Communication

Abstract

Many of the most important external stimuli impinging on an animal are those emanating from other animals. Predators, mates, flock companions, parents, offspring and so on transmit signals to which animals respond in particular ways. In many cases these signals are the result of deliberate and complex actions which have evolved specifically to influence the behaviour of other animals. When we consider the relationship between a signal transmitted by one animal and the response it elicits in another, we consider an act of communication. Communication can be said to have occurred when an animal performs an act that alters the behaviour of another animal. However, neither the signal nor the response constitute communication in themselves. As Wilson points out, even if one animal signals and the other responds, there has been no communication unless the probability of response is altered from what it would have been in the absence of the signal. While we all feel we know what we mean by communication, it has proved a difficult and still elusive phenomenon to define satisfactorily. Whichever way it is defined and however tortuously precise the definition, exceptions to the rule are always easily found.