nimal 
ommunication
Animals communicate in a variety of ways.
Contemporary Linguistics, Chapter 16
Nonverbal communication occurs
through the following ways:
* chemically based scents called
pheremones
*light (firefly or lightning bug)
light flashes in various patterns
*electricity - electrical impulses
at various frequencies
* color or color patterns
* posture
* gesture
* facial expressions
Communication structure: The
study of signs
In communication a sign is something
that stands for another thing.
It is made up of the signifiers
(such as an element of non
vocal communication), and the signified
(something that actually
exists and is represented by the
sign.
To learn more about
animal communication check out these sites:
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Other interesting sites:
Animal communication in general:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/animalmind
Sounds of World's animals and how they
are represented in different countries:
http://www.georgetown.edu/cball/animals/
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Practical Applications:
Taken from the book Wild Minds by Marc D. Hauser
See what your pet is thinking about
Peer into the animal mind with
these home experiments:
Self-awareness experiment
* Place a mirror next to your pet's food dish.
Pat the animal on the
head whenever you feed it. After a few days, put
an odorless
powder in your hand (white if the animal is dark, dark
if the animal is light) and pat the animal's head, giving
it a good dusting.
* Observe whether the animal notices the powder
on its head. If it reacts,
staring at or trying to rub the spot, it possesses self-awareness.
Counting experiment
* Put out two food dishes. Place one treat
in one dish
and two treats in the other. Observe the animal.
If it takes
the two treats first, then it knows more from less.
* Put two treats in one dish and three treats in
the other. If the
animal chooses the dish with three treats, it can count.
* Increase the number until the animal makes no
distinction.
The animal has reached its maximum perception of numbers.
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Points to Ponder:
Try watching an animal at the zoo for an extended length
of time and try to determine how they are communicating.
Can you describe the behavior in terms of both signifier
and signified?
Having a better understanding of animal behavior/communication
helps us co-exist within the confines of our environment.
Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
