Steve Jenkins - Slap, Squeak and Scatter: How Animals Communicate

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON

Animals, like people, have important things to tell one another. They may need to warn of approaching danger or let others in their group know where to find food. They may want to protect their territory keep their family together, or find a mate. Sending and receiving these kinds of messages is called communication.

Animals send messages with sounds, visual signals, and touch. They use odors and chemical messages, create vibrations in the ground, or even light up to communicate with others of their kind. Learning how animals communicate helps us understand how they live and why they do some of the unusual things they do.

Many animals communicate to warn one another of danger. When every member of a group watches out for predators, they are all more likely to survive.

A beaver that detects danger will warn other beavers by slapping its tail on the water with such force that the sound can be heard half a mile away.

Vervet monkeys use warning cries to alert other monkeys in their group of danger. They have different cries for eagles, leopards, and snakes. If the eagle alarm is given, the monkeys dive under a bush. The leopard alarm makes them rush to the top of a tree. If they hear the snake alarm, the monkeys grab their young, stand up on their hind legs, and look around to locate the danger.

When it runs away from danger, the white-tailed deer alerts other deer by raising its tail and revealing a patch of white fur underneath.

The chaffinch has three different songs, including one that says "a predator is near." Another says "I'm injured," and a third song tells other chaffinches "I'm getting ready to fly."

The mole rat lives a solitary lifeit doesn't get along well with other mole rats. It avoids underground fights by banging its head on the roof of its tunnel to let others know it's coming.

Communication can help one animal tell another that it just wants to be friends, that it accepts the other as leader, or to just stay away. These messages help avoid conflict or fights that could cause serious injury.

A chimpanzee makes a "play face" when it wants to let others know that it's being friendly.

Rather than risk a fight in which one of them could be hurt, a wolf will lower its body to the ground and flatten its ears to show that it submits to a stronger wolf.

When he's looking for a female toad, the male barking tree toad inflates a sac in his throat that can be blown up like a balloon. This sac vibrates and makes his croak louder. The sound attracts female toads who are also looking for a mate.

For most animals to reproduce, they must to be able to find a mate. To do this, they've developed many different ways of communicating with the opposite sex.

Grasshoppers, like many other insects, make sounds to attract a mate by rubbing their legs together. They have a series of pegs on their hind legs, which they rub on the edge of their wings to produce a loud call. Each species of grasshopper has a different number and pattern of pegs to produce a different sound.

Blue-footed boobies perform a special mating dance. They show off their bright blue feet to potential mates by stepping from foot to foot, pointing to the sky with their bills, and lifting their tails. Boobies are very territorial. They normally attack other boobies that enter their nesting space. Their complex dance allows them to get used to their mates and overcome their natural defensiveness.

When a male orb-web spider approaches a female to mate, he plucks her web in a special rhythm so he won't think he's her trapped prey and eat him. This is a dangerous time for the male, who is much smaller than the femalesometimes she ignores his message and kills him.

The male humpback whale often sings to attract a mate. The whale's songs, which are up to thirty minutes long, are performed for hours at a time. Other whales can hear the songs from hundreds of miles away.

Animals communicate with one another to keep their group together, to find their offspring, or to ask for help.

When ring-tailed lemurs move through tall grassor brush, they carry striped tails high in the air. Their tails act as flags that help their group keep track of one another.