You learned it in picture books and preschool. Cats meow, dogs bark, and ducks quack. But not all animals use such obvious methods of communication. Some of them are downright weird from ultrasound, a head-banging to piles of poop. These animals have all kinds of
unusual ways to talk to each other.
No. 1: African Elephant
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| via wikipedia |
We have the African elephant. A very large creature that uses very low sounds to communicate. So low that humans can only feel them as rumbling vibration. They use infrasound sounds with frequencies below 20 Hertz, which is the lower limit of what humans can hear. This less elephant communicate across incredibly long distances through these vibrations in the air and ground up to 285 kilometers squared by some estimates. Different atmospheric conditions can affect just how far these infrasonic calls travel. Things like wind and heat can disrupt the sound waves and make the range much smaller. So researchers have observed these elephants mostly communicate around sunrise and sunset when it's cooler and the air is calm. These long-distance rumbling calls let different groups of elephants hear and feel where their neighbors are, so they can plan their grazing wraps accordingly. And elephants live in groups split by sex. Females gather with their babies and are led by the matriarch, males on the other hand either wander alone or in small groups of other males. So when a female is ready to mate she has to be able to find a male across miles of Savannah. So it turns out that some of these infrasonic calls are basically elephant booty calls.
No. 2: Tarsiers
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| via wikipedia |
On the other end of the spectrum, we have the tiny adorable tarsier. These miniature primates live in Southeast Asia. They're about the size of your hand with big ol eyes and they also communicate at a frequency that humans can't hear. Way up in the ultrasound range over 20,000-hertz. The ultrasound is pretty rare in the animal kingdom besides animals like bats who use it for echolocation. The scientists were surprised to discover the tarsiers use it all the time. To observe these tiny primates opening their mouth is kind of like they were shouting but they seem to be silent. It wasn't until one researcher decided to listen to them with a device for recording bats that anyone figured it out. Tarsiers make vocalizations at around 70,000 Hertz, and it seems to be able to hear sounds up to 90,000 hertz. Researchers think these calls could help tarsiers communicate over the background noise of the rest of the jungle and avoid predators since most animals can't hear sounds anywhere near that frequency. Plus they could hone in on the high-pitched noises of certain insects which make it easier for them down dinner.
No. 3: Prairie Dogs
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| via pixabay |
Prairie dogs are very social critters living together in underground cities. They've developed a seriously complex system to keep each other informed of what's going on nearby. We consider language to be an essentially human thing but these prairie dogs are turning heads in the scientific community. Scientists have been recording and analyzing different sounds that prairie dogs make., they've discovered that they have distinctive calls for different kinds of predators. So they make a different call for a hawk, a coyote or a domestic dog, or a human. During their study, researchers noticed that there was also a slight variations in a call for a human for example. He wondered if it was possible that these calls weren't just identifying nearby predators but actually describing. So, they did a test where they had a couple of human volunteers all dress up exactly the same, except for the color of their shirt, and then walk across the prairie dog village. When they analyzed the calls, they naturally group together based on the color of the shirt the humans were wearing. So the prairie dogs seem to be able to tell the difference between a human in a yellow shirt and human in a blue shirt and communicate that information to their neighbors. Not only that, but there were similar calls for other characteristics too, like tall or short humans. It's not totally clear to us how prairie dogs interpret and understand this information. So, unfortunately, we don't know most of what they're saying about us, yet.
No. 4: African Demon Mole Rat
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| via wikipedia |
The African demon mole rat. Sounds pretty hardcore but they don't look particularly frightening. It turns out these fuzzy little guys are actually pretty metal. In fact, they use head-banging as a way to communicate. Down underground, vision and normal hearing won't get you very far; there's not enough light and sound waves don't travel very well through the dirt. And many species of mole rats live in social groups but the demon mole rat is a pretty solitary little guy. So in order to talk to their neighbors and protect their territories, these mole rats use seismic communication by thumping their heads against the top of their tunnels, they send vibrations that can travel much farther through the earth. Scientists think different patterns of head-banging signal different things. Like a slower pattern could be a warning of a disturbance or a possible threat and faster patterns seem to signal and animals identity to its neighbor like: "hey, I'm here. Back off". No word yet on whether they have a special pattern for getting a mosh pit started though.
No. 5: Carribean Sperm Whales
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| via wikipedia |
We've known for a while that different species of marine mammals like sperm whales have adapted complex communication systems. This is part of the social complexity hypothesis which says as a species is social structure becomes more complex so is their communication. So, different social groups can have different sounds or even region-specific accents of a sort. Sperm whales, for example, use repeating motifs of clicks called kodos to talk to each. Other whales in different regions of the ocean use very specific patterns of clicks kind of like an accent. So Caribbean sperm whales will have a coda of one pattern, well a sperm whale in a different region will arrange their clicks differently. Even within a region things can get more complex. Scientists have found that some whales have sounds that can identify individuals and family groups kind of like how we use first and last names. These kinds of communication are probably important for reinforcing social bonds. And researchers think this could be evidence these animals have a culture. So it might not be that long before we're learning to speak whale, just like dory.
No. 6: White Rhinoceros
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| via wikipedia |
It's pretty common in the animal kingdom to use poop and urine as signals like. "this is mine" or "stay back". For some species like white rhinos, it's crucial for group communication. These rhinos have poor eyesight which led researchers to think that smell might be extra important to these animals and not just to mark territory. It turns out that groups of white rhinos will use communal dung heaps called Middens as a sort of big stinky message board. Rhino poop can paint a picture of an individual animals health, so rhinos can visit these three meters wide dung heaps to get a whiff of "what's going on". In the region like if any rhinos are sick, weather out a female, rhino is ready to mate, if there's a new kid around, or if a dominant male is visited recently. Scientists found that Rhino spent more time sniffing the poop of unfamiliar rhinos than that of their family and friends, which seems to suggest that they can identify individuals based on some of these scent markers. So it turns out that the steamy neighborhood gossip for rhinos is literally a big old pile of poop.
No. 7: Caribbean Reef Squid
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| via wikipedia |
Caribbean reef squid you specialized cells that contain pigments and light reflecting molecules called chromatophores to change the color of their skin to send different messages. Usually, squid and octopus are using this color changing the ability for things like camouflage when dangerous present or to put on a show to attract a mate. To Caribbean reef squid have a different lifestyle than most other cephalopods. Rather than leading solitary lives, these guys are unusually social and live in small groups throughout the Caribbean Sea. So, they've developed the ability to manipulate their chromatophores for lots of different communication purposes from hiding, to warning each other, or complex courtship ritual, different colors patterns and flashes and different messages. And they can even send one signal to a squid on the left side while sending a different signal to a squid on there right. So a male could be fending off competition on one side and willing a lady squid on the other talk about mixed messages.
No. 8: Coral Groupers
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| via wikipedia |
Speaking of unique relationships, researchers have observed a very interesting collaboration between the coral grouper and other predatory marine species. Groupers will try to grab a bite to eat on their own, but sometimes their prey will dive into the cracks of the coral reef where the groupers can't reach them. So, they wait around for another fish to come along specifically, either a napoleon wrasse or a more aeo and use a kind of sign language to ask for help and hunting down dinner. Basically, the grouper will point the nose at the hidden fish and shake its body side to side signaling the presence of prey. Then either the rass will smash into the reef to get the prey, or the eel will creep into the cracks and try to grab it. Sometimes the rass or the eel catch the prey and get a meal for themselves. It's a fish eat fish world out there, so they don't share with the grouper and it's just a lot. But other times the prey tries to escape by fleeing the reef, giving the grouper another shot at nabbing it's dinner. By combining their different but complementary styles of hunting, it ends up being a pretty beneficial relationship. With the help of a little extra communication and body language, all three of them have a better chance of catching something to eat.
No. 9: Maculinea Caterpillars
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| via wikipedia |
And there are other animals that communicate across species, one genus of butterfly called Maculinea rely on murica ants to care for their caterpillars. It sounds kind of friendly but like lots of things in nature, this relationship can get deadly. Because the ants use a lot of chemical signals to communicate, researchers think these caterpillars are coated in something that imitates the scent of the Myrmica ants, plus Maculinea caterpillars have evolved the ability to make noises similar to an ant queen. Also, they can trick the ants into bringing them back to the nest and once they make it there two species of Maculinea have different survival strategies. The predatory variety sings just long enough to get the ants to bring it into the nest and once it's there, it goes silent and find a secluded corner to hide in. The caterpillar praise on ant larvae so it hides out like an assassin emerging only to binge on baby ants when it's hungry. On the other hand, the cuckoo variety sings even louder once it's in the nest, which somehow motivates the ants to feed and care for it like one of their larvae. In one experiment, scientists found that the ants would even rescue the caterpillar before their own larvae when the colony is disturbed. That must be some pretty impressive singing.
So, while human communication is incredibly complex, it turns out that animals have a lot of strange ways to talk to each other too. Thanks for reading this article. See you next time. Bye!
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