Understanding Animal Communication Systems

Understanding Animal Communication Systems

In this report I am going to be talking about what bonding and imprinting is and comparing them and explaining how they aid survival. I am also going to be talking about how effective communication of animals of the same species can reduce conflict between them. Animals communicate in many different ways just like people and it is probably one of our main survival tools because it enables us to work in teams, just as it does with animals.

How communication signals can reduce fighting between conspecifics –

Communication signals are a massive aid in helping to reduce fighting between animals of the same species and it helps and is shown in many different ways. Communication allows animals to express themselves and what they are feeling. The first example of how communication signals help to reduce fighting is involving territorial animals; many animals are territorial and they communicate this through territorial calls and through scent by urinating near the edges of their territory. This lets other animals in the area know the boundaries and so they won’t cross them unless they are looking to take over the territory or they are desperate. Without this form of communication animals (especially the males) would constantly be wondering into each other territories without knowing whether it is claimed or not and there would be so many more fights and conflicts.

Another way in which communication between animals can help them to avoid conflict is during the mating season between males; when fighting over the right to mate with a female many of these ‘fights’ are settled before they have even begun due to reasons such as the size of the animals, the colours of them, or the sounds they make. An example of this is male fiddler crabs, when fighting over the right to mate they wave their enlarged claw at the other crabs and if the claw is bigger than the opponents then they will usually walk away and accept defeat without breaking out into a fight.

Communication also helps animals to avoid conflict when they are living in packs because it allows them to establish a hierarchy so they can also get along and live together without any conflict. Animals such as lions establish their hierarchy based upon survival, the dominant male is normally the strongest one that will pass on the best genes to the cubs and that will be able to protect the whole pride and the female is usually the best hunter. Once they have established everyone’s part in the pride this stops all fighting among them because they have already established everything from who mates with the females to who eats what part of a carcass.

So as you can see there are many different ways in which communication can avoid contact between animals and I have only named a few. If animals couldn’t communicate then the world would be a very different, much harsher place and it would be much harder for animals to survive because they would all be out for themselves and there would be so much more conflict.

Mechanisms of bonding and imprinting –

A bond is a mutual emotional and psychological connection/ closeness between two animals. Imprinting is the tendency of a young or newborn animal to follow the first moving thing it sees, whether it is its mother or not, commonly it is not even the same species of the young animal.

Similarities between bonding and imprinting are that they are both a connection between animals and the bonding process actually starts with imprinting. Another similarity is that in the wild bonding in more likely to occur between animals of the same species and imprinting is more likely to happen between the baby and its actually mother whereas in captivity animals are more likely to bond with animals of different species and imprinting is more likely to happen between and baby and an animal/person who is not its actually mother.  The main similarity is that bonding and imprinting both aid survivals of animals.

There are many differences between bonding and imprinting, one of which is bonding can be between any two animals whereas imprinting is specifically between a young animal and a mother figure. Another difference is that bonding has many different purposes such as mating, learning and increasing their chance of hunting down prey whereas the purpose of imprinting is solely to ensure that they young are safe and have the best chance of survival. Another difference is that ‘imprinting is something that happens in a newborn animal that influences future development for the animal whereas bonding is something that happens in the parent animal, an emotional connection that influences the relationship with the child that will eventually emerge.’ - Bonding vs Imprinting. 2012. Bonding vs Imprinting. [ONLINE] Available at:http://departments.weber.edu/chfam/1500/bonding.htm.

Imprinting aids survival because it helps to ensure a young, vulnerable animals safety. It does this because in the wild, a newborn animal almost always imprints on its biological mum and it keeps them close to their mother so reduces the chances of predation. It also helps to aid survival because it means that they newborn’s won’t be as vulnerable straight after hatching. Imprinting also aids survival because it means that they will trust their mother as soon as they are born so it makes the mothers job as bringing them up a lot easier and gives them a better chance of survival.  Imprinting also aids survival because it allows the newborn to learn from its mother how to survive in such a harsh environment and it also benefits from being offered food by its mum and eventually learning how to hunt from its mother; without this the chances of offspring surviving would decrease drastically. Also by imprinting on their mum that means that there will be a lot of them sticking together (the mum and all of the hatchlings depending on specific species) and there is always ‘safety in numbers’!

The way bonding aids survival is very similar to the way imprinting supports it; sexual bonding helps to aid survival because it means that an animal is able to recognise another animal of the same species that is the opposite sex through various ways such as scent and then mate with them and produce offspring which helps to ensure their species survival. Another way in which it aids survival is if animals didn’t bond then they wouldn’t be able to form prides, packs or herds and this is a big key to survival because being in a pack increases the chances of surviving dramatically in the wild because it means higher chances of hunting down food, chances of reproducing and chances of being protected. Another way in which bonding helps survival is that bonding allows animals to learn vital skills for survival off of each other because they are spending time with other animals so they are following what the others do (following their lead).

Overall, as you can see animals have many different communication systems and they all support the survival of every species. Without communication no species, including ourselves would ever be able to survive. Communication in animals is a very in depth subject and this is only touching the surface, there is a lot more to discover about how animals communicate and why they do it.