Animal Communication

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Animal Communication
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Animal Communication

• Interspecies Telepathic Communication
• Can people really communicate this way?
• Why do people believe this stuff?

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Animal Communication

• People can use an animal communicator for all
  different reasons such as
• To get to know their animals likes and dislikes.
• To find out the reason behind undesirable
  behavior.
• To inquire about how their body feels, where they
  are sore.  This can be used to assist your
  veterinarian. (Animal Communicators are never a
  replacement for good Veterinary care).
• To find out what their life purpose is.
• To find out if they have a message for you.
• To find out if they like their food, saddle,
  blanket, barn, kennel, sitter, trainer,
  showing...etc.
• To find out if the horse/dog you want to buy
  enjoys the type of riding/competing/lifestyle you
  need.
• To find out if your animal is ready or needs help
  passing on.
• To speak to your animal that has passed
  on.etc....."Animals have so much to teach us, we
  just need to listen"
• In all living things lies the vision of peace and
  harmony.

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Animal Communication

• What is communication?
• Functions of communication?
• How do signals convey information?
• Channels of communication.
• Evolution of display.
• Honesty versus deceit communication.

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Animal Communication

• Communication with an animals is
• Learning to understand the messages the animal is
  sending.
• How do we do this?
• body language, vocalizations, etc.
• Need to assess the animals emotional state or
  temperament.
• experience teaches

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Animal Communication

• Animal communication includes
• auditory signals
• which humans may or may not hear
• visual
• ears, tail, mouth, general
• olfactory
• usually not detected by humans
• exceptions is pheromones
• e.g. boar, tomcat

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Animal Communication

• Auditory acuity
• acuity sharpness, particularly referring to
  sensory perception of low intensity stimuli.
• cats and dogs appear to perceive sound over a
  greater range than humans
• sheep seem to hear higher frequencies than
  humans
• rodents make ultrasonic noises that carnivores
  use to locate them.

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Animal Communication

• Visual acuity
• Can be affected by environment
• caged vs free ranging animals
• Acuity is highest in pigs followed by sheep,
  cattle, dogs, horses
• Color vision
• all domestic animals have the ability to
  discriminate color
• not as relevant to them as it is to primates,
  birds
• bulls can see that red cape!

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Animal Communication

• Eye placement in skull
• Monocular vs. Binocular
• e.g. horses
• lateral placement
• can see all around
• except directly behind them

• cats
• forward set
• larger binocular area
• larger blind area

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Animal Communication

• Olfactory acuity
• Probably the most important sense of domestic
  animals
• Message can be sent in the absence of the sender
• Individual pheromones/odors are important part
  of communication
• dogs have greatest acuity

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Dogs or Canine Communication

• Vocal
• bark- territorial call for defense and
  demarcation
• vary
• let me in vs intruder
• dogs selected to bark
• burglar alarm
• can be nuisance
• hazard to kennel workers

• whine and howl
• whining is an et-epimeletic call
• a variety of behavioral activities manifested to
  solicit attention, care, or help from other
  individuals
• howling may take place of scent marking in pack
  member spacing and activity

• growl - aggression

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Dogs or Canine Communication

• Visual - posture
• Emotional state can be determined by ears, mouth,
  facial expression, tail, general posture
• Fear biter - will attack
• Fearful - submissive, lie on side, lift hind leg
• may urinate
• fearful urination is a frequent behavioral
  problem
• over enthusiastic greetings
• too harsh of punishment need to be avoided
• Dog greets owner like mom licks face (begging)
• Play signal- bow w/ front quarter, elevate hind,
  wag

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Dogs or Canine Communication
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Dogs or Canine Communication

• Olfactory
• Male dogs scent marks vertical objects by
  urinating.
• Its believed that species, sex and individuals
  can be identified by dogs from odor of urine.
• Urine of an estrus bitch is most powerful canine
  communication
• contains pheromones, probably estrogen metabolites

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Dogs or Canine Communication

• Behavioral problems
• barking - defending territory or have been
  separated
• use positive reinforcement to correct problem
• could use shock collar debarking (extreme)
• urine marking in house, kills bushes even trees
• Record marking possibly
• 1 dog 80 marks in 4 hours.
• You go dog!

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The Cats Meow

• Vocal or auditory
• murmur or purr- occurs in social situations
  submission?
• Growl- used in agonistic encounters
• agonistic any activity performed in the context
  of an aggressive interaction.
• Squeak - during play, anticipation of feed,
  after copulation.

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The Cats Meow

• Shriek - used in intensely aggressive situation,
  during a painful event. sorry didnt see that
  tail
• Hiss- probably defensive
• Spit- in agonistic situations
• Chatter teeth - while hunting
• Mew - mother-kitten interaction
• Moan - hair ball coming epimeletic
• Meow- greeting, epimeletic situation

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The Cats Meow

• Visual
• posture - tail carriage and tail wagging
• Expression
• Crouches, ears flattened, salivation, spitting
  gt frightened cat
• Aggressive cats pupils constrict as the cat
  becomes more defensive pupils dilate.
• gape - similar to the Flehman in horses

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The Cats Meow
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The Cats Meow

• Olfactory
• Male cats scent mark defend a small home range
• if castrated by 1 yr of age, then almost all
  scent marking stops
• cheek rubbing leaves a scent
• - bunting

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The Cats Meow

• Behavior problems
• Inappropriate elimination - spraying
• intact males do this to scent mark
• incidence will increase with increase of cats
  in the house
• treat by castrating, decrease cat numbers
• synthetic progestins may work
• punishment generally doesnt work
• could try repellent
• housebreak or toilet train

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The Cats Meow

• Clawing and scratching
• grooming and marking behavior
• declaw
• teach kitten to use scratch post

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Talking with Horses

• Auditory
• Neigh - greeting or separation call
• mare and foal
• Nicker - care giving (epimeletic) or care
  soliciting
• from nostrils
• Snort - sharp alarm call from nostrils
• may also be given as sign of frustration

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Talking with Horses

• Roar - e.g. stallion vocalization directed at
  mare
• Squeal - defensive greeting
• when strange horses meet, they are first nostril
  to nostril
• nostrils are flared
• one or the other or both will squeal
• strike or jump back
• also heard when dominance hierarchy is forming or
  biting
• may be a response to pain

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Talking with Horses

• Visual cues
• ears are the best indication of emotion
• alert - ears forward
• aggression - ears back
• increase flatness increase in aggression
• submissive - ears outward
• snapping or chomping or tooth clamping in
  youngsters lt 3 yr- Play
• mating face of mare - ears swiveled out , lips
  hang loose
• pain - hard to see colic ears back

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Talking with Horses

• Visual field is wide
• tend to position ears in same direction horse is
  looking
• use that as clue to horse about to shy
• sees best when grazing

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Talking with Horses

• Posture
• relaxed - stands quietly
• nervous - prances and chafes at the least
  restraint
• aggression - threatening to kick, lash tail,
  cocks a leg
• fear
• tucks tail tightly, feet stance change
• muscle guarding in anticipating pain

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Talking with Horses

• Herding or driving or snaking - stallion
• head down near ground with ears flattened
• Frustration - pawing snow to get grass
• Olfactory
• Flehman position
• when male smells mare urine
• frequency increase as estrus approaches
• seen with mare and newborn
• odd odors

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Talking with Horses

• Given dewormer
• position carries urine into nasal cavity
• stallion breathes deeply
• vomeronasl organ
• Stallions use manure piles as possible scent
  marks
• in wild, this separates bands spatially and
  temporally
• mares and geldings not as neat
• wont eat contaminated grass
• pastures can quickly become inedible

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Pig Chat

• Auditory - about 20 calls, 6 easily recognized by
  humans
• common grunt
• .25 - .4 sec long
• in response to familiar sound or while rooting
• short grunt - from excited pig, may precede
  squeal
• staccato - series of short grunts
• e.g. threat from sow before she attacks
• long grunt - response to pleasurable stimuli
  (tactile)

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Pig Chat

• Bark - startled pig
• Squeal - when excited
• Scream
• will proceed from common grunt up to squeal and
  screams when frightened (such as when catching to
  castrate, etc.)
• Will vocalize when isolated
• When in pain they will grind teeth

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Pig Chat

• Visual
• does not seem as important as in other domestic
  animals
• Posture thermoregulation
• warm pig is sprawled out
• cold pig crouches with legs folded against body

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Pig Chat

• Group behavior
• young and old will huddle when cold
• heat lamps for baby pigs
• pigs dont sweat hyperthermia in adults
• wallow in mud
• Tail
• tightly curled - health pig
• straight - indicates distress also when sleeping
• elevated and curled for
• greeting chasing pigs
• competing for food courting, mounting,
  intromission

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Pig Chat

• Management usually involves amputation of tail
• they eat tails
• but is a lost diagnostic aid
• Olfactory
• boars may use behavioral signs to detect sexual
  receptivity
• probably can detect estrogen metabolites
• sows can identify boars by strong odor
• androgens in saliva and preputial secretions
• will investigate newcomers by smelling
• prefer to smell ventral body surface

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Cattle and Sheep

• Little is known about communication
• Cattle
• mmcall - commonly used by cow to calf
• also when waiting to be fed or milked
• 7 meter range usually
• mm (h) call - used in more frustrating
  situations (isolation)
• (M) enh call - threatening bull

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Cattle and Sheep

• menh - hungry calf high intensity call
• grunts during copulation
• Sheep
• most studies concerned w/ ewe and lamb mutual
  interaction
• adults use vocalizations as contact calls
• large flocks are noisy
• small flocks are usually quiet

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Cattle and Sheep

• Stamp feet to threaten and even butt
• Olfactory
• is very important in ruminant
• sexual activity
• Flehman

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Grooming

• Pigs -
• subordinate pigs groom dominant
• when alone, scratch self on inanimate obj.
• Horses -
• lick foal at birth
• nibble withers and back especially in spring
• rub against stumps, posts
• nose to tail pairs to swat flies
• tend to groom close to own rank in herd

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Grooming

• Cattle
• 1h/day for self grooming
• mutual grooming last just a few minutes a day
• subordinate cattle lick dominant around head and
  neck
• older / larger cattle receive and give more
  grooming
• Cats
• grooming is important part of maternal behavior
• mainly self grooming
• allogrooming (mutual) is not common