Animal communication

Animal communication is the transfer of information between animals through signals such as sounds, visual displays, scents, electrical impulses, or touch. Signals can influence another animal’s behavior or physiological state.

Signal (biology): A detectable feature or action that has evolved to convey information between organisms. Animal communication consists of signals produced by senders and detected by receivers.
Animal cognition: The mental processes animals use to acquire, represent, and act on information. Cognitive abilities shape how animals interpret signals and adjust their responses.
Honey bee waggle dance: A movement pattern that communicates the direction and distance of a food source to honey bee nestmates. The dance is a well-studied case of spatial information encoded in movement.
Sexual selection: Natural selection arising from differences in success at obtaining mates. Mate-attraction signals can evolve because they improve access to mating opportunities.
Animal language: The question of whether animal communication systems share defining properties of human language. Comparisons test whether animal signals combine into flexible, compositional meanings.
Sender–receiver model: A framework describing communication as signal production by a sender and interpretation by a receiver. It separates signal production from the receiver’s response in animal interactions.
Sensory ecology: The study of how environmental conditions and sensory systems shape information gathering and signaling. Light, noise, and habitat determine which signals animals can detect.
Birdsong: Vocal behavior in birds used in contexts including mate attraction, territory defense, and social interaction. Birdsong combines learned vocal patterns with functions in courtship and territorial signaling.
Kin selection: Natural selection favoring traits that increase the reproductive success of genetic relatives. Alarm calls and other costly signals can benefit relatives who share the caller’s genes.
Animal culture: Group-specific behavior transmitted through social learning rather than genetic inheritance alone. Socially learned signals can vary between populations and persist as traditions.

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