Animal Communication – Animal Behavior Study Guide, Key Concepts and Communication
Systems Overview
What do veterinarians look at before running any diagnostic tests? - ✔✔communication
Animal communication - ✔✔one animal TRANSMITS INFORMATION to another animal causing
some kind of change in the animal that gets the information
human communication with animals is learning to understand what? - ✔✔the MESSAGES the
animal is sending
Why is communication important? - ✔✔• Diagnosis of medical problems
•Assessment of emotional state or temperament
•Prevent injuries to yourself and the animal
What do animals communicate with? - ✔✔signals
(visual, auditory, chemical, olfactory, tactile)
Auditory signals - ✔✔•Sound based communication.
•Convey warnings! (and more)
Animals can perceive higher and lower sound frequency than humans
Visual signals - ✔✔•Signals that can be seen.
•Gestures, facial expression, body postures, changes in coloration
, •Cats see at 1/5 of human light needs
•Goats highest acuity, sheep, cattle dogs and horses follow
•Cattle less brightness discrimination (Animals)
What species have color vision? - ✔✔all species of domesticated animals
•Ruminants: medium and long wave lengths (yellow, orange, and red) better than short (violet,
blue, and green)
•Horses: sepia toned
Monocular vision - ✔✔•each eye sees separate pictures
•*Herbivores or prey animals
Binocular vision - ✔✔both eyes see one picture
What is the most important sense? - ✔✔Olfaction
Olfaction (signals) - ✔✔•Odor can linger for minutes or days
•Individual odor recognition
Dogs have the greatest olfactory ability
- can tell identical twins apart by their aliphatic acids
Systems Overview
What do veterinarians look at before running any diagnostic tests? - ✔✔communication
Animal communication - ✔✔one animal TRANSMITS INFORMATION to another animal causing
some kind of change in the animal that gets the information
human communication with animals is learning to understand what? - ✔✔the MESSAGES the
animal is sending
Why is communication important? - ✔✔• Diagnosis of medical problems
•Assessment of emotional state or temperament
•Prevent injuries to yourself and the animal
What do animals communicate with? - ✔✔signals
(visual, auditory, chemical, olfactory, tactile)
Auditory signals - ✔✔•Sound based communication.
•Convey warnings! (and more)
Animals can perceive higher and lower sound frequency than humans
Visual signals - ✔✔•Signals that can be seen.
•Gestures, facial expression, body postures, changes in coloration
, •Cats see at 1/5 of human light needs
•Goats highest acuity, sheep, cattle dogs and horses follow
•Cattle less brightness discrimination (Animals)
What species have color vision? - ✔✔all species of domesticated animals
•Ruminants: medium and long wave lengths (yellow, orange, and red) better than short (violet,
blue, and green)
•Horses: sepia toned
Monocular vision - ✔✔•each eye sees separate pictures
•*Herbivores or prey animals
Binocular vision - ✔✔both eyes see one picture
What is the most important sense? - ✔✔Olfaction
Olfaction (signals) - ✔✔•Odor can linger for minutes or days
•Individual odor recognition
Dogs have the greatest olfactory ability
- can tell identical twins apart by their aliphatic acids
