Animals: Patterns of Communication
Jetpak is Public
Created By: boatsie
Last Modified: 12/17/05
Summary: We’ve known for some time that animals can hear sounds that are inaudible to humans. From that, it’s not difficult to extrapolate that they can see patterns and colors that are not visible to our eyes.

The New Guinean Cassowary, a colorful, large, and flightless bird, lives deep in the rainforest. its survival directly related to its remoteness. Recently, a scientist decided that the only way to find cassowaries was to listen for them. But capturing the cassowary call wasn

The New Guinean Cassowary, a colorful, large, and flightless bird, lives deep in the rainforest. its survival directly related to its remoteness.  Recently, a scientist decided that the only way to find cassowaries was to listen for them. But capturing the cassowary call wasn

From: http://www.unfamiliar-image.co.uk

A Stanford scientist discovered that elephants use foot stomping to communicate with each other over distances as far away as 20 miles. In 2002, Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, a Stanford biologist, traveled to Namibia, Africa, to investigate her theory that elephants communicate via an outflow of low-frequency seismic vibrations. They signal to one another when they are in danger, seeking a mate, or passing on information about food and water.

A Stanford scientist discovered that elephants use foot stomping to communicate with each other over distances as far away as 20 miles. In 2002, Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, a Stanford biologist, traveled to Namibia, Africa, to investigate her theory that elephants communicate via an outflow of low-frequency seismic vibrations. They signal to one another when they are in danger, seeking a mate, or passing on information about food and water.

From: http://www.exsooberance.com

  • The rain forest operates under ancient laws of communication, developed to ensure that the mating signals of individual species can be heard amidst the jungle’s cacophony of sound.
  • rainforest animals are innately aware of the fact that sound travels best through darkness.
  • They communicate collectively at dusk and dawn to take advantage of the ideal time for their voices to achieve finest resonance and travel the farthest distances.
  • animals develop specialized frequencies to make sure their signals are heard by intended receivers. What appears to the human ear as chaotic noise is actually an intricately choreographed orchestration. Like a symphony, each animal communicates in its own frequency, identifying lulls in the composition to play its solos. “Each animal and insect is tuned to and calling on its own species-specific frequency, the same way that radio stations use different signals so that many stations can be on the air at the same time.” Indigenous Amazon tribes were so aware of this information that they used animal sounds to identify their exact locations as they hunted by night.

 


Animals actually use their physical environments to ensure the maximum audibility of their signals. Take the tree frog from Borneo, for example:

“Its forte is the ability to adjust the frequency of its call to the size of the hole and play the tree like a musical instrument. As it sits in the hole, it begins vocalizing at different frequencies – lo lo lo, la la, la, le le le – until it hits the one note that makes the hole and the tree resonate.” (Friend, 2004)

In his book Animal Talk, Tim Friend travels to Borneo’s ancient old-growth tropical rainforest to discuss the extraordinary communication patterns exhibited by its resident animals.

 

Friend suggests: 

 






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