Evolution of communication

Evolution of communication

Isn’t it nice to know that your ideas are not so crazy, and indeed somebody has studied them?

Well I always thought that communication and language has its basis in common sounds that reflected emotional states.

Surprise- abrupt

Anger- sharp and/ or low sounds

Happy- singsong or higher pitches

Confusion- high sound increasing in pitch

Confusion, Worry- whiny and wavering high pitch.

( I wanted video clips of my chickens making sounds, but so far haven't been able to get video editing software up and going)

Isn’t this a part of how we understand out pets? Well, Have a look at Morton 1977 “On the occurrence and significance of motivation structural rules in some bird and mammal sounds” (American Naturalist 855-869).

He says that low, harsh sounds are associated with hostile motivation. Pure-toned sounds have friendly and appeasing motivation. Sounds that rise and fall in frequency indicate a conflict of motivation. He then gives examples of many different species and their aggressive and non-aggressive calls. Very cool! Gradation is calls (which have components of both aggressive and appeasing) can be used to communicate subtle variations in motivation.

So, why all this variation? Well, just think about humans, there is a myriad of examples when we need to change our message to our friends and family. Think of a group of men and food. At an abundant bbq, men may be more generous and heaping food on other people’s plate and thus have “appeasing tones”. But, then, say there is only a plate of leftovers after a conference and some very hungry undergrads, you think they would be so chipper? Nope!

Morton (1977) points out that selection can never mold an animals overt reactions to “ a perfect balance”, because the environment is always in flux. But, selection can favour the ability of animals to respond to each other in a way that enhances their survival and reproductive success, and communication allows animals to adjust their social relationships in a socially and physically changing environment. So, yes variability in calls and songs, may mean greater range of communication.

So, back to chickens. Let’s think of Stormy. Stormy’s vocalizations have changed since I got him as a chick in february, and especially between him being a teenager and when he became Alpha male. This is not simply because he grew up and learned more, but because his social status changed, and the amount of food available per chicken changed as I thinned my population and chickens moved away. Stormy was able to adjust his relationships with the other chickens, in his body language and vocal communication. As a young rooster, he spent far more time with higher submissive sounding calls, and then (cheeky boy) as he became bigger and climbed the social ladder, he crowed. Then alarm called more often.

I just love listening to animals talk.