How do animals communicate? Interesting facts about the ways animals communicate Do animals communicate with each other?

Animal sounds are signals that express their state, desires, and feelings. The roar of a lion can be heard throughout the entire area - with this the king of beasts loudly declares his presence. The leader of the elephants, the oldest and smartest in the herd, blows an inviting trumpet with his trunk raised, gathering the elephants for a trek through the jungle in search of good pastures. The elk lets out a loud cry as he goes to fight his rival for the mate. During the mating season, pigeons coo gently, storks coo and dance, and black grouse make loud sounds, and the nightingales stage solo concerts to outshine their rivals. Male crickets attract females with their chirping.

The magical trills of birds are, as a rule, the songs of males. And they often sing not to attract females (as is usually believed), but to warn that the territory is under protection.

Sound signaling exists in all types of animals. For example, chickens make 13 different sounds, frogs - 6, roosters - 15, tits - 90, rooks - 120, pigs - 23, crows - up to 300, dolphins - 32, foxes - 36, monkeys - more than 40, horses - about 100 sounds. These sounds convey the general emotional and mental state of animals - search for food, anxiety, aggressiveness, joy of communication.

Even the fish are not silent! They make many different and characteristic sounds, using them to communicate in a flock. The signals they emit vary depending on the condition of the fish, environment, from their actions. American scientists have found that fish cough, sneeze and wheeze if the water temperature does not correspond to the conditions in which they should be. The sounds produced by fish are sometimes similar to rumbling, squeaking, barking, croaking and grunting (in particular, in the sciena), and in the cinglossus fish - an extraordinary set of sounds reminiscent of the bass of an organ, the croaking of toads, the ringing of bells and the sounds of a harp.

But signals and sounds are only one way of communication between animals. They have other ways of transmitting information to each other.

In addition to sounds, there is a kind of “language” of gestures and facial “language”. The grin of the muzzle or the expressiveness of the animal's eyes vary greatly depending on its mood - calm, aggressive or playful.

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 lower lip until teeth and gums show, a peaceful smile. By pouting her lips, a mother chimpanzee expresses her love for her baby. Frequent yawning means confusion or difficulty. Chimpanzees often yawn when they notice someone is watching them.

The tail of animals is also an expression of their emotional state. Cats hold it with a “pipe” when they see a dog or during a fight, and if a cat waves its tail left and right, it means it is furious. In dogs, on the contrary, their tail wags when they meet their owner, expressing immense joy. And when feeling guilty, the dog tucks its tail.

The “language” of smells is widespread in the animal world. Animals of the feline, mustelid, and canine families “mark” the boundaries of the territory where they live. By smell, animals determine the maturity of individuals, track prey, avoid enemies or dangerous places - traps and traps. Insects use scent to attract individuals of the opposite sex. To do this, they secrete substances - pheromones in the form of odorous gases or liquids that are formed in special glands on the abdomen or in the mouth.

Voles communicate using scent marks, much like dogs. Unfortunately, their urine emits ultraviolet radiation, and this radiation is clearly visible to the main enemies of voles - the kestrel and other birds of prey.

Animals use gestures and movements to communicate in the same way as humans. Gorillas beat their chests - this is how they warn their relatives of danger. The kangaroo, noticing danger, begins to drum on the ground with its tail or hind legs. During the breeding season, many animals and birds organize real mating dances. And each species has its own dance, unlike the others! The scout bee uses dance to tell her fellow tribesmen where the new source of nectar is and encourages them to fly after it.

Even color in animals is used as an element of communication. In the spring, during the breeding season, the throat of many species of frogs and toads becomes brightly colored. This way they not only attract a partner, but also give a visual signal warning that the territory is occupied.

There are other methods of contact between animals associated with bioelectromagnetic fields and acoustic signals: electromagnetic location in the Nile elephant fish, ultrasonic echolocation in bats, high-frequency sound signals - whistles in dolphins, infrasound signaling in elephants. A person can detect these types of signals only with the help of instruments. And we still know very little about animal language. By at least, we cannot translate much of what they “say” to each other and we do not always know well exactly how individuals of a particular species communicate.

Our smaller brothers are far from concluding business deals and romantic dinners by candlelight. But the presence of enemies, the need for food and procreation, obliges them to establish contact with their own kind. Curious how animals communicate with each other and whether a person can join the conversation?

The term "animal language" for a long time written in quotation marks, emphasizing its imagery. The work of many scientists, starting from the end of the 19th century, has proven that the concept has direct meaning. The languages ​​of animals are divided into groups:

• Body movements, postures, facial expressions;
• smells;
• sounds.

Sound language is a special system, unique to each species. Its advantage is the ability to communicate at a distance. Relatives warn each other about danger, the need to unite in search of food, etc.

Lexicon volume

“Vocabulary” varies among species and individuals. Roosters produce 15 different sounds, chickens - 10.

Interesting fact: chickens have amazing ability communicate with your unborn chicks. A day before hatching from the egg, the chick squeaks in fear, and the mother cackles reassuringly.

In the vocabulary of pigs there are 20, foxes - 36, monkeys - 45 vocalizations. Remember the horse Guy from the series of cartoons about heroes? It looks like the creators of the image know exactly how often these animals communicate. Horses use a hundred “words.” They are superior to dogs (10), but inferior to cats (more than 100).

Frogs use 6 signals. IN South-East Asia lives a species of amphibian whose representatives emit ultrasounds. Presumably, this is a way of adapting to the terrain - noisy bodies of water, where low frequencies are difficult to hear.

Voice transmission of information is most important for birds. Communication is used to attract a female, protect territory and offspring. Crows make about 300 sounds. Mockingbirds are capable of copying almost any vocalization they hear. Throughout their lives they learn new songs. One melody plays for at least 20 seconds.

Dolphins make about 800 signals - this is an absolute record. Their ability to produce ultrasound is widely used in the treatment of serious diseases.

Degree of communication skills

The talkativeness of animals is influenced by their environment. The more individuals in the herd, the more difficult language. Blue whales live in groups of 2-3 individuals. This makes it difficult for them to communicate with representatives of other communities; they “speak” different dialects. Sperm whales, on the other hand, are collective creatures and often make characteristic clicks when exchanging information.

Prairie dogs – shining example how wild herd animals communicate with each other. They organize communities reaching hundreds of thousands of individuals. An experiment was conducted: people took turns approaching the flock. Depending on the height of the person and the color of his clothing, the signals of the animals changed. They use sounds to indicate the approach of a potential enemy and give a description of it.

Egyptian flying dogs make a common squeal. Scientists have found that it is directed towards a specific individual, and not into a crowd, as in most mammals. From the transcripts of vocalization recordings it is clear that the flyers defended the rights to food, sleeping area, female. The study expands our understanding of the meaning of sounds made by animals.

Surprising but true!

Peruvian antcatchers are family birds, living in clearly demarcated areas in pairs. The couple sings a duet to let others know that the seat is occupied. But as soon as a free female appears, the male begins to attract her with bachelor sounds. The wife tries to interrupt him with a common song, the husband continues to drag out his own... It all ends in a scandal :)

Interspecies communication between animals is interesting. The humpback extracts sap from trees and processes it into nectar. The gecko preys on it, but he also likes nectar. The lizard approaches the insect and nods its head. In exchange for life, the victim gives up liquid.

The blueberry butterfly caterpillar survives on ants. The lip scratching is reminiscent of the queen's vocalization in insects. They pick up a caterpillar, carry it to an anthill and feed it.

Fish send signals to their relatives various methods: grinding of teeth, gill plates, use of swim bladder, movement of fins. Groupers announce caught prey by dancing. Cynoglossum imitates the sounds of a harp, organ, toads, and bell ringing.

Communication between animal and human

Many have been published scientific works on the topic of learning to communicate with animals. The following experiments are considered the most successful:

1. Cesar Adès and Alexandre Rossi taught mongrel Sofia how to type words on a keyboard. The dog knew the meaning of about 15 words.
2. Louis Herman trained dolphins to perform 2-3 word commands.
3. Irene Pepperberg was able to teach a parrot how to make sentences on its own.
4. A large number of experiments with monkeys confirm their ability for linguistics. They are able to master abstract concepts, joke, swear, and construct sentences.

Today we made sure that all animals communicate. Let's not lag behind, let's communicate! Do you find understanding with your pet? Write in the comments.

The main means of communication that a person has is the word. No animal can communicate with words, but many animals are able to communicate with each other.

The most common language of communication is smell. Antelopes mark the boundaries of their territories with secretions from the accessory gland. Marked bushes and trees “tell” the stranger that this territory is already occupied. Cats and dogs perform similar manipulations using urine. Bears scratch trees with their claws and rub their backs against them. Almost all animals have a well-developed sense of smell; a fine sense of smell allows them to detect foreign odors over long distances.

1. Vibrations in the soil help elephants communicate with each other. By marking time and shaking the ground with its feet, an elephant is able to send a message through the soil over a distance of 32 km - much further than the distance a sound signal travels in the air.

2. African elephants are also excellent at copying sounds. Scientists, for example, have filmed themselves masterfully imitating the rumble of trucks speeding down a nearby freeway. True, why they do this is not clear.

3. Kangaroos communicate using their tail. As soon as one of the members of a herd of red kangaroos notices a predator, he immediately begins to drum on the ground with his heavy tail or hind legs. In addition, red kangaroos can click, and female gray kangaroos call their cubs with a special sound similar to clucking.

4. The comparison “quiet as a mouse” is not at all true. In addition to squeaking, mice make many other sounds. Male mice sing real serenades for their brides! True, we cannot hear them, because they sing in the ultrasonic range.

5. Voles communicate, much like dogs, using scent marks. Unfortunately, their urine emits ultraviolet radiation, and this radiation is clearly visible to the main enemies of voles - the kestrel and other birds of prey.

6. The rats call to each other, whistling faintly.

7. Animals with modest musical talents have to use artificial sound amplifiers. Male mole crickets (insects related to grasshoppers and crickets) chirp to females from the depths of caves specially dug for this purpose in the ground.

8. The golden harlequin toad (Atelopus zeteki), a rare amphibian that lives in Costa Rica and Panama, communicates with its relatives using special gestures. For example, to notify them where its path lies, the harlequin makes circular movements with its front and hind limbs.

9. Males of one of the species of Chinese frogs have an amazing sound repertoire: they are able to reproduce the roar of monkeys, bird chirping and even make low-frequency sounds reminiscent of whale singing. The roar of the North American bullfrog can be heard several kilometers away.

10. Snakes make completely indecent sounds to scare away the enemy. Zoologists who studied two species of snakes native to the southwestern United States—the Arizona snake and the hog-nosed snake— with my own ears heard the deafening roar that these snakes make. Further research showed that these pops are caused by the release of intestinal gases.

The animal world is amazing and incredibly interesting. Watching the habits of animals is a fascinating activity. Can they talk? How do animals communicate with each other? Do representatives of different subspecies understand each other?

Animal: the boundaries of the concept

Depending on the criteria taken as a basis, given various interpretations the word "animal". In a narrow sense, in a broader concept - all four-legged animals. WITH scientific point In terms of vision, animals are everyone who can move and those who have a nucleus in their cells. But what can be said about those species that lead a sedentary lifestyle? Or, conversely, about microorganisms that are constantly in motion? If we talk about how animals communicate with each other, then attention should be paid mainly to mammals, however, birds and fish also have their own languages.

Animal language

Language is a complex sign system. And this is not surprising. If we talk about human language, it is fundamentally different from other sign systems in that it serves for the linguistic expression of thoughts. Speaking about how animals communicate with each other, it can be noted that in science there is a separate term denoting this process - “animal language”.

Four-legged individuals convey information to their opponent not only with the help of sounds. They have a well-developed language of gestures and facial expressions. Animals definitely have more communication channels than humans. If you compare how animals and people communicate, you can find many differences. A person mainly puts his intentions, expressions of will, desires, feelings and thoughts into speech. That is, the main load goes on verbal communication.

Animals, on the contrary, actively use nonverbals. They have much more of them than people. In addition to the non-verbal means inherent to humans (postures, gestures, facial expressions), they use (mainly with the help of the tail and ears). Smells play a big role in communication for them. Thus, animals do not have language as a system of phonemes and lexemes. The way animals communicate with each other is similar to symbols. Their language is, rather, signals that they use to convey information to their relatives.

Fish tongue

The sounds made by a person in the process of communication are articulate speech. This is an opportunity speech apparatus create phonemes different ways formations: fricative, occlusive, tremulous, sonorant. This is not typical for any animal species. However, the language of sounds is inherent in many animals. Even some fish are capable of emitting them to inform others about danger or attack.

For example, the stingray hoots, the catfish can grunt, the flounder makes a bell ringing, the toad fish hums, and the sciena sings. Their sound is generated by the vibration of their gills, grinding of teeth, and squeezing of the bladder. There are fish that use external environment to intentionally create sounds. Thus, a fox shark hits the water with its tail while hunting, and freshwater predators surface in pursuit of prey.

Bird language

The singing and chirping of birds is not unconscious. Birds have many signals that they use in different situations.

Birds make different sounds, for example, when nesting and migrating, when they see enemies and when searching for relatives. They are emphasized in works of oral folk art, where the hero who understands birds is part of nature. Hearing aid in birds it is better developed than in other animals. They perceive sounds more sensitively than humans and are able to hear shorter and faster phonemes. Birds actively use these abilities given by nature. For example, pigeons can hear at a distance of several hundred meters.

In the language set of birds of each species there are several songs that they receive with genes and learn in a flock. The ability of some birds to imitate and remember is known. Thus, science knows of a case where the African gray parrot Alex learned a hundred words and spoke. He also managed to formulate a question that scientists could not achieve from primates. The lyrebird from Australia is able to imitate not only birds, but also other animals, as well as sounds artificially created by humans. Thus, the vocal abilities of birds are great, but, it must be said, have been little studied. Birds also use non-verbal means. If you carefully observe how animals communicate with each other, their movement language will also be noticeable. For example, fluffy feathers indicate readiness for a fight, a large open beak is a sign of alarm, and its clicking is a threat.

Pet language: cats

Every owner, observing the behavior of their pets, noticed that they also know how to talk. In the lessons of natural history and the surrounding world, we study how animals communicate with each other (grade 5). For example, cats may purr differently if they ask for food or when they are resting. They meow next to a person, but remain silent or hiss alone with their relatives, using body language to communicate.

It is especially interesting to observe the position of their ears: vertically raised means attention, relaxed and extended forward - calm, directed back and pressed - threat, constant movement of the ears - concentration. The tail of furry creatures is an important signal to others. If it is raised, then the cat is happy. When the tail is raised and fluffed, the animal is ready to attack. Omitted is a sign of concentration. Quick movements of the tail - the cat is nervous.

Pet language: dogs

Illustrating how animals communicate with each other, we can say that it is also diverse.

They can not only bark, but also growl and howl. At the same time, the barking of dogs varies. For example, a quiet and rare bark means attracting attention, a loud and drawn-out bark means danger, the presence of someone else. The dog growls in defense or guarding prey. If she howls, it means she is lonely and sad. Sometimes she squeals if someone has hurt her.

Rabbits demonstrate how animals communicate with each other using non-verbal means of communication. They rarely make sounds: mainly when they are very excited and frightened. However, their body language is well developed. Their long ears, capable of spinning in different directions, serve as a source of information for them. Rabbits, like cats and dogs, use the language of smell to communicate with each other. These animals have special glands that produce odorous enzymes with which they limit their territory.

Language of wild animals

The behavior and way in which animals communicate in the wild is similar to that of domestic animals. After all, a lot is passed on through genes. It is known that when defending themselves and protecting their territory, wild animals scream loudly and angrily. But the system of their linguistic signs is not limited to this. Wild animals communicate a lot. Their communication is complex and interesting. Dolphins are internationally recognized as the smartest animals on the planet. Their intellectual capabilities have not been fully studied. They are known to have a complex language system.

In addition to chirping, which is accessible to human hearing, they communicate using ultrasound for orientation in space. These amazing animals actively communicate in a pack. When communicating, they call the names of the interlocutor, emitting an instant unique whistle. The natural world is definitely unique and fascinating. Man has yet to study how animals communicate with each other. complex and exceptional, inherent in many of our smaller brothers.