The Functions of Animal Communication (AQA GCSE Psychology)

Survival & reproduction

• Animals are more hard-wired for survival than human beings are

  • Animals have to rely on and be guided by their instincts: they are not able to reason, reflect, or make considered decisions in the same way that human beings can

• Animal communication is entirely sense-based (due to the lack of a more sophisticated communication system) and falls into four main types:

  • Visual (sight)

  • Auditory (hearing)

  • Olfactory (smell, taste) 

  • Tactile (touch) 

Animal survival communication

• Alarm signals are given off by animals to promote survival by allowing conspecifics to escape from a predator

• A downside of the alarm call signal is that it also works as a signal to the predator that prey is close at hand and may thus decrease their (the prey’s) chances of survival

• Some examples include:

  • Blackbirds (and many other animals and birds) emit a shrill alarm call to signal to others  that a predator is nearby

  • Vervet monkeys produce acoustically distinct calls to distinguish different predators i.e. a specific call linked to either pythons, eagles, leopards or baboons

  • Some animals, like fish and insects, may use non-auditory signals e.g. the white tail flashes of deer may be an alarm signal to warn other deer of a nearby predator

Alarm signal diagram

An alarm signal is a non-auditory signal that a predator is near 

Animal reproduction communication

• Display signals are used by an animal to show off the reproductive advantages of mating with them, to conspecifics (i.e. ‘look at me, I’m awesome’)

  • Some tree frogs croak songs to attract mates

    • The most popular males produce offspring that are faster and larger than the offspring of less popular males

  • Female guppy fish prefer males with brighter orange spots on their body because it means they are better at finding high-quality food than those with less bright spots

  • Male peacocks show off their dazzling array of coloured feathers to females

  • Jumping spiders perform complicated dances in which they wave their legs and vibrate their bodies

  • Male pipefish (a type of seahorse) prefer females with more dramatic-looking stripes on their body

Animal reproduction communication diagram

The female pipefish with their dramatic striped display to attract a mate

Territory & food

• For an animal it is important to ‘mark’ their territory so that other animals do not ‘invade’ their patch (even your friendly family pet does this: dogs urinate in specific locations, cats have scent glands on their cheeks, paws and flanks which are activated when they rub against something)

• Scent marking ensures that other animals know that this territory is ‘taken’ and that the animal which has lain down their scent is the ‘owner’ of that territory

• Males tend to mark territory more than females with dominant males marking territory the most  

• Scent marking forms a central part of competition between groups of animals for territory

  • Lemurs engage in ‘stink fights’ to win the rights to a specific territory

  • White rhinos deposit piles of dung (which they then drag their feet through) to mark territory

• Scent marking is more evolutionarily useful than fighting for territorial rights as fighting can result in serious injury or death which would diminish the herd and may result in their extinction

Scent marking diagram

Even domestic animals mark their territory.

• Pheromones are used by some animals to communicate a range of signals, one of which is the location of food

  • Insects such as ants and bees employ pheromones successfully to mark a food trail

  • Sharks have a very refined sense of smell and can detect minuscule drops of blood up to a mile away

  • Snakes use their tongue to detect scent particles in the air by flicking their tongue out and then pressing it against specialised scent receptors on the roof of their mouth

Scent detection diagram

How a snake smells dinner.