Vibrational communication in mammals of the african savannah

Wemer, Nynke (2020) Vibrational communication in mammals of the african savannah. Master's Thesis / Essay, Biology.

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Abstract

Animals communicate in various ways to each other which suits the situation they are in. Many species are known to communicate through sound, pheromones and with visual clues. However, probably the least known – but most commonly used – form of communication is through vibrations. Vibratory communication can be both airborne and substrate borne and is proven to have multiple forms of execution; head drumming, head dipping, foot drumming, trembulation, stridulation and bone conduction. In previous studies it was discovered that all arthropods use this form of communication to exchange information with family members, with possible mates and between predator-prey relationships. However, when in 1989 the first mammal to use bone conductive communication was discovered, a door opened to a whole new taxa of animal species that use vibrational communication. Various mammalian species were found to use this form of communication to find mates, avoid predators, detect and lure prey, warn competitors, find resources and demarcate territory. The largest mammal on the planet, the African elephant (Loxodonta Africana) uses vibrational communication to find water and detect predator presence. However, due to the difficulty in measuring and observing vibratory communication there is a lack of proper data on the subject. Even more so, since mammalian vibratory communication is not yet thoroughly studied, a lot of hypotheses remain just that; a theory.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master's Thesis / Essay)
Supervisor name:	Zee, E.A. van der
Degree programme:	Biology
Thesis type:	Master's Thesis / Essay
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	08 Jul 2020 08:47
Last Modified:	08 Jul 2020 08:47
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/22509

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