Animal Sounds

Humans communicate using language. They can read, write and speak. We may wonder how animals communicate. The first question arises in mind is "do they really communicate?". The answer is "yes". Except humans and also few animals, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans (type of great ape found only in Asia) have language. They do not speak words and they certainly can not read or write. But this does not mean that animals don't communicate. In reality, it is possible to recognize the meaning in a wide variety of sounds made by animals. Animals change the rate and structure of ‘Animal Sound production’ to convey different messages to one another.

Vocalization is a common word for ability to speak. Birds are one of the very best animal communicators. Their vocalizations are often referred as "calls" or "songs". Animal Sounds generally serve three important purposes. One is to announce to their mates that the singer is available, other to announce to rivals that, “The location is occupied. Don't come any closer." The third important function that bird vocalizations serve is to warn other birds in the area that a predator is nearby and that they should be aware of him.

Frogs also produce Animal Sounds. They use “songs” or give “calls” to mark their territories and to inform potential mates of their presence. Bullfrogs often claim small territories on social breeding grounds and guard those spots throughout the night, backing up threatening postures with vocalizations that can be more easily interpreted in complete darkness. Lions also use menacing roars to establish dominance in their territory. They also attract their mates by roaring.

Social creatures, including the chimpanzees, whales and seals also make Animal Sounds. They rely heavily on vocalizations for their communication purpose. Calls or songs are often the best way for individuals to locate and recognize others from their social group. For example, whales often swim outside of visual contact with members of their group. With nearly constant clicks and whistles whale can keep the track to know the whereabouts of every other whale in the group. Most marine animals do rely on sound for their survival and depend on their unique adaptations that have enabled them to protect themselves, locate food, communicate and navigate underwater. The communication for navigations by whales and dolphins is discussed below.

Similar to SONAR systems on navy ships, some whales use Animal Sounds to detect, localize, and differentiate between objects. This includes obstacles and other whales near by. By emitting short pulses of sound (also called as clicks), these marine mammals can listen for echoes and detect objects underwater. Some whales and dolphins use echolocation to locate food and their mate. They send out high intensity and frequency pulsed sounds that are reflected back when they strike a target. This echo helps the whale or dolphin to identify the size and shape of an object. Also it helps in finding the direction in which the object is moving and enables them to estimate the distance of object from them. Echo-location is a very sophisticated way of locating prey and can even be used to find prey that is hidden in the sand.

Chimpanzees also use vocalizations for keeping the track of members of their group. However, chimpanzees and other large apes, which include gorillas and orangutans, make far more than simple contact sounds. Scientists who study chimpanzees have identified about three dozen chimpanzee vocalizations and each vocalization has its own meaning. In fact, if we combinely consider their sophisticated body language and wide range of facial expressions with the sounds that chimpanzees make, they seem to HAVE very little difficulty communicating just about anything they need to say. There are different names for Animal Sounds which are made by different animals.