Transmission of information between animals through signals or cues, assessed through effects on receivers.
Discrimination among potential social or mating partners according to species-associated information. Recognition errors and discrimination costs affect its evolution.
Use of a signal by an unintended receiver, such as a predator detecting a mating call. This can impose selection opposed to intended-receiver attraction.
An informative feature not necessarily evolved for the receiver’s response. Distinguishing cues from signals requires an evolutionary argument, not just evidence of information transfer.
A feature or action shaped by selection for its effects on a receiver, with receiver responses also subject to selection. A merely informative incidental feature can instead be a biological cue.
A relation between a signal and a property relevant to its receiver. Honesty can follow aligned interests, physical constraints or differential costs and benefits; high production cost alone does not establish it.
Signalling in which costs contribute to the evolutionary incentives governing expression. Reliability depends on differences in net payoffs among signaller types, not merely on a signal being expensive.
A signal whose relation to the advertised property is constrained by its production mechanism. The receiver’s use and the relevant physical constraint should both be tested.
Communication using more than one sensory modality. Components can supply redundant information, different information or context-dependent detection benefits.
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Animal communication refers to the ways in which animals convey information to one another through various signals, sounds, postures, and behaviors. This form of communication can be found across different species and can serve numerous purposes, including mating, establishing territory, warning of danger, and maintaining social bonds. Animal communication can take many forms, including: 1. **Vocalizations**: Many animals use sounds to communicate.