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.
