Interspecies communication
Encyclopedia
Interspecies communication is communication between different species of animals, plants, fungi or bacteria. Interspecies communication research in the sciences and the arts has produced results, giving hope that we may someday be able to communicate with certain animals on an advanced level.
Works such as Augmented Fish Reality 2004 by Ken Rinaldo
is one example of an emerging art genre as fish were able to affect their environment in communicating with each other, their robots and humans in the space. Eduardo Kac
also a bio-artist created a work titled Essay Concerning Human Understanding , which was a bi-directional, interspecies sonic installation in which he set up a two-way dialogue between a Philodendron
plant and bird.
Recent research with Kanzi a bonobo
at the University of Georgia represents a successful experiment where (1) the bonobo learned symbols and is successfully communicating with its trainers Jared Taglialatela, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Lauren Baker. Their work is contributing to a now larger series of research studies that language is an evolutionary trait that evolved in our non-human primates.
s have reciprocal recognition of one another’s alarm calls. The same has been found in West African Diana monkey
and Campbell’s monkeys. When one species elicits an alarm signal
specific to a certain predator, the other species react in the same pattern as the species that called. For example, leopards hunt on both species by capitalizing the elements of stealth and surprise. If the monkeys detect the leopard before it attacks (usually resulting in mobbing), the leopard will typically not attack. Therefore, when a leopard alarm call is given both species respond by positioning near the leopard signaling that it has been found out. It also seems that the monkeys are able to distinguish a leopard alarm call from, for example, a raptor alarm call. When a raptor alarm call is given, the monkeys respond by moving towards the forest floor and away from aerial attack. Therefore, it is not simply that the monkeys act upon hearing the alarm calls but rather they are able to actually extract particular information from a call. Increased vigilance obviously has its benefits since more eyes watching mean earlier detection of predators and lower risk of being eaten. Responses to heterospecific alarm calls are not confined to simian species but have also been found in the Sciuridae species: yellow-bellied marmot
and the golden-mantled ground squirrel.
Whether heterospecific understanding is a learned behavior or not is also of interest. Ramakrishnan and Coss (2000) found that age and interspecies experience were important factors in the ability for bonnet macaques
to recognize heterospecific calls. Macaques who were younger and exposed longer to other species’ alarm calls were more likely to correctly respond to heterospecific alarm calls. A key component of this early learning was the reinforcement of a predatory threat. That is, when an alarm call was given a corresponding threat had to be presented in order to make the association. Therefore, interspecies communication may not be an innate ability but rather a sort of imprinting that may have to be coupled with an intense emotion (fear) early in life. In fact, most interspecies communications reported typically involve an older animal taking care of a younger animal of a different species. For example, Owen and Mzee
, the odd couple of an orphaned baby hippopotamus and a 130-year old Aldabran tortoise, display a relationship rarely seen in the animal world. Dr. Kahumbu of the sanctuary that holds the two believes that the two actually vocalize to one another in neither a stereotypical tortoise nor a hippopotamus fashion. Interestingly, Owen also does not respond to hippopotamus calls. It is likely that when Owen was first introduced to Mzee he was still young enough where imprinting could occur.
). In terms of alarm calls, this means that the warnings are not bi-directional. However, it would be faulty to say that the eavesdroppers are not giving any information in return. It may be that the other species has simply not been able to decipher the eavesdroppers’ calls. Much of the research done on this type of communication has been found in bird species, including the nuthatch
and the great tit
. In 2007, Templeton and Greene found that nuthatches are able to discriminate between subtle differences in chickadee
alarm calls, which broadcast the location and size of a predator. Since chickadees and nuthatches typically occupy the same habitat, mobbing predators together acts as a deterrent that benefits both species. The team also found that nuthatches screen chickadee alarm calls in order to determine whether it is cost-efficient to mob a particular predator. This is because not all predators pose the same risk to nuthatches as to chickadees. Templeton and Greene speculate that screening may be most important in the winter when energy demands are the highest.
Work by Gorissen, Gorissen, and Eens (2006) has focused on blue tit song matching (or, “song imitation”) by great tits. Blue and great tits compete for resources such as food and nesting cavities and their coexistence has important fitness consequences for both species. These fitness costs might promote interspecific aggression because resources need to be defended against heterospecifics as well. So, the use of efficient vocal strategies such as matching might prove to be effective in interspecific communication. Hence, heterospecific matching could be a way of phrasing a threat in the language of the heterospecfic intruder. It could equally be well argued that these imitations of blue tit sounds have no function at all and are merely the result of learning mistakes in the sensitive period of great tits because blue and great tits form mixed foraging flocks together. While the authors agree with the first hypothesis, it is plausible that the latter also being true given the data on age and experience in primates.
In addition to birds, eavesdropping has been found in tungara frogs and their sympatric heterospecifics. The scientists posit that mixed-species choruses may reduce their risk of predation without increasing mate competition.
. Given the effectiveness of this, it is no surprise that many animals employ styles of mimicry to ward off predators. Some predators also use aggressive mimicry as a hunting technique. For example, Photuris
fireflies mimic female Photinus fireflies by scent and glow patterns in order to lure interested male Photinus fireflies, which they then kill and eat. Lophiiformes, or anglerfish
, are also famous for their use of escas as bait for small unsuspecting fish.
Recently, two interesting examples of predator-prey signaling were found in caterpillars and ground squirrel
s. When physically disturbed, Lepidoptera
larvae produce a clicking noise with their mandibles followed by an unpalatable oral secretion. Scientists believe this to be “acoustic aposematism” which has only been previously found in a controlled study with bats and tiger moths. While the defense mechanisms of ground squirrels to predatory rattlesnakes have been well studied (i.e. tail flagging), only recently have scientists discovered that these squirrels also employ a type of infrared heat signaling. By using robotic models of squirrels, the researchers found that when infrared radiation was added to tail flagging, rattlesnakes shifted from predatory to defensive behavior and were less likely to attack than when no radiation component was added.
According to Koko
’s website, Koko is a 35 year-old lowland gorilla that learned to speak American Sign Language when she was just a baby. Her teacher, Dr. Penny Patterson, began working with Koko as a Ph.D. project at Stanford, thinking it would only be a 4-year study. Thirty-some years later, Penny and Koko continue to work together at the Gorilla Foundation in one of the longest interspecies communication studies ever conducted, the only one with gorillas. Koko now has a vocabulary of over 1000 signs, and understands even more spoken English.
On April 26, 1998, Koko the gorilla gave an AOL live chat. Koko’s trainer, Dr. Francine “Penny” Patternson, used sign language to relay the gorilla questions from the online audience; 7,811 AOL members participated, ranking the chat the fifth most popular in AOL's history. The following are two excerpts from the live chat, which illustrate the ambiguity of Koko’s true ability to communicate with humans. HaloMyBaby is the moderator of the chat, DrPPatrsn is Penny Patterson, and LiveKOKO is Koko.
In the above excerpts, Dr. Patterson tries to interpret Koko’s nonsensical responses into ones that directly answer the question. It is also interesting to note that when Dr. Patterson says, “nipple rhymes with people” she is implying that Koko understands rhyme schemes and the sounds of the words in addition to their meanings; this is highly unlikely. While Koko undoubtedly knows how to sign words, it is questionable whether her form of signing represents a true understanding of the English language (see Controversy below). The same can be said of pet dogs that respond to human commands. Most of this is due to operant conditioning
(e.g. “Sit” in order to get a biscuit). It is more likely to do with the sexual harassment/nipple fetish that was said to be taking place and easily chalked off as something similar to a Freudian slip. Another example of human-animal interaction is animal telepathy where human psychics claim to communicate with animals by reading their minds. There is no scientific evidence supporting these claims.
An important reminder for understanding human-animal communication is that many humans tend to anthropomorphize animals and thus believe that they have the capacity to understand human speech and language. Specifically, work by Rupert Sheldrake has explored the possible telepathic power of pets (i.e. a dog that seems to know when his owner is coming home). Given evidence for socialization and interspecies communication, it would be interesting to see how much knowledge pets can gain from humans and vice versa.
Works such as Augmented Fish Reality 2004 by Ken Rinaldo
Ken Rinaldo
Ken Rinaldo is an American artist and educator. He creates interactive art installations that explore the intersection between nature and technology...
is one example of an emerging art genre as fish were able to affect their environment in communicating with each other, their robots and humans in the space. Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac
Eduardo Kac is an American contemporary artist internationally recognized for his interactive net installations and his bio-art. Kac was born in 1962, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He lives and works in Chicago....
also a bio-artist created a work titled Essay Concerning Human Understanding , which was a bi-directional, interspecies sonic installation in which he set up a two-way dialogue between a Philodendron
Philodendron
Philodendron is a large genus of flowering plants in the Araceae family, consisting of close to 900 or more species according to TROPICOS . Other sources quote different numbers of species. According to S.J. Mayo there are about 350-400 formally recognized species whereas according to Croat there...
plant and bird.
Recent research with Kanzi a bonobo
Bonobo
The bonobo , Pan paniscus, previously called the pygmy chimpanzee and less often, the dwarf or gracile chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee...
at the University of Georgia represents a successful experiment where (1) the bonobo learned symbols and is successfully communicating with its trainers Jared Taglialatela, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Lauren Baker. Their work is contributing to a now larger series of research studies that language is an evolutionary trait that evolved in our non-human primates.
Mutualism
Cooperative interspecies communication implies the sharing and understanding of information from two or more species that work towards the benefit of both species (mutualism). Most research has found cooperative communication in prey animals whose alarm calls not only alert conspecifics but also heterospecifics. So far, most work has been found in primates. Redfronted lemur and sifakaSifaka
Sifakas are a genus of lemur from the family Indriidae within the order Primates. Their name of the family is an onomatopoeia of their characteristic "shi-fak" alarm call. Like all lemurs, they are found only on the island of Madagascar...
s have reciprocal recognition of one another’s alarm calls. The same has been found in West African Diana monkey
Diana Monkey
The Diana monkey is an Old World monkey found in West Africa, from Sierra Leone to Côte d'Ivoire.The Diana monkey ranges from 40 to 55 cm in length, excluding its tail, which is of a uniform 3–4 cm diameter and 50–75 cm long. Adults weigh between 4–7 kg...
and Campbell’s monkeys. When one species elicits an alarm signal
Alarm call
In the field of animal communication, an alarm signal is an antipredator adaptation referring to various signals emitted by social animals in response to danger. Many primates and birds have elaborate alarm calls for warning conspecifics of approaching predators. For example, the characteristic...
specific to a certain predator, the other species react in the same pattern as the species that called. For example, leopards hunt on both species by capitalizing the elements of stealth and surprise. If the monkeys detect the leopard before it attacks (usually resulting in mobbing), the leopard will typically not attack. Therefore, when a leopard alarm call is given both species respond by positioning near the leopard signaling that it has been found out. It also seems that the monkeys are able to distinguish a leopard alarm call from, for example, a raptor alarm call. When a raptor alarm call is given, the monkeys respond by moving towards the forest floor and away from aerial attack. Therefore, it is not simply that the monkeys act upon hearing the alarm calls but rather they are able to actually extract particular information from a call. Increased vigilance obviously has its benefits since more eyes watching mean earlier detection of predators and lower risk of being eaten. Responses to heterospecific alarm calls are not confined to simian species but have also been found in the Sciuridae species: yellow-bellied marmot
Yellow-bellied Marmot
The yellow-bellied marmot , also known as the rock chuck, is a ground squirrel in the marmot genus.-Description:...
and the golden-mantled ground squirrel.
Whether heterospecific understanding is a learned behavior or not is also of interest. Ramakrishnan and Coss (2000) found that age and interspecies experience were important factors in the ability for bonnet macaques
Bonnet Macaque
The bonnet macaque is a macaque endemic to southern India. Its distribution is limited by the Indian Ocean on three sides and the Godavari and Tapti Rivers along with a related competing species of rhesus macaque in the north....
to recognize heterospecific calls. Macaques who were younger and exposed longer to other species’ alarm calls were more likely to correctly respond to heterospecific alarm calls. A key component of this early learning was the reinforcement of a predatory threat. That is, when an alarm call was given a corresponding threat had to be presented in order to make the association. Therefore, interspecies communication may not be an innate ability but rather a sort of imprinting that may have to be coupled with an intense emotion (fear) early in life. In fact, most interspecies communications reported typically involve an older animal taking care of a younger animal of a different species. For example, Owen and Mzee
Owen and Mzee
Owen and Mzee are a hippopotamus and an Aldabra giant tortoise, respectively, that became the subject of media attention after forming an unusual bond of friendship. They live in Haller Park, Malindi, Kenya....
, the odd couple of an orphaned baby hippopotamus and a 130-year old Aldabran tortoise, display a relationship rarely seen in the animal world. Dr. Kahumbu of the sanctuary that holds the two believes that the two actually vocalize to one another in neither a stereotypical tortoise nor a hippopotamus fashion. Interestingly, Owen also does not respond to hippopotamus calls. It is likely that when Owen was first introduced to Mzee he was still young enough where imprinting could occur.
Parasitic communication and eavesdropping
Unlike cooperative communication, parasitic communication involves an unequal sharing of information (parasitismParasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
). In terms of alarm calls, this means that the warnings are not bi-directional. However, it would be faulty to say that the eavesdroppers are not giving any information in return. It may be that the other species has simply not been able to decipher the eavesdroppers’ calls. Much of the research done on this type of communication has been found in bird species, including the nuthatch
Nuthatch
The nuthatches are a genus, Sitta, of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs...
and the great tit
Great Tit
The Great Tit is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central and Northern Asia, and parts of North Africa in any sort of woodland. It is generally resident, and most Great Tits do not migrate except in extremely...
. In 2007, Templeton and Greene found that nuthatches are able to discriminate between subtle differences in chickadee
Chickadee
Chickadee is a group of birds in the Paridae familyChickadee may also refer to:* USS Chickadee , a minesweeper in the United States Navy* Chickadee , a Canadian children's magazine-See also:* Black-capped Chickadee...
alarm calls, which broadcast the location and size of a predator. Since chickadees and nuthatches typically occupy the same habitat, mobbing predators together acts as a deterrent that benefits both species. The team also found that nuthatches screen chickadee alarm calls in order to determine whether it is cost-efficient to mob a particular predator. This is because not all predators pose the same risk to nuthatches as to chickadees. Templeton and Greene speculate that screening may be most important in the winter when energy demands are the highest.
Work by Gorissen, Gorissen, and Eens (2006) has focused on blue tit song matching (or, “song imitation”) by great tits. Blue and great tits compete for resources such as food and nesting cavities and their coexistence has important fitness consequences for both species. These fitness costs might promote interspecific aggression because resources need to be defended against heterospecifics as well. So, the use of efficient vocal strategies such as matching might prove to be effective in interspecific communication. Hence, heterospecific matching could be a way of phrasing a threat in the language of the heterospecfic intruder. It could equally be well argued that these imitations of blue tit sounds have no function at all and are merely the result of learning mistakes in the sensitive period of great tits because blue and great tits form mixed foraging flocks together. While the authors agree with the first hypothesis, it is plausible that the latter also being true given the data on age and experience in primates.
In addition to birds, eavesdropping has been found in tungara frogs and their sympatric heterospecifics. The scientists posit that mixed-species choruses may reduce their risk of predation without increasing mate competition.
Predator-prey communication
Much of the communication between predators and prey can be defined as signaling. In some animals, the best way to avoid being preyed upon is an advertisement of danger or unpalatability, or aposematismAposematism
Aposematism , perhaps most commonly known in the context of warning colouration, describes a family of antipredator adaptations where a warning signal is associated with the unprofitability of a prey item to potential predators...
. Given the effectiveness of this, it is no surprise that many animals employ styles of mimicry to ward off predators. Some predators also use aggressive mimicry as a hunting technique. For example, Photuris
Photuris
Photuris may refer to:*Photuris , a genus of beetles containing several species of firefly*Photuris , a computer networking session key management protocol...
fireflies mimic female Photinus fireflies by scent and glow patterns in order to lure interested male Photinus fireflies, which they then kill and eat. Lophiiformes, or anglerfish
Anglerfish
Anglerfishes are members of the teleost order Lophiiformes . They are bony fishes named for their characteristic mode of predation, wherein a fleshy growth from the fish's head acts as a lure; this is considered analogous to angling.Some anglerfishes are pelagic , while others are benthic...
, are also famous for their use of escas as bait for small unsuspecting fish.
Recently, two interesting examples of predator-prey signaling were found in caterpillars and ground squirrel
Ground squirrel
The ground squirrels are members of the squirrel family of rodents which generally live on or in the ground, rather than trees. The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known as marmots or prairie dogs, while the smaller and less...
s. When physically disturbed, Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
larvae produce a clicking noise with their mandibles followed by an unpalatable oral secretion. Scientists believe this to be “acoustic aposematism” which has only been previously found in a controlled study with bats and tiger moths. While the defense mechanisms of ground squirrels to predatory rattlesnakes have been well studied (i.e. tail flagging), only recently have scientists discovered that these squirrels also employ a type of infrared heat signaling. By using robotic models of squirrels, the researchers found that when infrared radiation was added to tail flagging, rattlesnakes shifted from predatory to defensive behavior and were less likely to attack than when no radiation component was added.
Human-nonhuman communication
http://www.koko.org/world/talk_aol.htmlAccording to Koko
Koko (gorilla)
Koko is a female western lowland gorilla who, according to Francine "Penny" Patterson, is able to understand more than 1,000 signs based on American Sign Language, and understand approximately 2,000 words of spoken English....
’s website, Koko is a 35 year-old lowland gorilla that learned to speak American Sign Language when she was just a baby. Her teacher, Dr. Penny Patterson, began working with Koko as a Ph.D. project at Stanford, thinking it would only be a 4-year study. Thirty-some years later, Penny and Koko continue to work together at the Gorilla Foundation in one of the longest interspecies communication studies ever conducted, the only one with gorillas. Koko now has a vocabulary of over 1000 signs, and understands even more spoken English.
On April 26, 1998, Koko the gorilla gave an AOL live chat. Koko’s trainer, Dr. Francine “Penny” Patternson, used sign language to relay the gorilla questions from the online audience; 7,811 AOL members participated, ranking the chat the fifth most popular in AOL's history. The following are two excerpts from the live chat, which illustrate the ambiguity of Koko’s true ability to communicate with humans. HaloMyBaby is the moderator of the chat, DrPPatrsn is Penny Patterson, and LiveKOKO is Koko.
- HaloMyBaby: …MInyKitty asks Koko are you going to have a baby in the future?
- LiveKOKO: Pink
- DrPPatrsn: We've had earlier discussion about colors today
- LiveKOKO: Listen, Koko loves eat
- HaloMyBaby: Me too!
- DrPPatrsn: What about a baby? She's thinking...
- LiveKOKO: Unattention
- DrPPatrsn: She covered her face with her hands....which means it's not happening, basically, or it hasn't happened yet.
- LiveKOKO: I don't see it.
- HaloMyBaby: That's sad!
- DrPPatrsn: In other words, she hasn't had one yet, and she doesn't see it happening. She needs several females and one male to have a family. In our setting it really isn't possible for her to have a baby.
- Question: Do you like to chat with other people?
- LiveKOKO: fine nipple
- DrPPatrsn: Nipple rhymes with people, she doesn't sign people per se, she was trying to do a "sounds like..."
In the above excerpts, Dr. Patterson tries to interpret Koko’s nonsensical responses into ones that directly answer the question. It is also interesting to note that when Dr. Patterson says, “nipple rhymes with people” she is implying that Koko understands rhyme schemes and the sounds of the words in addition to their meanings; this is highly unlikely. While Koko undoubtedly knows how to sign words, it is questionable whether her form of signing represents a true understanding of the English language (see Controversy below). The same can be said of pet dogs that respond to human commands. Most of this is due to operant conditioning
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is a form of psychological learning during which an individual modifies the occurrence and form of its own behavior due to the association of the behavior with a stimulus...
(e.g. “Sit” in order to get a biscuit). It is more likely to do with the sexual harassment/nipple fetish that was said to be taking place and easily chalked off as something similar to a Freudian slip. Another example of human-animal interaction is animal telepathy where human psychics claim to communicate with animals by reading their minds. There is no scientific evidence supporting these claims.
An important reminder for understanding human-animal communication is that many humans tend to anthropomorphize animals and thus believe that they have the capacity to understand human speech and language. Specifically, work by Rupert Sheldrake has explored the possible telepathic power of pets (i.e. a dog that seems to know when his owner is coming home). Given evidence for socialization and interspecies communication, it would be interesting to see how much knowledge pets can gain from humans and vice versa.
Controversy
Interspecies communication is a field of considerable debate as there is no concrete definition of what constitutes communication. Does it involve a full comprehension of language or are knowing simple words enough? For instance, while it’s questionable that Koko really understands the English language, is she still communicating because she knows how to sign for things she wants? Is this the same as a dog learning to bark for food? It is also important to make a distinction between this and signaling. Signaling implies a tacit exchange of information usually in the forms of color, odor, and gesture but the definition is certainly not limited to this interpretation. The species listed in this paradigm may not be representative of all interspecies communication simply because they are all vertebrates and of certain social interaction. It has been documented that bacteria, pathogens, plants, and fungi engage in transfers of information. There is no reason why the categories stated in this article are more accurate than other theories and so leaves open the question of semantics.See also
- Animal communicationAnimal communicationAnimal communication is any behavior on the part of one animal that has an effect on the current or future behaviour of another animal. The study of animal communication, is sometimes called Zoosemiotics has played an important part in the...
- Clever HansClever HansClever Hans was an Orlov Trotter horse that was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks....
- Great ape languageGreat Ape languageResearch into non-human great ape language has involved teaching chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans to communicate with human beings and with each other using sign language, physical tokens, and lexigrams; see Yerkish...
- Human-animal communicationHuman-animal communicationHuman–animal communication is the communication observed between humans and other animals, from non-verbal cues and vocalizations through to, potentially, the use of a sophisticated language.-Introduction:...
- Jim NollmanJim NollmanJim Nollman is a composer of music for theatre, an internationally distinguished conceptual artist, and an environmental activist. He graduated from Tufts University in 1969....