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Crocodylia Communication

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

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Synonyms

Crocodylian Communication; Crocodilia Communication; Crocodilian Communication

Introduction

The members of the evolutionarily ancient order Crocodylia, commonly referred to as “crocodilians” possess a wide array of communication capacities in the acoustic, visual, tactile, and olfactory domain. The behavior of crocodilians has been studied in the wild and captivity for centuries, and many visual and acoustic signals have been described in detail. Yet, the actual communicative function of these behaviors is still a topic of active research. This has several reasons. For one, crocodilians cannot easily be individually identified and followed in the wild due to their semiaquatic lifestyle. Secondly, social interactions are usually composed of multiple signaling elements, which occur in more than one context, for example, in courtship and in territorial displays. Finally, most signals are very subtle and some of them even unperceivable to humans, such as subaudible vibrations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lund University Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Stephan A. Reber

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  1. Stephan A. Reber
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Correspondence to Stephan A. Reber .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Lauren Highfill

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Reber, S.A. (2020). Crocodylia Communication. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_950-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_950-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Crocodylia Communication
    Published:
    19 February 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_950-2

  2. Original

    Crocodilia Communication
    Published:
    25 April 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_950-1

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