The Importance Of Animal Communication

Communication can be described as the bestowing or trading of data by talking, composing, or utilizing some other medium (Oxford, 2017). Animals need to communicate for many reasons, such as exchanging their feelings, needs, and experiences. For instance, birds sing and dance to introduce themselves or to look for food. Furthermore, cats rub their fur with our clothes to leave their scents as an expression of ownership. Although animals communicate, they cannot talk like humans. The shape of the mouth and its components, such as lips and tongue are not similar to human. In addition, animals’ communication system does not show any of the four particular qualities that are frequently connected with language, which are discreteness, grammar, productivity,

According to Bortolotti (2014), some types of animals use pheromones to communicate, which are chemical substances secreted by an animal’s exocrine glands that elicit a behavioral or physiological response by another animal of the same species. One common creature which uses pheromones to communicate with each other is the ant. Ants have many glands in their bodies, which produce numerous different pheromones. For example, when two ants meet they touch their mouths to exchange chemical signs, which contain the message that their brains are programmed to understand. They may use scents to present their readiness to mate or to attract their victims or to keep their colony safe from any foreign insectivores. It should be pointed that there are many types of pheromones and each pheromone has a specific purpose. Another creature that uses pheromones is the honeybee queen. Honeybee queen uses chemical signs, which are known as queen signs, to regulate its colony functions. For instance, the honeybee queen excreted its signs for the maintenance of worker cohesion and stimulation, so that they complement their activities, such as, building and guarding effectively. It is very interesting to know that when the honey bee queen dies, the colony will fail. The cause of that is the situation of chaos and instability is the missing the pheromones that the queen secretes to

Visual communication can be described as a behavioral adaptation that animals use for many purposes. It is a slightly limited way to communicate because it requires special conditions, such as lighted places and direct vision. Visual signs come in the form of attractive colors, movements, body language and changes in coloration. Peacocks, which are social creatures, are a very common example. The peacock is known for its impressive and colorful tail. The males of the peacock spread out their tails to show their attractive colors for females in the season of mating. Although the visual communication is common in a very well-lit environment, there are some special cases of evening visual communication. Fireflies are an example of creatures which use visual signs in the dark conditions. The bioluminescence in fireflies happens because of chemical reaction in their bodies. Fireflies emit light for many reasons, such as warning their mates about predators and mating. As Lloyd (2015) explained, each species of fireflies have a different code of light. The males of fireflies broadcast their code to attract the females of their own species. This process of flashing can be described as the language of