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Animals use sound to communicate for reasons of survival, friendship, and breeding. Following the start of life on Earth 3.5 billion years ago, sound communication has since been a key aspect of animal lives, allowing for the enunciation of varying ideas to others. The conflicting purposes of auditory communication can be through several animals such as birds, chimpanzees, and dogs. The significant threshold moments will also be exemplified as the distinct effect of early life, early humanity and domestication will be explored. In examining these three case studies, we can attain a deeper understanding of the great significance of sound in the animal kingdom and how its evolution aids the survival and reproduction of species.
Birds use calls/songs and parts of their body to communicate via sound. Paleontologists have proved that birds originally evolved from dinosaurs during the threshold of early life, by finding a link between the fossils of birds and the dinosaur archaeopteryx. These two-legged hybrid creatures had feathered wings very similar to the structure of modern-day birds. Today, these wings and feathers play a crucial role in bird communication. Some birds produce non-vocal sound by fluttering their wings. Feather fluttering can be a sign to attract mates or portray signals such as courtship etc. An example of this is Wilsons snipe which spreads its unique tail features during an eastward dive. As it plunges, it flutters its wings, creating a winnowing sound, occurring commonly during courtship. In addition, vocalization is also frequently seen amongst birds and is recognized as the most observable form of bird communication. Even though not all birds sing, the ones who do are all members of the class known as passerines. Some examples of songbirds include sparrows, wrens and thrushes. In most cases, it is the male of the species who sings rather than the females. The man sings elaborate songs as a mating call to the female and in defense of their territory. Other than singing, a more common form of auditory communication is bird calls. A bird call is shorter and less musical than bird songs. Each species of bird has a diverse range of call notes that each conveys different ideas. They can use these call notes to alert danger or threats nearby, as well as for mating purposes and flight calls. The call notes for birds of smaller size are often a chip, chirp or peep while bigger birds have a loud screech, caw or click. Since their evolution from dinosaurs, it is evident that birds have utilized sound as their main method of communication amongst each other.
Chimpanzees practice their vocals in multiple situations to express a message or emotion. Around 6-8 million years ago, chimpanzees first evolved from a shared common ancestor to humans during the early human threshold, before branching out to evolve into their modern-day form. As a result, they are genetically the closest animals to humans, sharing 98.6% of DNA. Humans and chimpanzees have many features in common, such as our body structure (e.g., opposable thumbs) and our body language. We are also both able to make and use tools, as discovered by primatologist Jane Goodall in October 1960 after observing a chimpanzee bend a twig and use it to fish termites. However, despite our similarities, chimpanzees application of sound to communicate is much less complex when compared to that of humans due to their lack of verbal language. Chimpanzees use varying sounds to indicate their emotions, e.g., they will whimper or cry when they are feeling distressed or laugh when they are excited. They also scream in anger and make a long wraaaa call when in danger. Additionally, each chimpanzee has its own distinctive pant hoot, similar to how humans have different variations of voices. These loud, long-distance vocalizations are communicated for multiple purposes such as alerting others about nearby food or proclaiming dominance and strength. Overall, the evolving of chimpanzees millions of years ago has allowed for their unique application of communication via sound today.
Auditory communication is employed by dogs to demonstrate their various emotions. Dogs have been domesticated by humans for thousands of years now. By digging up artefacts and animal bones, archaeologists discovered that dogs have been associated with human lives before the threshold of agriculture, therefore at least 10, 000 years ago. They were human’s first-known pets. It is believed that humans were still hunter-gatherers at the time the earliest dogs arose. These dogs may have followed their owners whilst hunting as a source of protection, barking or growling to warn the forager of dangerous animals or other tribes of foragers nearby. The introduction of domestication has emphasized sounds importance within a dog’s communication. Wild dogs are much less vocal than pet dogs. Common traits seen in pet dogs are barking, crying and whining, partly due to artificial selection. However, traits such as howling, travel over long distances and are majorly seen within wild dogs. These howls are mainly used to locate and attract other pack members. Furthermore, dogs also express other emotions such as distress or pain by yelping or pleasure and contentment by low pitched moaning. Some sounds such as whining have mixed meanings. Whining in dogs can be a sign of distress or a sign of happiness and excitement. They can be distinguished through the difference in pitch between the two sounds. Similarly, a growl can refer to a warning or threat or be used to communicate play and can be distinguished by the sounds pitch. Following the advent of domestication, sound communication has altered and continues to play a vital role in communication amongst dogs.
In conclusion, animals utilize sound to effectively communicate with humans or others of their kind. Each sound communicates varying signals and messages and is essential to the living of all species of animals. By studying the auditory communication amongst animals such as birds, chimpanzees, and dogs, we are given a helpful insight into the deep complexity of nature and the development of life on Earth.
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