Communication Lessons from Animals
- Non-Verbal Communication
- Human Language Development
- Purpose of Communication
- Where Resources are Found
- Human Similarities to Animals
Human beings are animals, although this is something that can be easy to forget. Human communication skills may seem more subtle and nuanced than those of animals, but the more we learn about animal communication, the more we learn about the human species.
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1. The Value of Non-Verbal Communication
Plenty of animals communicate through the sounds they make, but there is a lot of non-verbal communication happening in the animal kingdom as well. This is also true for humans. What humans communicate without using words can be as or more important than what humans say. And of course, anyone who has ever had pets knows that we can communicate with other species. It can be especially important to remember the role of nonverbal communication when we are communicating with someone using mediums such as text or email because it is easy to misunderstand meaning without nonverbal cues accompanying what someone says.
2. Human Language Development
According to the University of Chicago News, researchers at that university studied songbirds in 2009 to theorize about how language develops in humans. This builds on previous research that looked at animals such as porpoises, nonhuman primates and whales and how they communicate to reach conclusions about human evolutionary language development. There is not yet a consensus on how humans developed language, but these studies are increasing scientific knowledge on the topic.
3. The Purpose of Communication
As humans, our communication is so complex it may be difficult for us to understand the core reasons for communication. Looking at animal communication can help answer that question and may also provide clues as to how and why human language developed. Reasons for communication in animals include mating rituals, calls related to food, alarm calls, defense of territory or other property, and even communication that links to what comes after and better explains it. For example, animals that engage in aggressive-seeming play might first signal that intention to play before moving on to communication that would otherwise be interpreted as straight aggression.
4. Where Resources are Found
National Geographic reports that there are various species that communicate with humans to convey important information. For example, in Africa, birds known as honeyguides respond to certain sounds from humans and will lead them to bees’ nests and honey. Birds would be stung to death if they tried to get the honey, but when humans get it for them, they are able to share in the bounty. Some fisherman also follow wild dolphins to find more fish, but it is not clear whether the communication goes both ways.
5. Human Similarities to Animals
Animal communication can teach us that humans are not that different from their closest relatives, primates. According to an article in The Atlantic, the scientist who worked with Koko the gorilla and taught her sign language found that she was able to express concepts such as grief, understand symbolic thinking and even demonstrate innate gestures shared with other primates.
Studying animal languages teaches us that their communication skills are better than we might have imagined. We can gain significant insight into our own use of language and even our consciousness from how animals talk to one another and to us.