Animal language

As an animal language, the variety of complex forms of communication of all animal species are referred to collectively.

This communication can be done by acoustic, chemical or visual signals in some species - such as the electric eel - but also by electrical signals ( bioelectricity ). Also, a communication via gestures (for example, in monkeys ) and ritualized forms such as dance language of honey bees are known. In a broader sense also strong situational behaviors are referred to as courtship behavior as animal language occasionally.

The elementary components of their communication behavior are innate to all animal species and believed to have originated in many animal groups independently, but can often be modified and expanded by learning. As in communication skills and at the same time in this area extremely trainable dolphins, primates and parrots are well known, but also all living in nature in groups pets such as dogs and rabbits.

Primates

Unclear, however, is that correlations between the communication systems of extant primates and humans consists of ability to speak, as may have been established in primates several communication systems independently, which are fundamentally different in their system approaches.

Significant here are mainly the diversified by type of hazard warning calls of howler monkeys ( which therefore have a primitive mental lexicon ). The people especially standing next to the language skills of chimpanzees seems to be how the studies of Roger Fouts have shown to their linguistic learning abilities.

History of Science

Especially in fables and fairy tales, but occasionally also in other literary texts, the animals talking the language of the people ( or people that the animals: see Dr. Dolittle ) and then behave most like humans also. This very old transmission of human characteristics to animals has long even naturalists obscures the fact that many species have highly complex communication systems, which may be referred to law as independent forms of a language. Therefore, endured until the 20th century the view that the ability to language is an exclusively human trait. Only the decrypted by Karl von Frisch semantic peculiarities of the dance language of honey bees led to a rethink.