Unit 1 Making a Living in the Wild
Chapter 9 Part 1
Communication
Communication
• Sender sends signal to receiver
• Receiver responds in some way
• Leads to an advantage to sender
• Can also be advantage to receiver w/o intention
Channels of communication
• Sound• Visual• Touch• Smell• Electric fields• Substrate vibration
Sound
• Calls- short• Songs- long• Language- most
complex• Good: radiates in all
directions at once, can easily be turned on/off
• Bad: takes E, heard by pred
• Used to notify of proximate pred
Visual messages
• Good: easily identified, little error, quickly transmitted, directional, contains lots of info
• Bad: not over long distances, easily blocked, need light
• Light: can create light as a signal
• Some can change color quickly
Touch messages
• Must be in close contact
• Communicates dominance or submission
• Giving of a food message
• Initiate transport message
Chemical message
• Chemical pathways- most universal form of communication
• Pheromones• Cheap to produce,
less risky to attract attention, last long time, good in day or night, not good after inclement weather
Releasers vs. primers
• Chemical releasers affect behavior of another individual
• Primers directly affect other individual’s physiology
• Bruce effect-tendency for female rodents to terminate their pregnancies following exposure to the scent of an unfamiliar male
Fxns of communication: 2 theories of why it evolved
• 1. Share info about what the animal will do next
• 2. To manipulate other’s behaviors b/c advantageous to themselves
Comm is specific to a group
• Social releasers- elicit distinctive social behaviors of the same species
• Ritualization- signals become part of the social communication
• Recognition fxns- be able to recognize their own species, group, family, mated pairs, offspring
• Primates have distinct facial characteristics
• Voices
Group coordination
• Whales live in groups called pods
• Each group has own dialect
• Young learn by imitating adults
• Alarm- warns others of danger by sound or chemical
• Hunting- more efficient
• Foraging- can show location to others