Communication is part of our everyday life. We greet one another, smile or frown, depending on our moods. Animals, too, communicate in the same way, much to our surprise. Just like us, interaction among animals can be both verbal and non-verbal.

Signing is one way in which animals can interact with one another. Male black-birds use their melodious songs to catch the attention of the females. These songs are usually rich in notes variation, encoding various kinds of messages. Songs are also used to warn and keep off other blackbirds from their territory, usually a place where they dwell and reproduce.

Large mammals in ocean sing, too, according to adventurous sailors. Enormous whales groan and grunt while smaller dolphins and porpoises produce pings, whistles and clicks. These sounds are surprisingly received by other mates as far as several hundred kilometers away.

Besides singing, body language also forms a large part of animals’ communication tactics. Dominant hyenas exhibit their power by raising the fur hackles on their necks and shoulders, while the submissive ones normally surrender to the powerful parties by crouching their heads low and curling their lips a little, revealing their teeth in friendly smiles.

Colours, which are most conspicuously found on animals, are also important means of interaction among animals. Male birds of paradise, which have the gaudiestcoloured feathers often hang themselves upside down from branches, among fluffing plumes displaying proudly their feathers, attracting the opposite sex.

The alternating black and white striped coats of zebras have their roles to play too. Each zebra is born with a unique set of stripes which enables its mates to recognize them. When grazing safely, their stripes are all lined up neatly, so that none of them loses track of their friends. However, when danger such as hungry lion approaches, the zebras would dart out in various directions, making it difficult for the lion to choose his target.

Insects, such as the wasps, armed with poisonous bites or strings, normally have brightly painted bodies to remind other predators of their power. Hoverflies and harmless insects also make use of this fact and colour bodies brightly in an attempt to fool their predators into thinking that they are as dangerous and harmful as the wasps.

• How is singing used by animals?
• How long can a whale’s grunt be heard in the ocean?
• How do zebras react to the danger of an attacking lion?
• How do dominant hyenas exhibit their power?
• Which animals/birds have been mentioned in the above passage having gaudy colours?

• Singing is used by animals for interacting with each other. Male black-birds use their melodious songs to catch the attention of the females. Songs are also used to warn and keep off other blackbirds from their territory, usually a place where they dwell and reproduce. Large mammals also sing according to adventurous sailors which are received by other mates who are far away from them.

• Whale’s grunt can be heard several hundred kilometers away in the ocean.

• Each zebra is born with a unique set of stripes. , when danger such as hungry lion approaches, the zebras would dart out in various directions, making it difficult for the lion to choose his target.

• Dominant hyenas exhibit their power by raising the fur hackles on their necks and shoulders.

• Male birds of paradise have the most gaudycolours.