Animal Communication

How do animals communicate? What do they "say"? when I think of these questions,sometimes I feel confusing;When I read the article"If We Could Talk with Animals",I got it.I have known that there were several ways the animals can communicate with the same species. They can use "smell-messages",and the odors they produce have different meanings. One odor attracts a mate.Another sends a warning. Just as humans do, animals communicate with body language and sometimes gestures. Now I know that if a dog wagging his tail, it means happiness. The most interesting point is, when a chimp"smile", it is not a smile of happiness.In stead, it is an expression similar to the nervous. In addition,like humans, many animals vocalize with their sounds.Some whales make use of echolocation to show the dangers or prays. On the same way, prairie dogs vocalize with chatter. They often alert each other when they spot danger from such creatures as human, dog, or coyote.Also, there are most of evidences proved that some animals can understand some symbols.Dolphins can even understand the grammatical difference between subjects and objects. The most exciting thing is researchers have successfully teaching primates using some human languages such as ASL. One chimp named Kanzi has picked up this language naturally, in other words, he watched as people tried to teach this language to his mother.It is clear,then, that animals certainly communicate in various ways.However, the question"Is it language?"is still open.

Although I have known a lot ways about animals' communication, I still surprised by how do wild geese can highly social as human do.Do they communicate with each other by body language?or by vocalizing? or by "smell-message"? I don't sure about it. There are a small lake nearby my home. In summer, I see the wild geese in flocks very day. In autumn, I see them fly to the south form large V'S or diagonally straight lines. How do they tell each other prepair for migration? Also, when they are flying on their way to the south, how do they show each other to come down from the sky for taking a rest? To me excited, I have find the answers about how do wild geese communicate. The great answer is geese often use body movements to communicate with each other. These geese also have the ability to make at least 10 different voices.It is a interesting thing to find the answer about how animals communicat.

Photos by Wendy