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How do animals communicate with each other? Do you speak a language we don't understand, or do you rely only on basic communication rules? What do gestures, smells, and colors do? Why can't you speak the human language?
In the new Disney movie, Zootropolis, animals walk on two legs, dress up, travel by train, work in various occupations, and speak in English (or another language, depending on where you watch the movie). It is clear that the world depicted in the film cannot be real, and our world would be completely different if we were not able to communicate effectively with each other. Of course, animals also communicate with each other, as everyone who has seen a meeting between two dogs attests to. However, our language is very different from the way animals communicate. What makes human language special?
Man and other living creatures
Human language is based on two principles. The first is a vocabulary - a set of sounds and syllables that are agreed upon by all speakers of a language as representing a particular thing or concept; The second is Grammar and Grammar - an algorithm built in the brain of every language speaker that allows him to link words together in infinite ways, to express any idea that comes to his mind. In this way, people talk to each other about what happened a year ago, plan together for the next month, pass on the discoveries of a third person in another country, and even discuss the way the language they speak has developed.
As for communication between animals, it depends mostly on the expression of the animal's mood or intention. The cat growls to express its consent, exhales when it is about to attack and makes loud meowing sounds near a female it craves while it is in its sexual frenzy. These sounds belong to these meanings and do not express a different meaning in different contexts, while the word cat has the same meaning in different contexts in our Language, such as in sentences my brother has two dogs and my brother's dog scratches me.
As for the animals that are closest to us, such as monkeys, there are signs of the development of language, as the sounds they make express not only their condition but also indicate certain things or animals. The first proof of this is the Vervet Monkey, who lives in eastern and southern Africa. 35 years ago, researchers discovered that these monkeys issue different warning calls when they see a tiger, an eagle, or a snake. Whereas a normal warning call can result simply from fear (and therefore no different from a cat's exhale), different calls from different predators indicate a relationship between the animal's species and the vocalization. Monkeys also react differently when they hear different calls, they run toward the trees in response to the tiger call, look up when they hear the word eagle, and look down in response to the snake call.
Research has since been published indicating that different species of monkeys and great apes make different sounds: tamarins issue different warning calls when they recognize different predators, while capuchins and chimpanzees make different sounds in response to different types of food, to name a few. other. Similar studies have been done on birds as well, and it has been claimed that crows and even chickens have calls that express certain types of food. In rare cases, a group of calls made by animals can be distinguished in a specific order - some researchers believe that this is the beginning of the formation of sentences. Campbell's monkeys - the little monkeys of West Africa - have six basic calls, but they can link them together in different shapes to build sentences that express them according to the situation. According to a new study on songbirds published in March 2016, Japanese titmice not only make meaningful calls but link them together in a meaningful sequence; The meaning of calling A followed by calling B is different from calling B followed by calling A.
Is it really a language?
In addition to the publication of many similar studies, the voices of skeptics have also abounded, claiming that there is no relationship between the calls made by animals and the words in the human language, even if the calls express an object or an animal. Among the most prominent features of words is their arbitrariness. There is no relationship between the word cat and the animal to which the word refers, other than the arbitrary decision of the Arabic speakers. For this reason, the concept cat has other names in other languages - kat in English, gato in Spanish, and spiral in Nepali. In addition, young children do not know what sounds are appropriate for different concepts, but rather from the adults around them. It is never clear if this is also the case for animal 'words'. Vervet monkeys, for example, live in many parts of Africa. However, the calls for eagle, tiger, or snake in Ethiopia are the same as those used in South Africa. It also appears that young monkeys do not acquire the calls from their parents, but rather know from birth which calls suit any predator. Other sounds, such as birds chirping and whales, are acquired by the young from the adults in the group, so we may find different songs in different populations. But it seems that these particular sounds do not express a particular concept.
It is also unclear to what extent the animals control the sounds they make and can determine when the sound is appropriate. The man also makes such innate sounds that he cannot control. When we are hit, for example, it is very difficult for us to keep the cry in our mouth. Even those who try to discipline themselves to stop laughing know how hard it is to do so. According to some researchers, the calls of animals, even those that refer to specific concepts, belong to this category and therefore differ fundamentally from human language. One case described by researcher Catherine Hobaiter illustrates this claim: she was in a group of chimpanzees that was observed by a female who wanted to eat monkey meat that had been caught by a male, but the male did not agree to share his food with her. The female waited until the male fell asleep, and approached him cautiously to steal some meat. She was able to reach the meat without waking up the male, sending her hand to eat it, but her instinct overpowered her and she made a sound associated with eating. The male was awakened and the starving female was humiliated. This story shows that at least some of the animals' calls are instinctive reactions and not the result of pre-planned communication.
Singing whales, like birds chirping,
Young children learn it from adults in their group
One gesture is worth a thousand pleas
Could it be that our research s focused in the wrong place, where instead of studying animal sounds, we should focus on their body movements?
Body gestures are an important part of communication between animals, and between people as well. Some are well known to us, such as the dog's tail waving or the invite them to play movement: extending the front legs forward and bowing the head. Horses' moods can also be known by the angle of their ears - when they are pulled back and close to the head, it's best not to get too close. In many types of birds and fish, males perform a specific dance to express their admiration for the female. When males fight for control of an area, they perform certain movements aimed at convincing the opponent that they are big and intimidating, as a cat bends its back, for example. The messages conveyed in these examples are similar to the calls we discussed above, as they do not express a specific concept, but rather the psychological state of the performer of the movement. Insects are a well-known example of transmitting messages of another kind through gestures: the dance that honeybees perform as they return to the hive after finding an abundant source of nectar. The duration and direction of the dance pass on to the rest of the bees information about the direction and distance to the flower that produces abundant nectar. Although the language of bees is very limited, this may be the only example known to us, other than human language, of course, for the accurate transmission of information about a creature or some object out of sight of those present. Voice communication in humans is also often accompanied by hand gestures and body movements, and children communicate with their environment through gestures before they learn to speak.
The animals closest to us, the apes and the great apes, also communicate by gestures - extending the arm, placing the hands above the head, and moving the branch. All of these gestures can transmit messages from one monkey to another. Studies have shown that different groups of chimpanzees, for example, communicate with different gestures, and it seems that the young ones learn their meaning from the adults in the group. Thus, these gestures are remembered in the human language. Some researchers believe that the development of human language originally, even before the emergence of Homo sapiens, was based mainly on gestures, and was closer to sign language than the vocal language we know today.
Dependence of the sound on the tongue (and pharynx)
Our language may have begun to rely primarily on sounds when we began to develop a vocal apparatus capable of producing a greater variety of sounds. The structure of our pharynx, oral cavity, and throat is different from that of apes and great apes, and we have more control over the sounds we make. To find other animals that control their voice in this way, we must leave the kingdom of mammals and move on to the birds. Many songbirds are capable of very complex sounds, and some are also endowed with another ability that typically distinguishes humans: vocal mimicry. The most famous example of this is parrots, some of which are able to imitate human speech, in addition to many other sounds. Some crows are also admirably capable of vocal imitation. Lyrebird is the most deserving of the title of best imitator of sounds. These birds are able to mimic just about anything, from the sounds of other birds to the sound of a camera lens. In mammals, this ability to imitate sound is very rare. Dolphins are able to imitate some features of human speech, and they seem to use this ability to learn the distinctive calls of their group. In one of the aquariums in Boston, a few years ago lived a seal named Hoover, who greeted visitors with the expression: well hello! (with a heavy New England accent), but it is not known how widespread this talent was among his race. To develop a sound-based complex language, it is not enough to have the ability to make a long series of different sounds, but also the ability to accurately repeat the audible sounds. In the order of Primates to which we belong, we have only developed this ability. This is also the reason why great apes can learn hundreds of words in sign language but cannot pronounce them.
Colors and scents
Although the vocal communication of many animals is very limited, they make up for it by other means, some of which are not available to us. For example, everyone who has gone out for a walk with a dog is aware of the important role that the sense of smell plays in a dog's social network. Not only do dogs smell each other's butts when they meet, but they also spend a lot of time scrutinizing the scents left by their owners. In this way, male dogs can also learn about the presence of a female in her period of sexual agitation in the area. The chemicals that animals use to communicate messages are called pheromones, and they are common throughout the animal kingdom. Pheromones have been studied extensively in insects, as they are used, as in dogs, to attract males to females, and for many other purposes as well. For example, ants use pheromones to determine their way to food sources, and they use other pheromones to seek help when a dwelling is attacked. Chemicals can accompany other forms of communication - bees release pheromones when they dance, apparently to get the attention of the rest of the group.
Many vertebrates, including reptiles and many species of mammals, capture pheromones by a special olfactory organ, called Jacobson's organ, at the top of the pharynx. If you have ever seen your cat sitting with its mouth open, its lips pulled back, its teeth exposed, and it seemed to express complete disgust with the whole world, it likely smelled pheromones. Many mammals have this facial expression when they want to direct the path of the air they breathe to the Jacobson organ. This organ is found in primates as well, but it is very weak in humans and great apes. Humans do not use pheromones consciously, but some studies claim that the smells of people around us affect us without us even knowing it.
And some animals have forms of communication that may seem to us more strange and wonderful. Wastewater and octopuses, for example, are able to change the color of their skin, apparently as a means of communicating with members of their species, although we can currently only guess the messages transmitted in this way. The chameleon, the animal most famous for changing color, also does so at least in part as a means of transmitting the information. Female chameleons, for example, change their color to express their readiness to reproduce.
In these modes of communication, we see that the key messages conveyed touch on the position of the initiator of the communication - emphasizing the notion of I'm ready for sex. It is not at all unlikely that octopuses, endowed with impressive intelligence, transmit more complex messages, and may have evolved a form of color-changing language. Today, research on this topic is being conducted in some laboratories around the world, and it is interesting to see what you will find out.
Zootropolis in the rel world
So, what would the movie look like if the people behind it were more realistic?
Firstly (even if we ignore the fact that animals of different types talk to each other in the movie), the characters will communicate with each other in a variety of ways other than just by sound. Numerous messages will be conveyed through gestures and postures, as well as pheromones - which cannot be expressed through the screen. The calls made by the protagonists will also be short, without real language, and will often convey the feelings they are experiencing at that moment. The film may be limited to the words: Scary! There's a wolf! and There's food! Let's play! wouldn't be a thriller. So it seems Disney made the right choice when it used humanization in the movie - that is, humanizing animal characters - even if it has no scientific basis.
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