Communication

Question 1

How can we know animals communicate?

Answer 1

For Animals we only see that communication occurred, when the behaviour of the receiver changes.

Question 2

What is the difference between communication and cue ?

Answer 2

communication:
evolved and produced on purpose to convey information
elicit a response in receiver
response evolved to generally benefit receiver and signailer

cue:
conveys information
is not left on purpose

Question 3

What two explainations are there for animal communication?

Answer 3

cognition approach
receivers expectations, experiences and relations are influencing communication
(limitation: we cannot observe animals thoughts directly)

instinct based approach
communication happens without mental processing

Question 4

For what reasons do animals communicate?

Answer 4

Identity: individual recognition and calling
hierarchy: reducing conflicts by individual rank recognition
mating: signaling readiness
safety: predator warning, intimidation
territory defense: maintaining boundaries -> reducing physical conflict
food: chairing information about food

Question 5

What types of communication are there?

Answer 5

auditory : travels far, flexible, fast, can be recognised by other species, fades quickly
visual: quick, versatile, needs to be able to be seen, can be costly to produce
olfactory: can travel far, can’t be detected by other species, slow, little flexible information, can be volatile or require contact
tactile: requires contact

Multimodal communication
uses a combination of signals of different modalities

Question 6

How do animals ensure honesty communication ?

Answer 6

there are unfakeable signals
testing the signailer
reputation (signals from individuals with low reputations are less relevant)

Question 7

How does signailing evolve?

Answer 7

signals evolve from cues
individuals/groups with clearer way of conveying and interpreting cues have an advantage of survival