, do not have a developed olfactory system. In addition, only a few of them have skin glands specifically designed to produce signaling substances.

Tactile signals. Touch and other bodily contacts - tactile signals - are widely used by monkeys when communicating. Langurs, baboons, gibbons and chimpanzees often hug each other in a friendly manner, and a baboon may lightly touch, poke, pinch, bite, sniff or even kiss another baboon as a sign of genuine affection. When two chimpanzees meet for the first time, they may gently touch the stranger's head, shoulder or thigh.

Monkeys constantly pick through their fur - cleaning each other (this behavior is called grooming), which serves as a manifestation of true closeness and intimacy. Grooming is especially important in primate groups where social dominance is maintained, such as rhesus monkeys, baboons and gorillas. In such groups, a subordinate individual often communicates, by loudly smacking her lips, that she wants to groom another who occupies a higher position in the social hierarchy.

The sounds produced by apes and apes are relatively simple. For example, chimpanzees often scream and squeal when they are scared or angry, and these are truly basic signals. However, they also have an amazing noise ritual: periodically they gather in the forest and drum their hands on the protruding roots of trees, accompanying these actions with screams, squeals and howls. This drumming and singing festival can last for hours and can be heard from at least a kilometer and a half away. There is reason to believe that in this way chimpanzees call their fellows to places abounding in food.

It has long been known that gorillas beat their chests. In fact, these are not blows with a fist, but slaps with half-bent palms on the swollen chest, since the gorilla first takes in a full chest of air. Slaps inform group members that an intruder, and possibly an enemy, is nearby; at the same time they serve as a warning and threat to the stranger. Chest beating is only one of a whole series of similar actions, which also include sitting in an upright position, tilting the head to the side, screaming, grumbling, getting up, tearing and throwing plants. Only the dominant male, the leader of the group, has the right to carry out such actions; subordinate males and even females perform parts of the repertoire. Gorillas, chimpanzees and baboons grunt and make barking sounds, and gorillas also roar as a sign of warning and threat.

Visual cues. Gestures, facial expressions, and sometimes also body position and muzzle color are the main visual signals of great apes. Among the threatening signals are sudden jumping to your feet and drawing your head into your shoulders, striking the ground with your hands, violently shaking trees and randomly throwing stones. By displaying the bright color of its muzzle, the African mandrill tames its subordinates. In a similar situation, the proboscis monkey from Borneo shows off its huge nose.

Staring in a baboon or gorilla means a threat. In the baboon, it is accompanied by frequent blinking, movement of the head up and down, flattening of the ears and arching of the eyebrows. To maintain order in the group, dominant baboons and gorillas periodically cast icy gazes at females, cubs and subordinate males. When two unfamiliar gorillas suddenly come face to face, staring can be a challenge. First, a roar is heard, two powerful animals retreat, and then suddenly approach each other, bending their heads forward. Stopping just before they touch, they begin to gaze intently into each other's eyes until one of them retreats. Real contractions are rare.

Signals such as grimacing, yawning, moving the tongue, flattening the ears, and smacking the lips can be either friendly or unfriendly. So, if a baboon flattens its ears, but does not accompany this action with a direct gaze or blinking, its gesture means submission.

Chimpanzees use rich facial expressions to communicate. For example, a tightly clenched jaw with exposed gums means a threat; frown - intimidation; a smile, especially with the tongue sticking out, is friendliness; pulling back the lower lip until teeth and gums show - a peaceful smile; by pouting her lips, the mother chimpanzee expresses her love for her baby; Repeated yawning indicates confusion or difficulty. Chimpanzees often yawn when they notice someone is watching them.

Some primates use their tails to communicate. For example, a male lemur rhythmically moves his tail before mating, and a female langur lowers her tail to the ground when the male approaches her. In some species of primates, subordinate males raise their tails when a dominant male approaches, indicating that they belong to a lower social rank.

Sound signals. Interspecific communication is widespread among primates. Langurs, for example, closely monitor the alarm calls and movements of peacocks and deer. Grazing animals and baboons respond to each other's warning calls, so predators have little chance of surprise attacks. AQUATIC MAMMALS Sounds as signals. Aquatic mammals, like terrestrial, have ears consisting of an external opening, a middle ear with three auditory ossicles and an inner ear connected by the auditory nerve to the brain. Marine mammals have excellent hearing, which is also helped by the high sound conductivity of water.

Seals are among the noisiest aquatic mammals. During the breeding season, females and young seals howl and moo, and these sounds are often drowned out by the barks and roars of males. Males roar mainly to mark territory, in which they each gather a harem of 10-100 females. Vocal communication in females is not so intense and is associated primarily with mating and caring for offspring.

Whales constantly make sounds such as clicking, creaking, low-pitched sighs, as well as something like the creaking of rusty hinges and muffled thuds. It is believed that many of these sounds are nothing more than echolocation, used to detect food and navigate underwater. They can also be a means of maintaining group integrity.

Among aquatic mammals, the undisputed champion in emitting sound signals is the bottlenose dolphin (

Tursiops truncatus ). The sounds made by dolphins have been described as moaning, squeaking, whining, whistling, barking, squealing, meowing, creaking, clicking, chirping, grunting, shrill screams, as well as being reminiscent of the noise of a motor boat, the creaking of rusty hinges, etc. These sounds consist of a continuous series of vibrations at frequencies ranging from 3,000 to more than 200,000 hertz. They are produced by blowing air through the nasal passage and two valve-like structures inside the blowhole. Sounds are modified by increasing and decreasing tension in the nasal valves and by the movement of "reeds" or "plugs" located within the airways and blowhole. The sound produced by dolphins, similar to the creaking of rusty hinges, is “sonar,” a kind of echolocation mechanism. By constantly sending these sounds and receiving their reflections from underwater rocks, fish and other objects, dolphins can easily move even in complete darkness and find fish.

Dolphins undoubtedly communicate with each other. When a dolphin makes a short, sad whistle, followed by a high-pitched, melodious whistle, it is a distress signal, and other dolphins will immediately swim to the rescue. The cub always responds to the mother's whistle addressed to him. When angry, dolphins "bark" and the yapping sound, made only by males, is believed to attract females.

Visual cues. Visual signals are not essential in the communication of aquatic mammals. In general, their vision is not sharp and is also hampered by the low transparency of ocean water. One example of visual communication worth mentioning is that the hooded seal has an inflating muscular pouch above its head and snout. When threatened, the seal quickly inflates the pouch, which turns bright red. This is accompanied by a deafening roar, and the trespasser (if it is not a person) usually retreats.

Some aquatic mammals, especially those that spend part of their time on land, perform demonstrative actions related to the defense of territory and reproduction. With these few exceptions, visual communication is poorly used.

Olfactory and tactile signals. Olfactory signals probably do not play a major role in the communication of aquatic mammals, serving only for the mutual recognition of parents and young in those species that spend a significant part of their lives on rookeries, for example, seals. Whales and dolphins appear to have a keen sense of taste, which helps them determine whether a fish they catch is worth eating.

In aquatic mammals, tactile organs are distributed throughout the skin, and the sense of touch, especially important during periods of courtship and caring for offspring, is well developed. So, during the mating season, a pair of sea lions often sits facing each other, intertwining their necks and caressing each other for hours.

STUDY METHODS Ideally, animal communication should be studied in natural conditions, but for many species (especially mammals) this is difficult to do due to the secretive nature of the animals and their constant movements. In addition, many animals are nocturnal. Birds are often frightened by the slightest movement or even just the sight of a person, as well as the warning calls and actions of other birds. Laboratory studies of animal behavior provide a lot of new information, but in captivity animals behave differently than in freedom. They even develop neuroses and often stop reproductive behavior.

Any scientific problem usually requires the use of observational and experimental methods. Both are best done under controlled laboratory conditions. However, laboratory conditions are not entirely suitable for studying communication, since they limit the freedom of action and reaction of the animal.

In field studies, cover made from bushes and branches is used to observe some mammals and birds. A person in a shelter can cover up his scent with a few drops of skunk fluid or other strong-smelling substance.

To photograph animals you need good cameras and especially telephoto lenses. However, the noise made by the camera may scare the animal away. To study sound signals, a sensitive microphone and sound recording equipment are used, as well as a disc-shaped parabolic reflector made of metal or plastic, which focuses sound waves on a microphone placed at its center. After recording, sounds that the human ear cannot hear can be detected. Some sounds made by animals are in the ultrasonic range; they can be heard when the tape is played at a slower speed than when recording. This is especially useful when studying the sounds made by birds.

Using a sound spectrograph, a graphic recording of sound, a “voice print,” is obtained. By “dissecting” a sound spectrogram, one can identify various components of a bird’s call or the sounds of other animals, compare mating calls, calls for food, threatening or warning sounds, and other signals.

In laboratory conditions, the behavior of fish and insects is studied mainly, although a lot of information has been obtained about mammals and other animals. Dolphins quickly get used to open laboratories - swimming pools, dolphinariums, etc. Laboratory computers “remember” the sounds of insects, fish, dolphins and other animals and make it possible to identify stereotypes of communicative behavior.

If a person learned to communicate with animals, it would bring a lot of benefits. For example, we could obtain from dolphins and whales information about the life of the sea that is inaccessible, or at least difficult to obtain, by humans. By studying the communication systems of animals, humans will be able to better imitate the visual and auditory signals of birds and mammals. Such imitation has already brought benefits, making it possible to attract the studied animals in their natural habitats, as well as to repel pests. Taped alarm calls are played through loudspeakers to scare off starlings, gulls, crows, rooks and other birds that damage plantings and crops, and synthesized insect sex attractants are used to lure insects into traps. Studies of the structure of the “ear” located on the front legs of the grasshopper have made it possible to improve the design of the microphone.

LITERATURE Lilly J. Man and dolphin . M., 1965
Chauvin R. From bee to gorilla . M., 1965
Goodall J. Chimpanzees in nature: behavior . M., 1992

Introduction. 3

1. Definition of the concept “Animal Communication”. 4

2. Animal language. 7

a) aquatic invertebrates. 12

b) fish. 14

c) insects. 15

d) amphibians and reptiles. 17

d) birds. 19

f) terrestrial mammals. 20

g) aquatic mammals. 25

3. Methods for studying animal communication. 28

Conclusion. thirty

Therefore, in order to assert the presence of language in any animal, it is enough to detect the signs produced and perceived by them, which they are able to distinguish from each other.

Soviet semiotician Yu. S. Stepanov expressed himself even more clearly: “Until now, the question of “animal language” has been posed one-sidedly. Meanwhile, from the point of view of semiotics, the question should be posed not like this: “Is there a “language of animals” and how does it manifest itself?”, but differently: the instinctive behavior of animals itself is a kind of language based on lower-order symbolism. In the gamut of linguistic or language-like phenomena, it is, in fact, nothing more than “language of a weak degree.”

1. Definition of the concept of “Animal Communication”

Animal communication http://bse.chemport.ru/obschenie_zhivotnyh.shtml, biocommunication, connections between individuals of the same or different types, established by receiving the signals they produce. These signals (specific - chemical, mechanical, optical, acoustic, electrical, etc., or non-specific - accompanying breathing, movement, nutrition, etc.) are perceived by the corresponding receptors: organs of vision, hearing, smell, taste, skin sensitivity, organs lateral line (in fish), thermo- and electroreceptors. The production (generation) of signals and their reception (reception) form communication channels (acoustic, chemical, etc.) between organisms for the transmission of information of different physical or chemical nature. Information received through various communication channels is processed in different parts of the nervous system, and then compared (integrated) in its higher parts, where the body’s response is formed. Animal communication makes it easier to find food and favorable conditions habitat, protection from enemies and harmful influences. Without animal communication, it is impossible to meet individuals of different sexes, interact between parents and offspring, form groups (flocks, herds, swarms, colonies, etc.) and regulate relationships between individuals within them (territorial relations, hierarchy, etc.).

The role of one or another communication channel in animal communication varies among different species and is determined by the ecology and morpho-physiology of the species that have developed during evolution, and also depends on changing environmental conditions, biological rhythms, etc. As a rule, animal communication is carried out using several simultaneously communication channels. The most ancient and widespread communication channel is chemical. Some metabolic products released by an individual into the external environment are capable of influencing the “chemical” sense organs - smell and taste, and serve as regulators of the growth, development and reproduction of organisms, as well as signals that cause certain behavioral reactions of other individuals). Thus, pheromones of males of some fish accelerate the maturation of females, synchronizing the reproduction of the population. Odorous substances released into the air or water, left on the ground or objects, mark the territory occupied by the animal, facilitate orientation and strengthen connections between members of the group (family, herd, swarm, flock). Fish, amphibians, and mammals are good at distinguishing the odors of individuals of their own and other species, and common group odors allow animals to distinguish “friends” from “strangers.”

In the communication of aquatic animals, the perception of local water movements by the lateral line organs plays an important role. This type of distant mechanoreception allows you to detect an enemy or prey and maintain order in a flock. Tactile forms of animal communication (for example, mutual grooming of plumage or fur) are important for the regulation of intraspecific relationships in some birds and mammals. Females and subordinates usually clean dominant individuals (mainly adult males). In a number of electric fish, lampreys and hagfishes, the electric field they create serves to mark territory and helps with short-range orientation and search for food. In “non-electric” fish, a common electric field is formed in a school, coordinating the behavior of individual individuals. Visual communication of animals, associated with the development of photosensitivity and vision, is usually accompanied by the formation of structures that acquire signal significance (coloring and color patterns, contours of the body or its parts) and the emergence of ritual movements and facial expressions. This is how the process of ritualization occurs - the formation of discrete signals, each of which is associated with a specific situation and has a certain conditional meaning (threat, submission, pacification, etc.), reducing the danger of intraspecific clashes. Bees, having found honey plants, are able to use “dance” to convey to other foragers information about the location of the food found and the distance to it (works of the German physiologist K. Frisch). For many species, complete catalogs have been compiled of their “language of postures, gestures and facial expressions” - the so-called. ethograms. These displays are often characterized by masking or exaggeration of certain features of color and shape. Visual communication of animals plays a particularly important role among inhabitants of open landscapes (steppes, deserts, tundras); its value is significantly less in aquatic animals and thicket inhabitants.

Acoustic communication is most developed in arthropods and vertebrates. Its role as an effective method of distant signaling increases in the aquatic environment and in closed landscapes (forests, thickets). The development of sound communication in animals depends on the state of other communication channels. In birds, for example, high acoustic abilities are characteristic mainly of modestly colored species, while bright colors and complex display behavior are usually combined with a low level of vocal communication. The differentiation of complex sound-reproducing structures in many insects, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals allows them to produce dozens of different sounds. The “lexicon” of songbirds includes up to 30 basic signals that are combined with each other, which dramatically increases the efficiency of biocommunication. The complex structure of many signals makes it possible to personally recognize a marital and group partner. In a number of bird species, sound contact between parents and chicks is established when the chicks are still in the egg. A comparison of the variability of some characteristics of optical signaling in crabs and ducks and sound signaling in songbirds indicates a significant similarity between different types of signaling. Apparently, the throughput capacities of optical and acoustic channels are comparable.

2. Animal language. Communication between different species of animals.

Since linguistic signs can be intentional (produced intentionally, based on knowledge of their semantic meanings) and non-intentional (produced unintentionally), this question needs to be more specific, formulated as follows: do animals use intentional and non-intentional linguistic signs?

The question of non-intentional linguistic signs in animals is relatively simple. Numerous studies of animal behavior have shown that non-intentional language is widespread among animals. Animals, especially the so-called social animals, communicate with each other using signs produced instinctively, without awareness of their semantic meanings and their communicative significance. Let's give some examples.

When we find ourselves in the forest or in a field in the summer, we involuntarily pay attention to the songs sung by insects (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.). Despite the apparent diversity of these songs, naturalists, who spent many hours in observations requiring perseverance and patience, were able to identify five main classes: the calling song of the male, the calling song of the female, the song of “seduction”, which is performed only by the male, the song of threat, to which the male comes running when he is close to the rival, and, finally, a song performed by the male or female when they are worried about something. Each of the songs conveys certain information. Thus, the calling song indicates the direction in which to look for a male or female. When a female, attracted by the male’s calling song, finds herself close to him, the calling song gives way to a “seduction” song. Birds make especially many sound signals during the mating season. These signals warn the rival that a certain territory is already occupied and that it is unsafe for him to appear on it, they call for a female, express alarm, etc.

From the point of view of preserving offspring, “mutual understanding” between parents and children is of paramount importance. This is indicated by an audible alarm. Parents notify the chicks about their return with food, warn them about the approach of the enemy, encourage them before departure, and call them to one place (calling cries of the chicken).

The chicks, in turn, give signals when they feel hungry or afraid.

Signals emitted by animals in some cases carry very precise, strictly defined information about reality. For example, if a seagull finds a small amount of food, it eats it itself, without notifying other seagulls about it; if there is a lot of food, the seagull attracts its relatives to it with a special call. Bird sentinels not only raise the alarm when an enemy appears: they know how to report which enemy is approaching and from where - from the ground or from the air. The distance to the enemy determines the degree of alarm expressed by a sound signal. Thus, the bird, which the British call the cat bird, emits short cries at the sight of an enemy, and when he approaches immediately, it begins to meow, like a cat (hence its name).

Apparently, among more or less developed animals there are no animals that do not resort to the help of linguistic signs. You can additionally point out the calling cries of male amphibians, the distress signals given by an amphibian captured by an enemy, the “hunting signals” of wolves (a signal to gather, a call to go in hot pursuit, a hooting sound emitted when directly perceiving the pursued prey), and numerous signals used in herds of wild or semi-wild cattle, etc. Even fish, whose proverbial muteness has become common, communicate widely with each other using sound signals. These signals serve as a means of scaring off enemies and attracting females. Recent studies have established that fish also use characteristic postures and movements (freezing in an unnatural position, circling in place, etc.) as a means of communication.

However, the example of non-intentional language remains, of course, the language of ants and the language of bees.

Ants “talk” to each other in a wide variety of ways: they secrete odorous substances that indicate the direction in which to go for prey; odorous substances also serve as a sign of alarm. Ants also use gestures along with touching. There is even reason to believe that they are capable of establishing biological radio communication. Thus, according to the experiments, the ants dug up their fellows placed in iron cups with holes, while they did not pay attention to the empty control cups and, most importantly, to the lead cups filled with ants (lead, as is known, does not transmit radio emissions ).

According to Professor P. Marikovsky, who for several years studied the behavior of the red-breasted woodborer, one of the species of ants, in ant language the most important role is played by gestures and touches. Professor Marikovsky was able to identify more than two dozen meaningful gestures. However, he was able to determine the meaning of only 14 signals. When explaining the essence of non-intentional language, we have already given examples of ant sign language. In addition to these, we will consider several more cases of signaling used by ants.

If an insect that has crawled or flown to an anthill is inedible, then the ant that first established this gives a signal to other ants by climbing onto the insect and jumping down from it. Usually one jump is enough, but if necessary, the jump is repeated many times until the ants heading towards the insect leave it alone. When meeting an enemy, the ant takes a threatening pose (it rises and puts its abdomen forward), as if saying: “Beware!” etc.

There is no doubt that further observations of ants will lead to new, perhaps even more unexpected, results that will help us understand the peculiar world of insects and reveal the secrets of their language.

Even more striking is the language of other social insects - bees. This language was first described by the outstanding German zoopsychologist Karl Frisch. The merits of K. Frisch in studying the life of bees are well known. His success in this area is largely due to the development of a subtle technique that allowed him to trace the slightest nuances of bee behavior.

We have already talked about the circular dance performed by bees in the presence of a rich bribe somewhere in the area of ​​the hive. It turns out that this dance is only a simple linguistic sign. Bees resort to it in cases where the honey is located closer than 100 meters from the hive. If the feeder was placed at a greater distance, the bees signaled the bribe with a waggle dance. When performing this dance, the bee runs in a straight line, then, returning to its original position, makes a semicircle to the left, then runs in a straight line again, but makes a semicircle to the right.

At the same time, in a straight section, the bee quickly wags its abdomen from side to side (hence the name of the dance). The dance can last several minutes.

The waggle dance is most rapid when the bribe is located at a distance of 100 meters from the hive. The further the bribes are, the slower the dance becomes, the less often the turns to the left and right are made. K. Frisch managed to identify a purely mathematical pattern. The number of straight runs made by a bee in a quarter of a minute is approximately nine ten when the feeder is located at a distance of 100 meters from the hive, approximately six for a distance of 500 meters, four five at 1000 meters, two for 5000 meters and, finally, approximately one at distance of 10,000 meters.

Case b. The angle between the line connecting the hive to the feeder and the line going from the hive to the sun is 180°. A straight run in a wagging dance is performed downward: the angle between the direction of run and the upward direction is also 180°.

Case c. The angle between the line from the hive to the feeder and the line connecting the hive to the sun is 60°. A straight-line run is made in such a way that the angle between the direction of run and the upward direction is equal to the same 60°, and since the feeder was located to the left of the “beehive-sun” line, the line of run also lies to the left of the upward direction.

With the help of dances, bees inform each other not only about the presence of nectar and pollen in a certain place, but also at an angle of 30°, to the left of the sun.

The languages ​​we have talked about so far are non-intentional languages. The semantic meanings behind the units that form such a language are neither concepts nor representations. These semantic meanings are not realized. They represent traces in the nervous system, always existing only at the physiological level. Animals that resort to non-intentional linguistic signs are not aware of their semantic meanings, or the circumstances under which these signs can be used, or the effect they will have on their relatives. The use of non-intentional linguistic signs is carried out purely instinctively, without the help of consciousness or understanding.

This is why non-intentional linguistic signs are used under strictly defined conditions. Deviation from these conditions leads to disruption of the well-established “speech” mechanism. So, in one of his experiments, K. Frisch placed a feeder on the top of a radio tower - directly above the hive. The nectar collectors who returned to the hive could not indicate the direction of search for other bees, because in their vocabulary there is no sign assigned to the upward direction (flowers do not grow at the top). They performed the usual circular dance, which directed the bees to search for bribes around the hive on the ground. Therefore, none of the bees found the feeder. Thus, a system that operates flawlessly in the presence of familiar conditions immediately turns out to be ineffective as soon as these conditions change. When the feeder was removed from the radio mast and placed on the ground at a distance equal to the height of the tower, i.e., the usual conditions were restored, the system again demonstrated its impeccable operation. In the same way, with a horizontal arrangement of honeycombs (which is achieved by turning the hive), complete disorganization is observed in the bees’ dances, which disappears instantly when returning to normal conditions. The described facts reveal one of the main disadvantages of the non-intentional language of insects - its inflexibility, chained to strictly fixed circumstances, beyond which the mechanism of “speech” immediately breaks down.

a) aquatic invertebrates.

Aquatic invertebrates communicate primarily through visual and auditory signals. bivalves, barnacles, and other similar invertebrates make sounds by opening and closing their shells or houses, and crustaceans such as spiny lobsters make loud scraping sounds by rubbing their antennae against their shells. Crabs warn or scare off strangers by shaking their claws until they begin to crack, and male crabs emit this signal even when a person approaches. Due to the high sound conductivity of water, signals emitted by aquatic invertebrates are transmitted over long distances.

Vision plays a significant role in the communication of crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans. The brightly colored claws of male crabs attract females while warning rival males to keep their distance. Some species of crabs perform a mating dance, in which they swing their large claws in a rhythm characteristic of that species. Many deep-sea marine invertebrates, such as the sea worm odontosyllis, have rhythmically flashing luminous organs called photophores.

Some aquatic invertebrates, such as lobsters and crabs, have taste buds at the base of their legs; others do not have special olfactory organs, but a large area of ​​their body surface is sensitive to the presence of chemicals in the water. Among aquatic invertebrates, chemical signals are used by ciliated ciliates (vorticella) and sea acorns, and among European land snails - the grape snail (helix pomatia). Snails and sea acorns simply secrete chemicals that attract members of their species, while snails shoot thin, dart-shaped "love arrows" into each other, these miniature structures containing a substance that prepares the recipient for sperm transfer.

A number of aquatic invertebrates, mainly some coelenterates (jellyfish), use tactile signals for communication: if one member of a large colony of coelenterates touches another, it immediately contracts, turning into a tiny lump. immediately all other individuals of the colony repeat the action of the contracted animal.

b) fish.

Fish use at least three types of communication signals: auditory, visual and chemical, often combining them. Fish make sounds by rattling their gill covers, and using their swim bladders they make grunts and whistles. Sound signals are used to gather in a flock, as an invitation to breed, to protect the territory, and also as a method of recognition. Fish do not have eardrums, and they hear differently from humans. system of thin bones, so-called. Weber's apparatus transmits vibrations from the swim bladder to the inner ear. The range of frequencies that fish perceive is relatively narrow - most do not hear sounds above the upper “C” and best perceive sounds below the “A” of the third octave.

Fish have good eyesight, but see poorly in the dark, such as in the depths of the ocean. Most fish perceive color to some degree - this is important during the mating season, since the bright color of individuals of one sex, usually males, attracts individuals of the opposite sex. The color changes serve as a warning to other fish not to invade another's territory. During the breeding season, some fish, such as the three-spined stickleback, perform mating dances; others, such as catfish, display threat by turning their mouths wide open towards an intruder.

Fish, like insects and some other animals, use pheromones - chemical signaling substances. Catfish recognize individuals of their species by tasting the substances they secrete, probably produced by the gonads or contained in the urine or mucous cells of the skin, the taste buds of catfish are located in the skin, and any of them can remember the taste of the other’s pheromones if they have ever been nearby each other from friend. the next meeting of these fish may end in war or peace, depending on the previously established relationships.

c) insects.

Insects are typically tiny creatures, but their social organization rivals that of human society. Insect communities could never form, much less survive, without communication between their members. When communicating, insects use visual cues, sounds, touch and chemical signals, including taste stimuli and smells, and they are extremely sensitive to sounds and smells.

Insects were perhaps the first on land to make sounds, usually similar to tapping, popping, scratching, etc. These noises are not musical, but they are produced by highly specialized organs. Insect calls are influenced by light intensity, the presence or absence of other insects nearby, and direct contact with them.

One of the most common sounds is stridulation, i.e. a chattering sound caused by rapid vibration or rubbing of one part of the body against another at a certain frequency and in a certain rhythm. This usually happens according to the “scraper-bow” principle. in this case, one leg (or wing) of the insect, having 80–90 small teeth along the edge, quickly moves back and forth along the thickened part of the wing or other part of the body. gregarious locusts and grasshoppers use precisely this chirping mechanism, while grasshoppers and trumpeters rub their modified fore wings against each other.

The male cicadas are distinguished by the loudest chirping: on the underside of the abdomen of these insects there are two membranous membranes - the so-called. timbal organs - these membranes are equipped with muscles and can bend inward and outward, like the bottom of a tin. when the tymbal muscles contract rapidly, the pops or clicks merge, creating an almost continuous sound.

Insects can make sounds by banging their heads on wood or leaves and their abdomens and front legs on the ground. some species, such as the death's-head hawk-moth, have actual miniature sound chambers and produce sounds by drawing air in and out through membranes in these chambers.

Many insects, especially flies, mosquitoes and bees, make sounds in flight by vibrating their wings; some of these sounds are used in communication. Queen bees chatter and buzz: the adult queen hums, and the immature queens chatter as they try to get out of their cells.

The vast majority of insects do not have a developed hearing system and use antennas to capture sound vibrations passing through air, soil and other substrates. more subtle discrimination of sound signals is provided by tympanic organs similar to the ear (in moths, locusts, some grasshoppers, cicadas); hair-like sensilla, consisting of vibration-sensitive bristles on the surface of the body; chordotonal (string-shaped) sensilla located in various parts of the body; finally, specialized so-called popliteal organs in the legs that perceive vibration (in grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, bees, stoneflies, ants).

Many insects have two types of eyes - simple ocelli and paired compound eyes, but in general their vision is poor, usually they can only perceive light and darkness, but some, in particular bees and butterflies, are able to distinguish colors.

Visual signals serve various functions: some insects use them for courtship and threats. Thus, in fireflies, luminescent flashes of cold yellow-green light, produced with a certain frequency, serve as a means of attracting individuals of the opposite sex. bees, having discovered a food source, return to the hive and notify other bees about its location and distance using special movements on the surface of the hive (the so-called bee dance).

The constant licking and sniffing of each other by ants indicates the importance of touch as one of the means that organizes these insects into a colony; in the same way, by touching the abdomen of their “cows” (aphids) with their antennae, the ants inform them that they must secrete a drop of “milk” .

Pheromones are used as sexual attractants and stimulants, as well as warning and trace substances by ants, bees, butterflies, including silkworms, cockroaches and many other insects. These substances, usually in the form of odorous gases or liquids, are secreted by special glands located in the mouth or abdomen of the insect. Some sexual attractants (such as those used by moths) are so effective that they can be perceived by individuals of the same species at a concentration of only a few molecules per cubic centimeter of air.

d) amphibians and reptiles.

Forms of communication between amphibians and reptiles are relatively simple. This is partly due to a poorly developed brain, as well as the fact that these animals lack care for their offspring.

Among amphibians, only frogs, toads and tree frogs make loud sounds; Of the salamanders, some squeak or whistle quietly, others have vocal folds and emit a quiet bark. sounds made by amphibians can mean a threat, a warning, a call for reproduction, they can be used as a signal of trouble or as a means of protecting the territory. Some species of frogs croak in groups of three, and a large chorus may consist of several loud-voiced trios.

In the spring, during the breeding season, the throat of many species of frogs and toads becomes brightly colored: it often becomes dark yellow, strewn with black spots, and usually in females its color is brighter than in males. Some species use seasonal throat coloration not only to attract a mate, but also as a visual signal warning that territory is occupied.

Some toads, in defense, emit a highly acidic fluid produced by the parotid glands (one behind each eye). The Colorado toad can spray this poisonous liquid up to 3.6 m away. At least one species of salamander uses a special “love drink” produced during the mating season by special glands located near the head.

Reptiles. Some snakes hiss, others make cracking noises, and in Africa and Asia there are snakes that chirp using scales. Since snakes and other reptiles do not have external ear openings, they only sense vibrations that pass through the soil. so the rattlesnake is unlikely to hear its own rattle.

Unlike snakes, tropical gecko lizards have external ear openings. geckos click very loudly and make sharp sounds.

In the spring, male alligators roar to attract females and scare away other males. Crocodiles make loud alarm sounds when they are frightened and hiss loudly, threatening an intruder who has invaded their territory. Baby alligators squeak and croak hoarsely to get their mother's attention. The Galapagos giant or elephant tortoise makes a low, raspy roar, and many other tortoises hiss menacingly.

Many reptiles drive away strangers of their own or other species invading their territory by demonstrating threatening behavior - they open their mouths, inflate body parts (like a spectacled snake), beat their tails, etc. Snakes have relatively weak vision, they see the movement of objects, and not their shape and color; Species that hunt in open areas have sharper vision. Some lizards, such as geckos and chameleons, perform ritual dances during courtship or sway in a peculiar way when moving.

The sense of smell and taste is well developed in snakes and lizards; in crocodiles and turtles it is relatively weak. Rhythmically sticking out its tongue, the snake enhances its sense of smell, transferring odorous particles to a special sensory structure - the so-called so-called sensory structure located in the mouth. Jacobson's organ. some snakes, turtles and alligators secrete musky fluid as warning signals; others use scent as a sexual attractant.

d) birds.

Communication in birds has been better studied than in any other animal. Birds communicate with members of their own species, as well as other species, including mammals and even humans. To do this, they use sound (not only vocal), as well as visual signals. Thanks to the developed hearing system, consisting of the outer, middle and inner ear, birds hear well. The vocal apparatus of birds, the so-called. The lower larynx, or syrinx, is located in the lower part of the trachea.

Schooling birds use a more diverse range of sound and visual signals than solitary birds, which sometimes know only one song and repeat it over and over again. Flocking birds have signals that gather a flock, notify about danger, signals “all is calm” and even calls for a meal.

In birds, it is predominantly males who sing, but more often not to attract females (as is usually believed), but to warn that the territory is under protection. Many songs are very intricate and are provoked by the release of the male sex hormone - testosterone - in the spring. Most of the “conversations” in birds take place between the mother and the chicks, who beg for food, and the mother feeds, warns or calms them.

Bird song is shaped by both genes and learning. The song of a bird raised in isolation is incomplete, i.e. deprived of individual “phrases” sung by other birds.

A non-vocal sound signal - the wing drum - is used by the collared grouse during the mating period to attract a female and warn male competitors to stay away. One of the tropical manakins clicks its tail feathers like castanets during courtship. At least one bird, the African honeyguide, communicates directly with humans. The honey guide feeds on beeswax, but is unable to extract it from the hollow trees where the bees make their nests, repeatedly approaching the person, calling loudly and then heading towards the tree with the bees, the honey guide leads the person to their nest; after the honey is taken, it eats the remaining wax.

During the breeding season, males of many bird species adopt complex signaling postures, preen their feathers, perform courtship dances, and perform various other actions accompanied by sound signals. The head and tail feathers, crowns and crests, even the apron-like arrangement of breast feathers are used by males to demonstrate their readiness to mate. An obligatory love ritual for the wandering albatross is a complex mating dance performed jointly by a male and a female.

The mating behavior of male birds sometimes resembles acrobatic stunts. Thus, the male of one of the species of birds of paradise performs a real somersault: sitting on a branch in full view of the female, presses his wings tightly to his body, falls from the branch, makes a complete somersault in the air and lands in his original position.

e) terrestrial mammals.

It has long been known that land mammals make mating calls and threat sounds, leave scent marks, sniff and gently caress each other.

In the communication of terrestrial mammals, quite a lot of space is occupied by information about emotional states - fear, anger, pleasure, hunger and pain. However, this far from exhausts the content of communications even in non-primate animals. Animals wandering in groups, through visual signals, maintain the integrity of the group and warn each other about danger; bears within their territory peel off the bark on tree trunks or rub against them, thus informing about the size of their body and gender; skunks and a number of other animals secrete odorous substances for protection or as sexual attractants; male deer organize ritual tournaments to attract females during the rutting season; wolves express their attitude by aggressive growling or friendly tail wagging; seals in rookeries communicate using calls and special movements; angry bear coughs threateningly.

Mammalian communication signals were developed for communication between individuals of the same species, but often these signals are also perceived by individuals of other species that are nearby. In Africa, the same spring is sometimes used for watering at the same time by different animals, for example wildebeest, zebra and waterbuck. If a zebra, with its keen sense of hearing and smell, senses the approach of a lion or other predator, its actions inform its neighbors at the watering hole, and they react accordingly. in this case, interspecific communication takes place.

Man uses his voice to communicate to an immeasurably greater extent than any other primate. For greater expressiveness, words are accompanied by gestures and facial expressions. other primates use signal postures and movements in communication much more often than we do, and the voice much less often. These components of primate communication behavior are not innate; animals learn different ways of communicating as they grow older.

Raising cubs in the wild is based on imitation and the development of stereotypes; they are looked after most of the time and punished when necessary; they learn what's edible by watching their mothers and learn gestures and vocal communication mostly through trial and error. The assimilation of communicative behavioral stereotypes is a gradual process. The most interesting features of primate communication behavior are easier to understand when we consider the circumstances in which different types of signals are used—chemical, tactile, auditory, and visual.

Chemical signals are most often used by primates that are potential prey and occupy a limited territory. The sense of smell is of particular importance for tree-dwelling primitive nocturnal primates (prosimians), such as tupai and lemurs. Tupai mark territory using the secretion of glands located in the skin of the throat and chest; in some lemurs such glands are located in the armpits and even on the forearms; When moving, the animal leaves its scent on plants; other lemurs use urine and feces for this purpose.

Greater apes, like humans, do not have a developed olfactory system; in addition, only a few of them have skin glands specifically designed to produce signal substances.

Tactile signals. Touch and other bodily contacts - tactile signals - are widely used by monkeys when communicating. Langurs, baboons, gibbons and chimpanzees often hug each other in a friendly manner, and a baboon may lightly touch, poke, pinch, bite, sniff or even kiss another baboon as a sign of genuine affection. When two chimpanzees meet for the first time, they may gently touch the stranger's head, shoulder or thigh.

Monkeys constantly pick through their fur - cleaning each other (this behavior is called grooming), which serves as a manifestation of true closeness and intimacy. Grooming is especially important in primate groups where social dominance is maintained, such as rhesus monkeys, baboons and gorillas. in such groups, a subordinate individual often communicates, by loudly smacking her lips, that she wants to groom another who occupies a higher position in the social hierarchy.

The sounds produced by apes and apes are relatively simple. For example, chimpanzees often scream and squeal when they are scared or angry, and these are truly basic signals. However, they also have an amazing noise ritual: periodically they gather in the forest and drum their hands on the protruding roots of trees, accompanying these actions with screams, squeals and howls. This drumming and singing festival can last for hours and can be heard at least a kilometer and a half away; there is reason to believe that in this way chimpanzees call their fellows to places abounding in food.

It has long been known that gorillas beat their chests. In fact, these are not blows with a fist, but slaps with half-bent palms on the swollen chest, since the gorilla first takes in a full chest of air. Slaps inform group members that an intruder, and possibly an enemy, is nearby; at the same time they serve as a warning and threat to the stranger. Chest beating is only one of a whole series of similar actions, which also include sitting in an upright position, tilting the head to the side, screaming, grumbling, getting up, tearing and throwing plants. Only the dominant male, the leader of the group, has the right to carry out such actions; subordinate males and even females perform parts of the repertoire. Gorillas, chimpanzees and baboons grunt and make barking sounds, and gorillas also roar as a sign of warning and threat.

Visual signals. Gestures, facial expressions, and sometimes also body position and muzzle color are the main visual signals of great apes. Among the threatening signals are sudden jumping to your feet and pulling your head into your shoulders, striking the ground with your hands, violently shaking trees and randomly throwing stones. By displaying the bright color of its muzzle, the African mandrill tames its subordinates. In a similar situation, the proboscis monkey from the island of Borneo shows off its huge nose.

Staring in a baboon or gorilla signifies a threat, and in a baboon it is accompanied by frequent blinking, movement of the head up and down, flattening of the ears and arching of the eyebrows. To maintain order in the group, dominant baboons and gorillas periodically cast icy gazes at females, cubs and subordinate males. When two unfamiliar gorillas suddenly come face to face, staring can be a challenge. First, a roar is heard, two powerful animals retreat, and then suddenly approach each other, bending their heads forward. stopping just before they touch, they begin to gaze intently into each other's eyes until one of them retreats. Real contractions are rare.

Signals such as grimacing, yawning, moving the tongue, flattening the ears, and smacking the lips can be either friendly or unfriendly. Thus, if a baboon presses its ears back, but does not accompany this action with a direct gaze or blinking, its gesture means submission.

Chimpanzees use rich facial expressions to communicate. For example, a tightly clenched jaw with exposed gums means a threat; frown - intimidation; a smile, especially with the tongue hanging out, is friendliness; pulling back the lower lip until teeth and gums show - a peaceful smile; by pouting her lips, the mother chimpanzee expresses her love for her baby; Repeated yawning indicates confusion or difficulty. Chimpanzees often yawn when they notice someone is watching them.

Some primates use their tails to communicate. For example, a male lemur rhythmically moves his tail before mating, and a female langur lowers her tail to the ground when the male approaches her. In some species of primates, subordinate males raise their tails when a dominant male approaches, indicating that they belong to a lower social rank.

Sound signals. Interspecific communication is widespread among primates. Langurs, for example, closely monitor the alarm calls and movements of peacocks and deer. Grazing animals and baboons respond to each other's warning calls, so predators have little chance of surprise attacks.

g) aquatic mammals.

Sounds are like signals. Aquatic mammals, like land mammals, have ears consisting of an external opening, a middle ear with three auditory ossicles, and an inner ear connected by the auditory nerve to the brain. Marine mammals have excellent hearing, which is also helped by the high sound conductivity of water.

Seals are among the noisiest aquatic mammals. During the breeding season, females and young seals howl and moo, and these sounds are often drowned out by the barks and roars of males. Males roar primarily to mark territory, in which they each gather a harem of 10–100 females. Vocal communication in females is not so intense and is associated primarily with mating and caring for offspring.

Whales constantly make sounds such as clicking, creaking, low-pitched sighs, as well as something like the creaking of rusty hinges and muffled thuds. It is believed that many of these sounds are nothing more than echolocation, used to detect food and navigate underwater. they can also be a means of maintaining group integrity.

Among aquatic mammals, the undisputed champion in emitting sound signals is the bottlenose dolphin (tursiops truncatus). The sounds made by dolphins have been described as moaning, squeaking, whining, whistling, barking, squealing, meowing, creaking, clicking, chirping, grunting, shrill screams, as well as being reminiscent of the noise of a motor boat, the creaking of rusty hinges, etc. these sounds consist of a continuous series of vibrations at frequencies ranging from 3,000 to more than 200,000 hertz, and are produced by blowing air through the nasal passage and two valve-like structures inside the blowhole. Sounds are modified by increasing and decreasing tension in the nasal valves and by the movement of "reeds" or "plugs" located within the airways and blowhole. The sound produced by dolphins, similar to the creaking of rusty hinges, is “sonar,” a kind of echolocation mechanism. By constantly sending these sounds and receiving their reflections from underwater rocks, fish and other objects, dolphins can easily move even in complete darkness and find fish.

Dolphins undoubtedly communicate with each other. When a dolphin makes a short, sad whistle, followed by a high-pitched, melodious whistle, it is a distress signal, and other dolphins will immediately swim to the rescue. The cub always responds to the mother's whistle addressed to him. When angry, dolphins "bark" and the yapping sound, made only by males, is believed to attract females.

Visual signals. Visual signals are not essential in the communication of aquatic mammals. In general, their vision is not sharp and is also hampered by the low transparency of ocean water. One example of visual communication worth mentioning is that the hooded seal has an inflating muscular pouch above its head and snout. When threatened, the seal quickly inflates the bag, which turns bright red. This is accompanied by a deafening roar, and the trespasser (if it is not a person) usually retreats.

Some aquatic mammals, especially those that spend part of their time on land, perform demonstrative actions related to the defense of territory and reproduction. With these few exceptions, visual communication is poorly used.

Olfactory and tactile signals. Olfactory signals probably do not play a major role in the communication of aquatic mammals, serving only for the mutual recognition of parents and young in those species that spend a significant part of their lives on rookeries, for example, seals. Whales and dolphins appear to have a keen sense of taste, which helps them determine whether a fish they catch is worth eating.

In aquatic mammals, tactile organs are distributed throughout the skin, and the sense of touch, especially important during periods of courtship and caring for offspring, is well developed. So, during the mating season, a pair of sea lions often sits facing each other, intertwining their necks and caressing each other for hours.

3. Methods for studying animal communication.

Ideally, animal communication should be studied in natural conditions, but for many species (especially mammals), this is difficult to do due to the secretive nature of the animals and their constant movements. In addition, many animals are nocturnal. Birds are often frightened by the slightest movement or even just the sight of a person, as well as by the warning calls and actions of other birds. Laboratory studies of animal behavior provide a lot of new information, but in captivity animals behave differently than in freedom. They even develop neuroses and often stop reproductive behavior.

Any scientific problem, as a rule, requires the use of observational and experimental methods, both of which are best carried out in controlled laboratory conditions, however, laboratory conditions are not entirely suitable for studying communication, since they limit the freedom of action and reactions of the animal.

In field studies, cover made from bushes and branches is used to observe some mammals and birds. A person in a shelter can cover up his scent with a few drops of skunk fluid or other strong-smelling substance.

Photographing animals requires good cameras and especially telephoto lenses, but the noise made by the camera can scare away the animal. To study sound signals, a sensitive microphone and sound recording equipment are used, as well as a disc-shaped parabolic reflector made of metal or plastic, which focuses sound waves on a microphone placed at its center. After recording, sounds that the human ear cannot hear can be detected. some sounds made by animals are in the ultrasonic range; they can be heard when the tape is played at a slower speed than when recording. this is especially useful when studying the sounds made by birds.

Using a sound spectrograph, a graphic recording of sound, a “voice imprint,” is obtained; by “dissecting” the sound spectrogram, one can identify various components of a bird’s call or the sounds of other animals, compare mating calls, calls for food, threatening or warning sounds, and other signals.

In laboratory conditions, the behavior of fish and insects is studied mainly, although a lot of information has been obtained about mammals and other animals. Dolphins quickly get used to open laboratories - swimming pools, dolphinariums, etc. laboratory computers “remember” the sounds of insects, fish, dolphins and other animals and make it possible to identify stereotypes of communicative behavior.

Conclusion

Thus, the complex of signaling structures and behavioral reactions during which they are demonstrated forms a signaling system specific to each species.

In the studied species of fish, the number of specific signals of the species code ranges from 10 to 26, in birds - from 14 to 28, in mammals - from 10 to 37. Phenomena similar to ritualization can also develop in the evolution of interspecific communication.

As a defense against predators that search for prey by smell, prey species develop repellent odors and inedible tissues, and to protect against predators that use sight when hunting, they develop repellent colors (Protective coloration and shape).

If a person learned to communicate with animals, this would bring a lot of benefits: for example, we could receive from dolphins and whales information about the life of the sea that is inaccessible, or at least difficult to access, for humans.

By studying the communication systems of animals, humans will be able to better imitate the visual and auditory signals of birds and mammals. Such imitation has already brought benefits, making it possible to attract the studied animals in their natural habitats, as well as to repel pests. taped alarm calls are played through loudspeakers to scare off starlings, gulls, crows, rooks and other birds that damage plantings and crops, and synthesized insect sex attractants are used to lure insects into traps. Studies of the structure of the “ear” located on the front legs of the grasshopper made it possible to improve the design of the microphone.

Bibliography

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ANIMAL COMMUNICATION: Biological Signal Field

Maintaining a complex system of intraspecific groupings, from families and harems, population parcels and colonies, to populations and suprapopulation complexes, as well as managing their dynamics, is ensured using a complex system of connections carried out through optical, acoustic, chemical, mechanical and electrical (electromagnetic) channels. In this regard, the changes introduced by the vital activity of organisms into the environment acquire informative significance and serve not only as the basis for spatial orientation, but become ways of directed transmission of information within the population and interspecific connections within the biogeocenosis. Thus, the environment transformed by organisms becomes part of supraorganismal systems of populations and biocenoses, forming a kind of signal “biological field” (Naumov, 1977). Multifaceted interest in the study of the behavior of organisms, their signaling, communication and connections allows us to better understand the mechanism of structuring the species population and outline ways and means of controlling its dynamics. Nevertheless, the degree of knowledge of the nature of signals and methods of encoding information in them remains low.

The study of chemical signaling has shown its high specificity. For vertebrate and invertebrate animals, the existence of “species odors”, odors inherent in “family”, “colonial” and other groups, individual and sexual odors has been established. Individual odor may depend not only on the chemistry of the secretions of the sweat or sebaceous glands, but also on the composition of the microflora of the skin surface, which decomposes the secreted fatty acids.

The extensive use of various excretions, including urine and feces, to mark territory and leave scent trails strengthens the bonds of individuals in a group and coordinates their behavior, isolating the group from its neighbors. Chemical markers (pheromones or telergons) can also have a broader significance, synchronizing biological phenomena in a population and influencing the state of individuals.

Species-specificity, population and intra-population (group) specificity are also characteristic of other means of communication. The songs and calls of birds, mammals, amphibians, fish, insects and other animals contain information not only for specific purposes, but also serve interspecific communications. This is associated with the inclusion in the species repertoire of voices (signals) of other species, and sometimes the sounds of the inanimate environment. There are local features of different scales in the acoustic signaling of animals. The singing and even some calls of groups of birds living at a distance of 1-2 km differ (Malchevsky, 1959). More significant and constant are the features of the “dialects-adverbs” of local and geographical populations. The same has been recorded in mammals, amphibians and insects.

Optical communications and visual signaling are subject to the same general patterns. Not only the shape of the body or its parts, color and coloring pattern, but also ritual movements, gestures and facial expressions have important signaling significance. The development of a behavioral stereotype in a group is accompanied by the establishment of characteristic types of movements, which becomes a mechanism isolating the group. Visual communication becomes especially important in herd and school animals (monkeys, ungulates, pinnipeds, cetaceans, many birds and insects).

Visual marks play a large role in the delimitation of individual, family and group areas: earthen digs and holes (rodents), urinary points (canids), tearing off tree bark (bears), biting branches, heaps of droppings (in some ungulates and predators), as well as type of shelters (nests, burrows, lairs, beds), tracks and trails. As a rule, optical marks are combined with chemical ones, which increases the importance of such a signaling network for orientation in space and as a means of delimiting individual and group territories.

Mechanical reception and corresponding signaling are widely used in the aquatic environment, playing an important role in the formation of schools (fish) and the coordination of the behavior of individuals in them, distinguishing between food and enemies in spatial orientation. For land animals its role is relatively small. It also has population specificity. Thus, K. von Frisch (Frisch, 1980) showed that Austrian bees did not understand the “wag dance language” of Italian bees. Electromagnetic signaling, reception and the ability of electric fish and schools of non-electric fish to create an artificial electric field serve as a means of regulating the spatial distribution of individuals, coordinating their behavior in a school and orientation in space.

The existence of group, local and population “dialects” (adverbs) and species specificity in the chemical, acoustic, optical and other “languages” (signaling and communication systems) of animals corresponds to the hierarchy of the spatial structure of the species, once again confirming its reality.

Information circulating in a population and community is transmitted through more or less specific channels. Their formation is associated with trace phenomena that occur during signal propagation. In this case, the environment (population or biocenosis) plays the role of not only a channel for the transfer of substances, energy and information, but also a place for the accumulation of traces of events that took place - a kind of “memory” of these supraorganismal systems.

The environment transformed by these processes deserves the name “biological (signal) field”, which in populations and other groups of organisms of the same species, as well as in biocenoses, functions not only as channels of signal and material-energy connections, but also as a control mechanism with elements of selection and information processing and memory.

The biological (signal) field arises as a result of the transformation of the original environment and its adaptation to the needs of the inhabitants. It is complex in nature, since fields of different physical and chemical natures are combined, overlapping each other. In this case, a spatial system of points may arise where the exchange of information is concentrated. These are the mentioned “urinary points” of predatory mammals (especially canids), lekking sites and colonial settlements and rookeries. In them, visual marks (tags) can be combined with chemical ones and supplemented with acoustic signaling, turning the “settlement” or colony into an organized unity. Such a system of connections regulates territorial distribution, maintains constant communication between neighbors and warns of the appearance of enemies or other danger.

Examples of spatially organized complex information system there may be tracks and trails, as well as various types of underground and above-ground shelters (burrows, lairs). In them, visually perceived signs are usually combined with various kinds chemical and other marks. This is how monkeys, tree squirrels, some birds and other forest animals mark their “roads” in the tree layer. Roaring places where harems of ungulates form are marked optically (elk and deer break off branches and tear off the bark of small trees, leaving clearly visible white trunks), chemically marked, and sound calls (the “roar” of males) are used to attract them. Animal tracks on the ground are not only visual, but usually also chemical marks indicating the direction of movement; they are used not only by predators pursuing prey, but also by individuals of the same species. The “following reaction” plays an important role in organizing the settlement of young animals, opening up the possibility of choosing a rational direction. This is of particular importance during population increases, when settlement develops into mass emigration.

During regular migrations, animals often move along paths laid by previous generations. Their direction usually turns out to be surprisingly “rational.” Thus, the routes of the laid roads and railways on the Great Plains of the United States surprisingly coincided with the main routes of migration of bison herds, created by a long series of generations. This is a particularly convincing example of the biological field as a factor organizing animal behavior. The same role is inherent in various kinds of shelters, the significance of which is not limited to the use of ready-made nests or burrows, but can be regarded as an indicator of the degree of favorableness of the site; This is of significant importance for the settling youth.

Animal communication methods

All animals have to get food, defend themselves, guard the boundaries of their territory, look for marriage partners, and take care of their offspring. For a normal life, each individual needs accurate information about everything that surrounds it. This information is obtained through systems and means of communication. Animals receive communication signals and other information about the outside world through the physical senses of sight, hearing and touch, and the chemical senses of smell and taste.

In most taxonomic groups of animals, all sense organs are present and function simultaneously. However, depending on their anatomical structure and lifestyle, the functional role of different systems turns out to be different. Sensory systems complement each other well and provide complete information to a living organism about environmental factors. At the same time, in the event of a complete or partial failure of one or even several of them, the remaining systems strengthen and expand their functions, thereby compensating for the lack of information. For example, blind and deaf animals are able to navigate their environment using their sense of smell and touch. It is well known that deaf and mute people easily learn to understand the speech of their interlocutor by the movement of his lips, and blind people - to read using their fingers.

Depending on the degree of development of certain sense organs in animals, different methods of communication can be used when communicating. Thus, in the interactions of many invertebrates, as well as some vertebrates that lack eyes, tactile communication dominates. Many invertebrates have specialized tactile organs, such as the antennae of insects, often equipped with chemoreceptors. Due to this, their sense of touch is closely related to chemical sensitivity. Due to the physical properties of the aquatic environment, its inhabitants communicate with each other mainly through visual and audio signals. The communication systems of insects are quite diverse, especially their chemical communication. They are most important for social insects, whose social organization can rival that of human society.

Fish use at least three types of communication signals: auditory, visual and chemical, often combining them.

Although amphibians and reptiles have all the sensory organs characteristic of vertebrates, their forms of communication are relatively simple.

Bird communications reach a high level of development, with the exception of chemocommunication, which is present in literally a few species. When communicating with individuals of their own, as well as other species, including mammals and even humans, birds use mainly audio as well as visual signals. Thanks to the good development of the auditory and vocal apparatus, birds have excellent hearing and are able to produce many different sounds. Schooling birds use a greater variety of sound and visual signals than solitary birds. They have signals that gather the flock, notify about danger, signals “everything is calm” and even calls for a meal.

In the communication of terrestrial mammals, quite a lot of space is occupied by information about emotional states - fear, anger, pleasure, hunger and pain.

However, this far from exhausts the content of communications - even in non-primate animals.

Animals wandering in groups, through visual signals, maintain the integrity of the group and warn each other about danger;

bears, within their territory, peel off the bark on tree trunks or rub against them, thus informing about the size of their body and gender;

skunks and a number of other animals secrete odorous substances for protection or as sexual attractants;

male deer organize ritual tournaments to attract females during the rutting season; wolves express their attitude by aggressive growling or friendly tail wagging;

seals in rookeries communicate using calls and special movements;

angry bear coughs threateningly.

Mammalian communication signals were developed for communication between individuals of the same species, but often these signals are also perceived by individuals of other species that are nearby. In Africa, the same spring is sometimes used for watering at the same time by different animals, for example, wildebeest, zebra and waterbuck. If a zebra, with its keen sense of hearing and smell, senses the approach of a lion or other predator, its actions inform its neighbors at the watering hole, and they react accordingly. In this case, interspecific communication takes place.

Man uses his voice to communicate to an immeasurably greater extent than any other primate. For greater expressiveness, words are accompanied by gestures and facial expressions. Other primates use signal postures and movements in communication much more often than we do, and use their voice much less often. These components of primate communication behavior are not innate - animals learn different ways of communicating as they grow older.

Raising cubs in the wild is based on imitation and the development of stereotypes; they are looked after most of the time and punished when necessary; they learn what's edible by watching their mothers and learn gestures and vocal communication mostly through trial and error. The assimilation of communicative behavioral stereotypes is a gradual process. The most interesting features of primate communication behavior are easier to understand when we consider the circumstances in which different types of signals are used - chemical, tactile, auditory and visual.