You might have heard that humans are the only animals that have language, yet that is only true to an extent. Sure, we have vocabulary and grammar, but are those the only conditions that define a language? In reality, animal communication comes in many forms. Specifically, they use cues that include but are not limited to visual, auditory, tactile, and chemical signals.
Table of Contents:
- Types of Animal Communication
- The Reasons Behind Animal Communication
- Comparing Animal Communication to Human Language
Types of Animal Communication
As mentioned before, animal communication can be separated into multiple categories.
- Visual: These include gestures, facial expressions, camouflage, or even mating rituals. A common example of camouflage would be a chameleon changing its colors to match its environment. Mating rituals are also a common form of visual communication. These involve complicated dances or extravagant displays strength.
- Auditory: This type might be the first that comes to mind when you think of communication because, after all, we communicate with our voices. In addition to talking, animals also use a variety of sounds such as chirping, growling, barking, meowing, purring, etc to transmit information.
- Tactile: Tactile communication refers to communication through touch. This is common in between members of the same species but also happens between different species too. Examples include, allogrooming, rubbing, licking, nudging, biting, etc.
- Chemical: When animals use chemical communication, they are releasing pheromones which are “the chemical substance produced and released by animals that affect the behaviour or psychology of other animals of their own species.” These pheromones are specific and can last over ranging periods of time. Types include “releaser pheromones, primer pheromones, alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, and sex pheromones.”
The Reasons Behind Animal Communication
In brief, animals communicate because it increases their fitness, or ability to survive and reproduce. This can happen by sharing information about threats, food, mating, social bonds, and territory.
For example, honeybees perform intricate waggle dances to direct hive mates to food, while birds use alarm calls to warn of predators and complex songs to attract mates. Dolphins rely on clicks and whistles to coordinate hunts and maintain social bonds, and elephants use deep rumbles to signal danger or reunite separated herd members. Wolves howl to mark territory and strengthen pack cohesion, and fireflies flash bioluminescent patterns to find suitable partners. Without these communication methods, animals would struggle to cooperate, avoid danger, reproduce effectively, or defend resources. This makes communication a fundamental driver of evolutionary success across species.
Comparing Animal Communication to Human Language
While animal communication and human language share fundamental purposes like survival, social bonding, and mating, people argue that the depth and flexibility of human language set it apart. Noam Chomsky argues that what sets humans apart from other animals is that humans have an innate sense of grammar which helps develop into language.
Yet, despite these differences, the urge to sharply divide humans from animals often says more about our need to assert superiority than it does about true biological distinctions. Many species exhibit linguistic sophistication, for example dolphins use different vocalizations to convey anything from predator warnings to abstract concepts. Therefore, the insistence on uniqueness may reveal less about our actual differences and more about our deep-seated desire to feel exceptional.
