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126-615: Pinnipeds (pronounced / ˈ p ɪ n ɪ ˌ p ɛ d z / ), commonly known as seals , are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous , fin -footed, semiaquatic , mostly marine mammals . They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus ), Otariidae (the eared seals: sea lions and fur seals ), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals), with 34 extant species and more than 50 extinct species described from fossils . While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as
252-422: A coastal strip . A second example, some species of bird depend on water, usually a river, swamp, etc., or water related forest and live in a river corridor . A separate example of a river corridor would be a river corridor that includes the entire drainage, having the edge of the range delimited by mountains, or higher elevations; the river itself would be a smaller percentage of this entire wildlife corridor , but
378-471: A courtship signal. The second problem has been more controversial. The early ethologists assumed that communication occurred for the good of the species as a whole, but this would require a process of group selection which is believed to be mathematically impossible in the evolution of sexually reproducing animals. Altruism towards an unrelated group is not widely accepted in the scientific community, but rather can be seen as reciprocal altruism, expecting
504-696: A monophyletic origin. A 2021 genetic study found that pinnipeds are more closely related to musteloids. Pinnipeds split from other caniforms 50 million years ago ( mya ) during the Eocene . The earliest fossils of pinnipeds date back to the Late Oligocene . Fossil animals representing basal lineages include Puijila , of the Early Miocene in Arctic Canada. It resembled a modern otter, but shows evidence of quadrupedal swimming—retaining
630-616: A monophyletic group (descended from one ancestor). Pinnipeds belong to the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora ; their closest living relatives are musteloids ( weasels , raccoons , skunks and red pandas ), having diverged about 50 million years ago. Seals range in size from the 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and 45 kg (100 lb) Baikal seal to the 5 m (16 ft) and 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) southern elephant seal . Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism . They have streamlined bodies and four limbs that are modified into flippers . Though not as fast in
756-484: A positive feedback process that leads to the rapid exaggeration of a characteristic that confers an advantage in a competitive mate-selection situation. One theory to explain the evolution of traits like a peacock's tail is 'runaway selection'. This requires two traits—a trait that exists, like the bright tail, and a preexisting bias in the female to select for that trait. Females prefer the more elaborate tails, and thus those males are able to mate successfully. Exploiting
882-456: A benefit to both the signaler and receiver; they prevent the sender from wasting time and energy fleeing, and they prevent the receiver from investing in a costly pursuit that is unlikely to result in capture. Such signals can advertise prey's ability to escape, and reflect phenotypic condition (quality advertisement), or can advertise that the prey has detected the predator (perception advertisement). Pursuit-deterrent signals have been reported for
1008-559: A bio-climate range, or bio-climate envelope. The envelope can range from a local to a global scale or from a density independence to dependence. The hierarchical model takes into consideration the requirements, impacts or resources as well as local extinctions in disturbance factors. Models can integrate the dispersal/migration model, the disturbance model, and abundance model. Species distribution models (SDMs) can be used to assess climate change impacts and conservation management issues. Species distribution models include: presence/absence models,
1134-402: A brightly coloured belly. When confronted with a potential threat, they show their belly, indicating that they are poisonous in some way. Another example of prey to predator communication is the pursuit-deterrent signal. Pursuit-deterrent signals occur when prey indicates to a predator that pursuit would be unprofitable because the signaler is prepared to escape. Pursuit-deterrent signals provide
1260-644: A different meaning for dogs as it refers to a direction or location. It has also been shown that dogs exhibit a left gaze bias when looking at human faces, indicating that they are capable of reading human emotions. Dogs do not make use of direction of gaze or exhibit left gaze bias with other dogs. A new approach in the 21st century in the field of animal communication uses applied behavioural analysis , specifically functional communication training. This form of training previously has been used in schools and clinics with humans with special needs, such as children with autism, to help them develop language. Sean Senechal at
1386-449: A distinct alarm call for each of its four different predators, and the reactions of other monkeys vary appropriately according to the call. For example, if an alarm call signals a python, the monkeys climb into the trees, whereas the "eagle" alarm causes monkeys to seek a hiding place on the ground. Prairie dogs also use complex calls that signal predator differences. According to Con Slobodchikoff and others, prairie dog calls communicate
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#17327811837701512-615: A few, such as the leopard seal , feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins and other seals. Walruses are specialized for feeding on bottom-dwelling mollusks . Male pinnipeds typically mate with more than one female ( polygyny ), though the degree of polygyny varies with the species. The males of land-breeding species tend to mate with a greater number of females than those of ice breeding species . Male pinniped strategies for reproductive success vary between defending females, defending territories that attract females and performing ritual displays or lek mating . Pups are typically born in
1638-503: A form of aquatic locomotion that led to those employed by modern pinnipeds. Potamotherium , which lived in the same period in Europe, was similar to Puijila but more aquatic. The braincase of Potamotherium shows evidence that it used its whiskers to hunt, like modern seals. Both Puijila and Potamotherium fossils have been found in lake deposits, suggesting that seal ancestors were originally adapted for fresh water. Enaliarctos ,
1764-419: A fossil species of late Oligocene /early Miocene (24–22 mya) California , closely resembled modern pinnipeds; it was adapted to an aquatic life with flippers and a flexible spine. Its teeth were more like land predators in that they were more adapted for shearing . Its hind-flippers may have allowed it to walk on land, and it probably did not leave coastal areas as much as its modern relatives. Enaliarctos
1890-467: A greater number of successful kills. A prime example of clumped distribution due to patchy resources is the wildlife in Africa during the dry season; lions, hyenas, giraffes, elephants, gazelles, and many more animals are clumped by small water sources that are present in the severe dry season. It has also been observed that extinct and threatened species are more likely to be clumped in their distribution on
2016-586: A layer of fat, or blubber , under the skin to keep warm in cold water, and, other than the walrus, all species are covered in fur. Although pinnipeds are widespread, most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or to avoid ocean predators, such as sharks and orcas . Seals mainly live in marine environments but can also be found in fresh water. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates ;
2142-437: A main range for the species (contiguous range) or are in an isolated geographic range and be a disjunct range. Birds leaving the area, if they migrate , would leave connected to the main range or have to fly over land not connected to the wildlife corridor; thus, they would be passage migrants over land that they stop on for an intermittent, hit or miss, visit. On large scales, the pattern of distribution among individuals in
2268-541: A mild affiliative response of slowly closing their eyes; humans often mimic this signal towards a pet cat to establish a tolerant relationship. Stroking, petting and rubbing pet animals are all actions that probably work through their natural patterns of interspecific communication. Dogs have shown an ability to understand human communication. In object choice tasks, dogs utilize human communicative gestures such as pointing and direction of gaze in order to locate hidden food and toys. However, in contrast to humans pointing has
2394-399: A more advanced understanding. A much discussed example is the use of alarm calls by vervet monkeys . Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney showed that these animals emit different alarm calls in the presence of different predators ( leopards , eagles , and snakes ), and the monkeys that hear the calls respond appropriately—but that this ability develops over time, and also takes into account
2520-482: A number of different contexts, one of which is when it encounters a snake. The foot-drumming may alert nearby offspring but most likely conveys vibrations through the ground that the rat is too alert for a successful attack, thus preventing the snake's predatory pursuit. Typically, predators attempt to reduce communication to prey as this will generally reduce the effectiveness of their hunting. However, some forms of predator to prey communication occur in ways that change
2646-548: A number of species, males perform calls during mating rituals as a form of competition against other males and to signal to females. Examples include frogs , hammer-headed bats , red deer , humpback whales , elephant seals , and songbirds . Other instances of vocal communication include the alarm calls of the Campbell monkey , the territorial calls of gibbons , and the use of frequency in greater spear-nosed bats to distinguish between groups. The vervet monkey gives
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#17327811837702772-536: A phylogeny. The reasoning behind this is that they share traits that increase vulnerability to extinction because related taxa are often located within the same broad geographical or habitat types where human-induced threats are concentrated. Using recently developed complete phylogenies for mammalian carnivores and primates it has been shown that in the majority of instances threatened species are far from randomly distributed among taxa and phylogenetic clades and display clumped distribution. A contiguous distribution
2898-687: A plantation. Random distribution, also known as unpredictable spacing, is the least common form of distribution in nature and occurs when the members of a given species are found in environments in which the position of each individual is independent of the other individuals: they neither attract nor repel one another. Random distribution is rare in nature as biotic factors, such as the interactions with neighboring individuals, and abiotic factors, such as climate or soil conditions, generally cause organisms to be either clustered or spread. Random distribution usually occurs in habitats where environmental conditions and resources are consistent. This pattern of dispersion
3024-531: A population is clumped. On small scales, the pattern may be clumped, regular, or random. Clumped distribution , also called aggregated distribution , clumped dispersion or patchiness , is the most common type of dispersion found in nature. In clumped distribution, the distance between neighboring individuals is minimized. This type of distribution is found in environments that are characterized by patchy resources. Animals need certain resources to survive, and when these resources become rare during certain parts of
3150-465: A predator's cue: when an individual is damaged by a predator, it releases a chemical cue to its conspecifics. As has also been observed in other species, acidification and changes in pH physically disrupt these chemical cues, which has various implications for animal behavior . Scent marking and scent rubbing are common forms of olfactory communication in mammals. An example of scent rubbing by an animal can be seen from bears, bears do this as
3276-452: A range of about 10 to 15 cm. This infrared perception may be used in detecting regions of maximal blood flow on targeted prey. Autocommunication is a type of communication in which the sender and receiver are the same individual. The sender emits a signal that is altered by the environment and eventually is received by the same individual. The altered signal provides information that can indicate food, predators or conspecifics. Because
3402-510: A sample. The ability to detect chemicals in the environment serves many functions, a crucial one being the detection of food, a function that first arose in single-celled organisms ( bacteria ) living in the oceans during the early days of life on Earth. As this function evolved, organisms began to differentiate between chemical compounds emanating from resources, conspecifics (same species; i.e., mates and kin), and heterospecifics (different species; i.e., competitors and predators). For instance,
3528-525: A signal to be understood, the coordinated behavior of both sender and receiver requires careful study. The sounds animals make are important because they communicate the animals' state. Some animals species have been taught simple versions of human languages. Animals can use, for example, electrolocation and echolocation to communicate about prey and location. There are many different types of signals that animals use to differentiate their position of direction, location, and distance. Practitioners study
3654-500: A similar way to warning colouration. For example, canines such as wolves and coyotes may adopt an aggressive posture, such as growling with their teeth bared, to indicate they will fight if necessary, and rattlesnakes use their well-known rattle to warn potential predators of their venomous bite. Sometimes, a behavioural change and warning colouration will be combined, as in certain species of amphibians which have most of their body coloured to blend with their surroundings, except for
3780-417: A small minnow species may do well to avoid habitat with a detectable concentration of chemical cues associated with a predator species such as a northern pike. Minnows with the ability to perceive the presence of predators before they are close enough to be seen and then respond with adaptive behavior (such as hiding) are more likely to survive and reproduce. Atlantic salmon go a step further than detecting
3906-470: A species is distributed. For example, biotic factors in a quail's environment would include their prey (insects and seeds), competition from other quail, and their predators, such as the coyote. An advantage of a herd, community, or other clumped distribution allows a population to detect predators earlier, at a greater distance, and potentially mount an effective defense. Due to limited resources, populations may be evenly distributed to minimize competition, as
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4032-546: A way to mark territory or let others know they are there and to stay away. Wolves scent-mark frequently during the breeding season . Electrocommunication is a rare form of communication in animals. It is seen primarily in aquatic animals, though some land mammals, notably the platypus and echidnas , sense electric fields that might be used for communication. Weakly electric fishes provide an example of electrocommunication, together with electrolocation . These fish use an electric organ to generate an electric field, which
4158-409: A whole (range). Species distribution is not to be confused with dispersal , which is the movement of individuals away from their region of origin or from a population center of high density . In biology , the range of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, distribution is the general structure of the species population , while dispersion
4284-528: A wide variety of taxa, including fish (Godin and Davis, 1995), lizards (Cooper etc. al., 2004), ungulates (Caro, 1995), rabbits (Holley 1993), primates (Zuberbuhler et al. 1997), rodents (Shelley and Blumstein 2005, Clark, 2005), and birds (Alvarez, 1993, Murphy, 2006, 2007). A familiar example of quality advertisement pursuit-deterrent signal is stotting (sometimes called pronking ), a pronounced combination of stiff-legged running while simultaneously jumping shown by some antelopes such as Thomson's gazelle in
4410-408: Is a better mate. The second is the handicap hypothesis. This explains that the peacock's tail is a handicap, requiring energy to keep and makes it more visible to predators. Thus, the signal is costly to maintain, and remains an honest indicator of the signaler's condition. Another assumption is that the signal is more costly for low quality males to produce than for higher quality males to produce. This
4536-448: Is a key factor in many social interactions. Examples include: Seismic communication is the exchange of information using self-generated vibrational signals transmitted via a substrate such as the soil, water, spider webs, plant stems, or a blade of grass. This form of communication has several advantages, for example it can be sent regardless of light and noise levels, and it usually has a short range and short persistence, which may reduce
4662-410: Is active electrolocation , where the organism emits an electrical pulse through its electric organ and senses the projected geometrical property of the object. This is found in the electric fish Gymnotiformes (knifefishes) and Mormyridae (elephantfish). The second type of autocommunication is echolocation , found in bats and toothed whales . Echolocation involves emitting sounds and interpreting
4788-616: Is an intriguing one that demands further investigation. The same researchers later found that common bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) mothers inflect their signature whistle when their dependent calf is present. Signature whistles, which are in a higher frequency range than humans can hear, have an important role in facilitating mother–calf contact. In the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program's library of recordings were 19 female common bottlenose dolphins producing signature whistles both with and without
4914-400: Is because of their massive ankle bones and flatter heels. In water, true seals rely on the side-to-side motion of their hind-flippers and lower body to move forward. The phocid's skull has thickened mastoids , puffed up entotympanic bones , nasal bones with a pointed tip in the back and a non-existent supraorbital foramen. The hip has a more converse ilium . A 2006 molecular study supports
5040-402: Is carrying a gun . This method of communication is usually done by having a sentry stand on two feet and surveying for potential threats while the rest of the pack finds food. Once a threat has been identified the sentry sounds a whistle alarm , (sometimes describing the threat) at which point the pack retreats to their burrows. The intensity of the threat is usually determined by how long
5166-486: Is characterized by the lack of any strong social interactions between species. For example; When dandelion seeds are dispersed by wind, random distribution will often occur as the seedlings land in random places determined by uncontrollable factors. Oyster larvae can also travel hundreds of kilometers powered by sea currents, which can result in their random distribution. Random distributions exhibit chance clumps (see Poisson clumping ). There are various ways to determine
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5292-499: Is communicating with its predator. This is consistent with the definition of "communication" given above. This type of communication is known as interceptive eavesdropping if a predator intercepts a message intended for conspecifics. There are however, some actions of prey species are clearly directed to actual or potential predators. A good example is warning coloration : species such as wasps that are capable of harming potential predators are often brightly coloured, and this modifies
5418-492: Is detected by electroreceptors . Differences in the waveform and frequency of changes in the field convey information on species, sex, and identity. These electric signals can be generated in response to hormones, circadian rhythms, and interactions with other fish. They can also serve to mediate social hierarchy amongst species that have a social order. Some predators, such as sharks and rays, are able to eavesdrop on these electrogenic fish through passive electroreception. Touch
5544-654: Is equal to 1, the population is found to be randomly distributed. If it is significantly greater than 1, the population is found to be clumped distribution. Finally, if the ratio is significantly less than 1, the population is found to be evenly distributed. Typical statistical tests used to find the significance of the variance/mean ratio include Student's t-test and chi squared . However, many researchers believe that species distribution models based on statistical analysis, without including ecological models and theories, are too incomplete for prediction. Instead of conclusions based on presence-absence data, probabilities that convey
5670-624: Is found in forests, where competition for sunlight produces an even distribution of trees. One key factor in determining species distribution is the phenology of the organism. Plants are well documented as examples showing how phenology is an adaptive trait that can influence fitness in changing climates. Physiology can influence species distributions in an environmentally sensitive manner because physiology underlies movement such as exploration and dispersal . Individuals that are more disperse-prone have higher metabolism, locomotor performance, corticosterone levels, and immunity. Humans are one of
5796-446: Is not, as in mimicry ). The possibility of evolutionarily stable dishonest communication has been the subject of much controversy, with Amotz Zahavi in particular arguing that it cannot exist in the long term. Sociobiologists have also been concerned with the evolution of apparently excessive signaling structures such as the peacock's tail; it is widely thought that these can only emerge as a result of sexual selection , which can create
5922-458: Is now believed that they may also be used to control body temperature. The facial pits enabling thermoregulation underwent parallel evolution in pitvipers and some boas and pythons , having evolved once in pitvipers and multiple times in boas and pythons. The electrophysiology of the structure is similar between lineages, but it differs in gross structure anatomy . Most superficially, pitvipers possess one large pit organ on either side of
6048-436: Is observed in the genus of jumping spiders ( Myrmarachne ). These spiders are commonly referred to as " antmimicking spiders" because of the way they wave their front legs in the air to simulate antennae . Various ways in which humans interpret the behavior of animals, or give commands to them, are consistent with the definition of interspecies communication . Skillful interpretation of animal communications may be critical to
6174-421: Is one in which individuals are closer together than they would be if they were randomly or evenly distributed, i.e., it is clumped distribution with a single clump. Less common than clumped distribution, uniform distribution, also known as even distribution, is evenly spaced. Uniform distributions are found in populations in which the distance between neighboring individuals is maximized. The need to maximize
6300-404: Is seen in juvenile animals that are immobile and strongly dependent upon parental care. For example, the bald eagle 's nest of eaglets exhibits a clumped species distribution because all the offspring are in a small subset of a survey area before they learn to fly. Clumped distribution can be beneficial to the individuals in that group. However, in some herbivore cases, such as cows and wildebeests,
6426-480: Is simply because the higher quality males have more energy reserves available to allocate to costly signaling. Ethologists and sociobiologists have characteristically analysed animal communication in terms of more or less automatic responses to stimuli, without raising the question of whether the animals concerned understand the meaning of the signals they emit and receive. That is a key question in animal cognition . There are some signalling systems that seem to demand
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#17327811837706552-553: Is tempting, especially with domesticated animals and apes, to anthropomorphize , that is, to interpret animal actions in human terms, but this can be quite misleading; for example, an ape's "smile" is often a sign of aggression. Also, the same gesture may have different meanings depending on context within which it occurs. For example, a domestic dog 's tail wag and posture may be used in different ways to convey many meanings as illustrated in Charles Darwin 's The Expression of
6678-460: Is that a species will occur there also; this leads to a relationship between habitat suitability and species occurrence. Species distribution can be predicted based on the pattern of biodiversity at spatial scales. A general hierarchical model can integrate disturbance, dispersal and population dynamics. Based on factors of dispersal, disturbance, resources limiting climate, and other species distribution, predictions of species distribution can create
6804-411: Is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged. The geographic limits of a particular taxon's distribution is its range , often represented as shaded areas on a map. Patterns of distribution change depending on the scale at which they are viewed, from the arrangement of individuals within a small family unit, to patterns within a population, or the distribution of the entire species as
6930-466: Is the variation in its population density . Range is often described with the following qualities: Disjunct distribution occurs when two or more areas of the range of a taxon are considerably separated from each other geographically. Distribution patterns may change by season , distribution by humans, in response to the availability of resources, and other abiotic and biotic factors. There are three main types of abiotic factors: An example of
7056-593: Is the vibration of swim bladders in bony fish . The structure of swim bladders and the attached sonic muscles varies greatly across bony fish families, resulting in a wide variety of sounds. Striking body parts together can also produce auditory signals. A well-known example of this is the tail tip vibration of rattlesnakes as a warning signal. Other examples include bill clacking in birds, wing clapping in manakin courtship displays, and chest beating in gorillas . Burrowing animal species are known to whistle to communicate threats, and sometimes mood . Species such as
7182-744: The Caribbean monk seal have become extinct in the past century, while the Mediterranean monk seal and Hawaiian monk seal are ranked as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature . Besides hunting, pinnipeds also face threats from accidental trapping , marine pollution , climate change and conflicts with local people. The name "pinniped" derives from the Latin words pinna ' fin ' and pes, pedis ' foot ' . The common name "seal" originates from
7308-989: The Old English word seolh , which is in turn derived from the Proto-Germanic * selkhaz . Bearded seal Hooded seal Ringed seal Baikal seal Caspian seal Spotted seal Harbor seal Grey seal Ribbon seal Harp seal Weddell seal Leopard seal Crabeater seal Ross seal Southern elephant seal Northern elephant seal Mediterranean monk seal Hawaiian monk seal Northern fur seal Steller sea lion California sea lion Galápagos sea lion South American sea lion Australian sea lion New Zealand sea lion Brown fur seal Subantarctic fur seal Antarctic fur seal Guadalupe fur seal Juan Fernández fur seal Antipodean fur seal Galápagos fur seal South American fur seal Walrus The German naturalist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger
7434-463: The eyebrow flash on greeting are universal human communicative signals that can be related to corresponding signals in other primates . Given how recently spoken language has emerged, it is very likely that human body language does include some more or less involuntary responses that have a similar origin to the communication we have. Humans also often seek to mimic animals' communicative signals in order to interact with them. For example, cats have
7560-405: The marmot species, including the groundhog (woodchuck), and the alpine marmot show this trait. Whistling is used by animals such as prairie dogs to communicate threats , with prairie dogs having one of the most complex communication systems in the animal kingdom . Prairie dogs are able to communicate an animal's speed, shape, size, species, and for humans specific attire and if the human
7686-660: The nasal bones , with a large and flattened supraorbital foramen . An extra spine splits the supraspinatous fossa and bronchi that are divided in the front. Otariids consist of two types: sea lions and fur seals ; the latter typically being smaller, with pointier snouts, longer fore-flippers and heavier fur coats . Five genera and seven species (one now extinct) of sea lion are known to exist, while two genera and nine species of fur seal exist. While sea lions and fur seals have historically been considered separate subfamilies (Otariinae and Arctocephalinae respectively), genetic and molecular evidence has refuted this, indicating that
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#17327811837707812-549: The northern fur seal is basal to other otariids and the Australian sea lion and New Zealand sea lion are more closely related to Arctocephalus than to other sea lions. Odobenidae has only one living member: the walrus . This animal is noticeable from its larger size (exceeded only by the elephant seals ), nearly hairless skin, flattened snout and long upper canines , known as tusks . Like otariids, walruses can walk on land with their hind limbs. When moving in water,
7938-548: The orbital wall . The extinct family Desmatophocidae lived 23–10 mya in the North Pacific. They had long skulls that with large orbits, interlocked zygomatic bones and rounded molars and premolars . They also were sexually dimorphic and may have been capable of swimming with both or either pair of flippers. They are grouped with modern pinnipeds, but there is debate as to whether they are more closely related to phocids or to otariids and walruses. The ancestors of
8064-484: The 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and 45 kg (100 lb) Baikal seal to the 5 m (16 ft) and 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) southern elephant seal . Overall, they tend to be larger than other carnivores. Several species have male-biased sexual dimorphism that depends on how polygynous a species is: highly polygynous species like elephant seals are extremely sexually dimorphic, while less polygynous species have males and females that are closer in size, or, in
8190-564: The Americas. The map gallery Gridded Species Distribution contains sample maps for the Species Grids data set. These maps are not inclusive but rather contain a representative sample of the types of data available for download: Animal communication#Auditory Animal communication is the transfer of information from one or a group of animals (sender or senders) to one or more other animals (receiver or receivers) that affects
8316-643: The AnimalSign Center has been using an approach similar to functional communication training with domesticated animals, such as dogs since 2004 and horses since 2000, with encouraging results and benefits to the animals and people. Functional communication training for animals, Senechal calls "Animal Sign Language". This includes teaching communication through gestures (like simplified American sign language ), Picture Exchange Communication System , tapping, and vocalisation. The process for animals includes simplified and modified techniques. For linguistics ,
8442-524: The Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872. Some of Darwin's illustrations are reproduced here. Much animal communication is intraspecific, that is, it occurs between members of the same species. As for interspecific communication, that between predator and prey is of particular interest. If a prey animal moves, makes a noise or vibrations, or emits a smell in such a way that a predator can detect it, it
8568-707: The North Atlantic, and likely reached the Pacific via the Central American Seaway . Phocines mainly stayed in the Northern Hemisphere, while the monachines diversified southward. The lineages of Otariidae and Odobenidae split around 20 mya. The earliest fossil records of otariids are in North Pacific and dated to around 11 mya. Early fossil genera include Pithanotaria and Thalassoleon . The Callorhinus lineage split
8694-539: The Otarioidea and Phocidea diverged around 25 mya. Phocids are known to have existed for at least 15 million years, and molecular evidence supports a divergence of the Monachinae and Phocinae lineages around this time. The fossil genera Monotherium and Leptophoca of southeastern North America represent the earliest members of Monachinae and Phocinae respectively. Both lineages may have originated in
8820-469: The Variance/Mean ratio method, data is collected from several random samples of a given population. In this analysis, it is imperative that data from at least 50 sample plots is considered. The number of individuals present in each sample is compared to the expected counts in the case of random distribution. The expected distribution can be found using Poisson distribution . If the variance/mean ratio
8946-423: The ability to sense infrared (IR) thermal radiation, which allows these reptiles to derive thermal images from the radiant heat emitted by predators or prey at wavelengths between 5 and 30 μm . The accuracy of this sense is such that a blind rattlesnake can target its strike to the vulnerable body parts of a prey animal. It was previously thought that the pit organs evolved primarily as prey detectors, but it
9072-402: The behavior of the predator, who either instinctively or as the result of experience will avoid attacking such an animal. Some forms of mimicry fall in the same category: for example hoverflies are coloured in the same way as wasps, and although they are unable to sting, the strong avoidance of wasps by predators gives the hoverfly some protection. There are also behavioural changes that act in
9198-458: The behavior of the prey and make their capture easier, i.e. deception by the predator. A well-known example is the angler fish , an ambush predator which waits for its prey to come to it. It has a fleshy bioluminescent growth protruding from its forehead which it dangles in front of its jaws. Smaller fish attempt to take the lure, placing themselves in a better position for the angler fish to catch them. Another example of deceptive communication
9324-452: The body. Seals are unique among carnivorans in that their orbital walls are mostly shaped by the maxilla and are not contained by certain facial bones. Compared to land carnivores, pinnipeds have fewer teeth, which are pointed and cone-shaped. They are adapted for holding onto slippery prey rather than shearing meat like the carnassials of other carnivorans. The walrus has unique tusks which are long upper canines. Pinnipeds range in size from
9450-475: The caller's voice or location. The paper concludes that: The fact that signature whistle shape carries identity information independent from voice features presents the possibility to use these whistles as referential signals, either addressing individuals or referring to them, similar to the use of names in humans. Given the cognitive abilities of bottlenose dolphins, their vocal learning and copying skills, and their fission–fusion social structure, this possibility
9576-560: The case of Antarctic seals, females are moderately bigger. Males of sexually dimorphic species also tend to have secondary sex characteristics , such as larger or more prominent heads, necks, chests, crests , noses/ proboscises and canine teeth as well as thicker fur and manes. Though more polygynous species tend to be sexually dimorphic, some evidence suggests that size differences between the sexes originated due to ecological differences, with polygyny developing later. Range (biology) Species distribution , or species dispersion ,
9702-654: The child to pay attention, long-term bonding, and promoting the development of lifelong vocal learning , with parallels in these bottlenose dolphins in an example of convergent evolution . Another controversial issue is the extent to which human behaviours resemble animal communication, or whether all such communication has disappeared as a result of our linguistic capacity. Some of our bodily features—eyebrows, beards and moustaches, deep adult male voices, perhaps female breasts—strongly resemble adaptations to producing signals. Ethologists such as Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt have argued that facial gestures such as smiling, grimacing, and
9828-498: The complex songs of Weddell seals . The meat, blubber and skin of pinnipeds have traditionally been used by indigenous peoples of the Arctic . Seals have been depicted in various cultures worldwide. They are commonly kept in captivity and are even sometimes trained to perform tricks and tasks. Once relentlessly hunted by commercial industries for their products, seals are now protected by international law. The Japanese sea lion and
9954-533: The corridor is created because of the river. A further example of a bird wildlife corridor would be a mountain range corridor. In the U.S. of North America, the Sierra Nevada range in the west, and the Appalachian Mountains in the east are two examples of this habitat, used in summer, and winter, by separate species, for different reasons. Bird species in these corridors are connected to
10080-770: The creosote bushes in the southwestern region of the United States. Salvia leucophylla is a species in California that naturally grows in uniform spacing. This flower releases chemicals called terpenes which inhibit the growth of other plants around it and results in uniform distribution. This is an example of allelopathy , which is the release of chemicals from plant parts by leaching, root exudation, volatilization, residue decomposition and other processes. Allelopathy can have beneficial, harmful, or neutral effects on surrounding organisms. Some allelochemicals even have selective effects on surrounding organisms; for example,
10206-585: The current or future behavior of the receivers. Information may be sent intentionally, as in a courtship display , or unintentionally, as in the transfer of scent from the predator to prey with kairomones . Information may be transferred to an "audience" of several receivers. Animal communication is a rapidly growing area of study in disciplines including animal behavior , sociology, neurology, and animal cognition . Many aspects of animal behavior, such as symbolic name use, emotional expression, learning, and sexual behavior , are being understood in new ways. When
10332-589: The danger of detection by predators. The use of seismic communication is found in many taxa, including frogs, kangaroo rats, mole rats, bees, nematode worms, and others. Tetrapods usually make seismic waves by drumming on the ground with a body part, a signal that is sensed by the sacculus of the receiver. The sacculus is an organ in the inner ear containing a membranous sac that is used for balance, but can also detect seismic waves in animals that use this form of communication. Vibrations may be combined with other sorts of communication. A number of different snakes have
10458-448: The dispersal/migration models, disturbance models, and abundance models. A prevalent way of creating predicted distribution maps for different species is to reclassify a land cover layer depending on whether or not the species in question would be predicted to habit each cover type. This simple SDM is often modified through the use of range data or ancillary information, such as elevation or water distance. Recent studies have indicated that
10584-420: The distance is recorded twice, once for each individual. To receive accurate results, it is suggested that the number of distance measurements is at least 50. The average distance between nearest neighbors is compared to the expected distance in the case of random distribution to give the ratio: If this ratio R is equal to 1, then the population is randomly dispersed. If R is significantly greater than 1,
10710-476: The distribution pattern of species. The Clark–Evans nearest neighbor method can be used to determine if a distribution is clumped, uniform, or random. To utilize the Clark–Evans nearest neighbor method, researchers examine a population of a single species. The distance of an individual to its nearest neighbor is recorded for each individual in the sample. For two individuals that are each other's nearest neighbor,
10836-491: The diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the oceans. Marine Life has become largely affected by increasing effects of global climate change . This study shows that as the ocean temperatures rise species are beginning to travel into the cold and harsh Arctic waters. Even the snow crab has extended its range 500 km north. Biotic factors such as predation, disease, and inter- and intra-specific competition for resources such as food, water, and mates can also affect how
10962-465: The division of phocids into two monophyletic subfamilies: Monachinae, which consists of elephant seals, monk seals and Antarctic seals ; and Phocinae, which consists of all the rest. One popular hypothesis suggested that pinnipeds are diphyletic (descended from two ancestral lines), with walruses and otariids sharing a recent common ancestor with bears ; and phocids sharing one with Musteloidea . However, morphological and molecular evidence support
11088-548: The earliest, followed by the Eumetopias / Zalophus lineage and then the rest, which colonized the Southern Hemisphere. The earliest fossils of Odobenidae— Prototaria of Japan and Proneotherium of Oregon—date to 18–16 mya. These primitive walruses had normal sized canines and fed on fish instead of mollusks. Later taxa like Gomphotaria , Pontolis and Dusignathus had longer canines on both
11214-609: The effects of abiotic factors on species distribution can be seen in drier areas, where most individuals of a species will gather around water sources, forming a clumped distribution. Researchers from the Arctic Ocean Diversity (ARCOD) project have documented rising numbers of warm-water crustaceans in the seas around Norway's Svalbard Islands. ARCOD is part of the Census of Marine Life, a huge 10-year project involving researchers in more than 80 nations that aims to chart
11340-460: The experience of the individual emitting the call. Metacommunication, discussed above, also seems to require a more sophisticated cognitive process. It has been reported that bottlenose dolphins can recognize identity information from signature whistles even when otherwise stripped of the characteristics of the whistle; making bottlenose dolphins the only animals other than humans that have been shown to transmit identity information independent of
11466-566: The grid size used can have an effect on the output of these species distribution models. The standard 50x50 km grid size can select up to 2.89 times more area than when modeled with a 1x1 km grid for the same species. This has several effects on the species conservation planning under climate change predictions (global climate models, which are frequently used in the creation of species distribution models, usually consist of 50–100 km size grids) which could lead to over-prediction of future ranges in species distribution modeling. This can result in
11592-407: The head, between the eye and the nostril ( loreal pit ), while boas and pythons have three or more comparatively smaller pits lining the upper and sometimes the lower lip, in or between the scales. Those of the pitvipers are the more advanced, having a suspended sensory membrane as opposed to a simple pit structure. Within the family Viperidae , the pit organ is seen only in the subfamily Crotalinae :
11718-523: The importance of communication in animals is the prioritisation of physiological features to this function. For example, birdsong appears to have brain structures entirely devoted to its production. All these adaptations require evolutionary explanation. There are two aspects to the required explanation: Significant contributions to the first of these problems were made by Konrad Lorenz and other early ethologists . By comparing related species within groups, they showed that movements and body parts that in
11844-479: The information from the sender changes the behavior of a receiver, the information is referred to as a "signal". Signalling theory predicts that for a signal to be maintained in the population, both the sender and receiver should usually receive some benefit from the interaction. Signal production by senders and the perception and subsequent response of receivers are thought to coevolve . Signals often involve multiple mechanisms, e.g., both visual and auditory, and for
11970-437: The interest of animal communication systems lies in their similarities to and differences from human language: There becomes possibility for error within communication between animals when certain circumstances apply. These circumstances could include distance between the two communicating subjects, as well as the complexity of the signal that is being communicated to the "listener" of the situation. It may not always be clear to
12096-641: The issues of animal position by geometric viewings. Environmental and social influences are indicators of geometric viewings. Animals rely on signals called electrolocating and echolocating; they use sensory senses in order to navigate and find prey. Signals are used as a form of commutation through the environment. Active signals or other types of signals influence receivers behavior and signals move quicker in distance to reach receivers. Many animals communicate through vocalization. Vocal communication serves many purposes, including mating rituals, warning calls, conveying location of food sources, and social learning. In
12222-507: The largest distributors due to the current trends in globalization and the expanse of the transportation industry. For example, large tankers often fill their ballasts with water at one port and empty them in another, causing a wider distribution of aquatic species. On large scales, the pattern of distribution among individuals in a population is clumped. One common example of bird species' ranges are land mass areas bordering water bodies, such as oceans, rivers, or lakes; they are called
12348-463: The likelihood a species will occupy a given area are more preferred because these models include an estimate of confidence in the likelihood of the species being present/absent. They are also more valuable than data collected based on simple presence or absence because models based on probability allow the formation of spatial maps that indicates how likely a species is to be found in a particular area. Similar areas can then be compared to see how likely it
12474-511: The misidentification of protected areas intended for a species future habitat. The Species Distribution Grids Project is an effort led out of the University of Columbia to create maps and databases of the whereabouts of various animal species. This work is centered on preventing deforestation and prioritizing areas based on species richness. As of April 2009, data are available for global amphibian distributions, as well as birds and mammals in
12600-438: The most striking structures in the animal kingdom, such as the peacock 's tail, the antlers of a stag and the frill of the frill-necked lizard , but also include even the modest red spot on a European herring gull 's bill. Highly elaborate behaviours have evolved for communication such as the dancing of cranes , the pattern changes of cuttlefish , and the gathering and arranging of materials by bowerbirds . Other evidence for
12726-401: The pitvipers. Despite the detection of IR radiation, the pits' IR mechanism is dissimilar to photoreceptors; while photoreceptors detect light via photochemical reactions, the protein in the facial pits of snakes is a temperature sensitive ion channel. It senses infrared signals through a mechanism involving warming of the pit organ, rather than chemical reaction to light. This is consistent with
12852-455: The population is evenly dispersed. Lastly, if R is significantly less than 1, the population is clumped. Statistical tests (such as t-test, chi squared, etc.) can then be used to determine whether R is significantly different from 1. The variance/mean ratio method focuses mainly on determining whether a species fits a randomly spaced distribution, but can also be used as evidence for either an even or clumped distribution. To utilize
12978-558: The presence of a predator. At least 11 hypotheses for stotting have been proposed. A leading theory today is that it alerts predators that the element of surprise has been lost. Predators like cheetahs rely on surprise attacks, proven by the fact that chases are rarely successful when antelope stot. Predators do not waste energy on a chase that will likely be unsuccessful (optimal foraging behavior). Quality advertisement can be communicated by modes other than visual. The banner-tailed kangaroo rat produces several complex foot-drumming patterns in
13104-430: The presence of their calf. In all 19 cases, the mother dolphin inflected the signature whistle when their calf was present, by reaching a higher frequency, or using a wider frequency range. Similarly, humans use higher fundamental frequencies and a wider pitch range to inflect child–directed speech (CDS). This has rarely been discovered in other species. The researchers stated that CDS benefits for humans are cueing
13230-419: The primitive forms had no communicative function could be "captured" in a context where communication would be functional for one or both partners, and could evolve into a more elaborate, specialised form. For example, Desmond Morris showed in a study of grass finches that a beak-wiping response occurred in a range of species, serving a preening function, but that in some species this had been elaborated into
13356-420: The psychology of the female, a positive feedback loop is enacted and the tail becomes bigger and brighter. Eventually, the evolution will level off because the survival costs to the male do not allow for the trait to be elaborated any further. Two theories exist to explain runaway selection. The first is the good genes hypothesis. This theory states that an elaborate display is an honest signal of fitness and truly
13482-433: The same behaviour from others, a benefit of living in a group. Sociobiologists argued that behaviours that benefited a whole group of animals might emerge as a result of selection pressures acting solely on the individual. A gene-centered view of evolution proposes that behaviours that enabled a gene to become wider established within a population would become positively selected for, even if their effect on individuals or
13608-466: The sender and receiver are the same animal, selection pressure maximizes signal efficacy, i.e. the degree to which an emitted signal is correctly identified by a receiver despite propagation distortion and noise. There are some species, such as the pacific herring, which have evolved to intercept these messages from their predators. They are able to use it as an early warning sign and respond defensively. There are two types of autocommunication. The first
13734-411: The sentry whistles. The sentry continues to whistle the alarm until the entirety of the pack has gone to safety, at which point the sentry returns to the burrow. Despite being the oldest method of communication, chemical communication is one of the least understood forms due in part to the sheer abundance of chemicals in our environment and the difficulty of detecting and measuring all the chemicals in
13860-502: The space between individuals generally arises from competition for a resource such as moisture or nutrients, or as a result of direct social interactions between individuals within the population, such as territoriality. For example, penguins often exhibit uniform spacing by aggressively defending their territory among their neighbors. The burrows of great gerbils for example are also regularly distributed, which can be seen on satellite images. Plants also exhibit uniform distributions, like
13986-438: The species as a whole was detrimental; In the case of communication, an important discussion by John Krebs and Richard Dawkins established hypotheses for the evolution of such apparently altruistic or mutualistic communications as alarm calls and courtship signals to emerge under individual selection. This led to the realization that communication might not always be "honest" (indeed, there are some obvious examples where it
14112-429: The spring and summer months and females bear almost all the responsibility for raising them. Mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a relatively short period of time while others take foraging trips at sea between nursing bouts. Walruses are known to nurse their young while at sea. Seals produce a number of vocalizations , notably the barks of California sea lions , the gong -like calls of walruses and
14238-402: The superfamily Phocoidea. There are 34 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 fossil species of pinnipedimorphs. Otariids are also known as eared seals due to their pinnae . These animals swim mainly using their well-developed fore-flippers. They can also "walk" on land by shifting their hind-flippers forward under the body. The front end of an otariid's frontal bone protrudes between
14364-526: The thin pit membrane, which allows incoming IR radiation to quickly and precisely warm a given ion channel and trigger a nerve impulse, as well as vascularize the pit membrane to rapidly cool the ion channel back to its original "resting" or "inactive" temperature. Common vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) have specialized IR sensors in their nose-leaf. Vampire bats are the only mammals that feed exclusively on blood. The IR sense enables Desmodus to localize homeothermic animals such as cattle and horses within
14490-471: The tree species Leucaena leucocephala exudes a chemical that inhibits the growth of other plants but not those of its own species, and thus can affect the distribution of specific rival species. Allelopathy usually results in uniform distributions, and its potential to suppress weeds is being researched. Farming and agricultural practices often create uniform distribution in areas where it would not previously exist, for example, orange trees growing in rows on
14616-694: The type, size, and speed of an approaching predator. Whale vocalizations have been found to have different dialects based on social learning. Mammalian acoustic culture was first discovered in southern resident orcas in 1978. Not all animals use vocalization as a means of auditory communication. Many arthropods rub specialized body parts together to produce sound. This is known as stridulation . Crickets and grasshoppers are well known for this, but many others use stridulation as well, including crustaceans , spiders , scorpions , wasps , ants , beetles , butterflies , moths , millipedes , and centipedes . Another means of auditory communication
14742-758: The upper and lower jaw. The familiar long upper tusks developed in the genera Valenictus and Odobenus . The lineage of the modern walrus may have spread from the North Pacific to the North Atlantic through the Caribbean and Central American Seaway 8–5 mya, and then back to the North Pacific via the Arctic 1 mya, or to the Arctic and subsequently the North Atlantic during the Pleistocene . Pinnipeds have streamlined, spindle-shaped bodies with small or non-existent ear flaps, rounded heads, short muzzles, flexible necks, limbs modified into flippers and small tails. The mammary glands and genitals can withdraw into
14868-418: The vegetation around them can suffer, especially if animals target one plant in particular. Clumped distribution in species acts as a mechanism against predation as well as an efficient mechanism to trap or corner prey. African wild dogs, Lycaon pictus , use the technique of communal hunting to increase their success rate at catching prey. Studies have shown that larger packs of African wild dogs tend to have
14994-583: The vibrations that return from objects. In bats, echolocation also serves the purpose of mapping their environment. They are capable of recognizing a space they have been in before without any visible light because they can memorize patterns in the feedback they get from echolocation. There are many functions of animal communication. However, some have been studied in more detail than others. This includes: As described above, many animal gestures, postures, and sounds, convey meaning to nearby animals. These signals are often easier to describe than to interpret. It
15120-442: The walrus relies on its hind limbs for locomotion, while its forelimbs are used for steering. Also, it has no outer ears. The epipterygoid of the jaw is well developed and the back of the nasal bones are horizontal. In the feet, the calcaneuses protrude in the middle. Phocids are known as true or "earless" seals. These animals lack outer ears and cannot position their hind-flippers to move on land, making them more cumbersome. This
15246-704: The water as dolphins , seals are more flexible and agile. Otariids primarily use their front limbs to propel themselves through the water, while phocids and walruses primarily use their hind limbs for this purpose. Otariids and walruses have hind limbs that can be pulled under the body and used as legs on land. By comparison, terrestrial locomotion by phocids is more cumbersome. Otariids have visible external ears, while phocids and walruses lack these. Pinnipeds have well-developed senses—their eyesight and hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have an advanced tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. They have
15372-436: The welfare of animals that are being cared for or trained by humans. Non-human animal species may interpret the signals of humans differently than humans themselves. For instance, a pointing command refers to a location rather than an object in dogs. The importance of communication is evident from the highly elaborate morphology, behaviour and physiology that some animals have evolved to facilitate this. These include some of
15498-530: The world. In 1989, Annalisa Berta and colleagues proposed the unranked clade Pinnipedimorpha to contain the fossil genus Enaliarctos and modern seals as a sister group . Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and the suborder Caniformia (known as dog-like carnivorans). Of the three extant families, the Otariidae and Odobenidae are grouped in the superfamily Otarioidea, while the Phocidae belong to
15624-429: The year animals tend to "clump" together around these crucial resources. Individuals might be clustered together in an area due to social factors such as selfish herds and family groups. Organisms that usually serve as prey form clumped distributions in areas where they can hide and detect predators easily. Other causes of clumped distributions are the inability of offspring to independently move from their habitat. This
15750-493: Was likely more of a fore-flipper swimmer, but could probably swim with either pair. One species, Enaliarctos emlongi , exhibited notable sexual dimorphism , suggesting that this physical characteristic may have been an important driver of pinniped evolution. A closer relative of extant pinnipeds was Pteronarctos , which lived in Oregon 19–15 mya. As in modern seals, the maxilla or upper jaw bone of Pteroarctos intersects with
15876-526: Was the first to recognize the pinnipeds as a distinct taxonomic unit; in 1811 he gave the name Pinnipedia to both a family and an order . American zoologist Joel Asaph Allen reviewed the world's pinnipeds in an 1880 monograph , History of North American pinnipeds, a monograph of the walruses, sea-lions, sea-bears and seals of North America . In this publication, he traced the history of names, gave keys to families and genera, described North American species and provided synopses of species in other parts of
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