Lacewings
Family Chrysopidae
•Lacewings
communicate with
one another using
substrate-borne
vibrational songs
•Songs are produced
by jerking motions of
the insect's abdomen
•Both males and
females use the same
song during courtship
•These songs are
specific to each
lacewing species
Location: worldwide
Habitat: Temperate,
tropical and terrestrial
forest and grassland
Palm Cockatoo
Probosciger aterrimus
•Palm cockatoo males
display to females
during courtship by
drumming on tree
trunks with sticks
•Males have been
found to use sticks or
other similar objects
(bones) to drum on
tree trunks
•Males have been
observed spending a
great deal of time
fashioning sticks into
drumming sticks
Location:Northern tip
of Cape York
Peninsula, Australia
Habitat: rainforest,
occasionally eucalypt
and palm woodland,
forest edges
Humming Toadfish
Porichthys notatus
•Male toadfish use
their swim bladder
muscles to dazzle
females with a unique
mating call that sounds
like a bullfrog
•The toadfish can
vibrate its swim
bladder muscle an
astounding 200 times
per second, more than
twice the speed of a
rattlesnake tail
•Toadfish are also
lined with many tiny
light-producing organs
Location: Alaska to the
Gulf of California and
migrates from deep
Pacific waters to spawn
in shallow water within
tidal limits
Habitat: bury themselves
in sand or mud during
the day and at night they
hover over the sea bed
Fireflies
Family Lampyridae
•Fireflies use a flash of
light to communicate
during courtship
•A firefly's light is turned
on or off by controlling
the air supply to the
luminescent organs.
•The chemical luciferin
is instantly converted to
light in the presence of a
specific enzyme and
oxygen.
Left:
Flash of
male
Bigdipper
firefly
Location: Worldwide,
particularly in tropical
Asia, and Central and
South America
Habitat:areas of water
such as ponds,
streams, marshes or
even depressions,
ditches, etc., that may
retain moisture longer
than surrounding areas
Black Gibbon
Hylobates Syndactylus
•Black Gibbons
communicate with
loud vocalizations that
they make with their
enlarged throat sac
•The throat sac can
inflate to the size of a
human head
•Their songs can be
heard up to 2-3 miles
away
Location: Southeast Asia,
primarily Malaysia
(Malay Peninsula) and
Indonesia (Sumatra)
•Males and females
call to each other to
strengthen their pair
bond and family
groups call to
advertise territories
Habitat: upper forest
canopy in semievergreen and evergreen
tropical forests from 500
to 2500 feet
Ringed plover
Charadrius hiaticula
•Ringed plovers
attempt to distract
possible predators from
their nests by running
away and pretends to
have a broken wing
•Once predators are a
safe distance away
from the plover nest,
the parent resumes
normal movement and
returns to the nest
Location: Breeds in Bering
Strait area, western Alaska,
and islands in eastern
Canadian Arctic, northern
Eurasia. Winters in Old
World
Habitat: Breeds on sandy
areas or grassy tundra.
Winters in mudflats,
beaches, and shores
Water strider
Family Gerridae
•Some water striders
communication with each
other using water ripples
•Males use ripples for
attracting mates or to
defend their territories
•Males will grasp a solid
object such as a piece of
emergent vegetation with
its forelegs and then bob its
body while standing freely
on the water surface
•Water striders also use
ripples to detect prey
Location:
Worldwide
Habitat: Aquatic, on
the surface of calm
water
Vervet monkeys
Cercopithecus aethiops
•Social monkeys that
use a highly developed
set of vocal and visual
displays, each
communicating
different types of
information Examples:
•Purring: quiet call
given by juveniles
during playwrestling
•Chirp: long
distance call emitted
by females and
juveniles in
response to major
mammalian predator
Location: southern
Sahara to the
whole southern
part of the African
continent
Habitat: woodland,
savanna and high
bush
Túngara frog
Physalaemus pustulosus
•Males attract mates by
calling with a whine
and, sometimes, a chuck
•Females prefer the
whine and chuck
•However, fringe-lipped
bats (who like to eat
Túngara frogs) are more
likely to find and
capture males giving the
whine and chuck call
•Fringe-lipped bats act
as illegitimate receiversmeaning that they
benefit from listening in
on frog calls, while the
frogs clearly suffer a
cost
Location: Central America
and northern S. America
Habitat: Lowland tropics;
shallow, stagnant pools
Honey guide
Indicator minor
•Honey guides sing
and display to get the
attention of large
mammals such as
humans and honey
badgers
•People and/or honey
badgers then follow
the honey guides to a
beehive, which they
break open, to eat the
larvae, honey and wax
•The honey guides
benefit from guiding
mammals to beehives
because they get to eat
whatever is leftover
Location:
Tropical Africa
and Asia
Habitat:forest,
gallery forest,
coffee
plantations
Thomson's gazelle
Gazella thomsoni
•When gazelles spot a
predator such as a wild
dog, they will hop high
into the air as they escape,
a behavior called
“stotting”.
•Gazelles stot in order to
tell their predators that
they are in good health
and would be difficult to
catch.
•They only stot when
pursued by predators that
they can outrun. For
instance, cheetahs are very
quick runners and gazelles
do not stot when
approached by them
Location:
Eastern Africa
Habitat:
Terrestrial.
Open plains and
grasslands
Mole rat
Spalax ehrenbergi
•Blind mole rats
communicate with
seismic vibrations that
they produce by
drumming their heads
against the top of their
tunnels
•They are solitary
rodents and use drum
threats to each other
to avoid direct contact
•Blind mole rats use
their jaws auditory
system (sense of
hearing) to detect
vibratory signals
Location: eastern
Mediterranean regions
Habitat: fossorial, spend
most of their life-time
underground in burrows
Skylark
Alauda arvensis
•When skylarks are
being chased by their
main predator, the
merlin, some skylarks
sing very loudly
•These loud calls
advertise the health
and vigor of skylarks
•Merlins are less likely
to catch skylarks
giving loud calls
compared to silent or
skylarks that are poor
callers
Location: Europe and the
temperate zone of Asia
Habitat: saltmarsh,
coastal grazing land,
arable farmland and
uplands
Bellbird
Anthornis melanura
•Surprisingly loud
voice in relation to
size. Dawn song
consists of 3-5
bell-like notes.
•Calls are given at
dawn to take
advantage of quiet
•Calls include the
whistle, click,
chuckle, gurgle
and trill.
•Both males and
females call
•Calls are used to
maintain territories
and pair bonds
Location: New Zealandmain islands and many
off-shore islands
Habitat: native and
exotic forests, orchards
and gardens
Ground Hornbill
Buceros leadbeateri
•Deep booming
calls, usually
heard as 4-note
phrase
•Repeated at
dawn for long
periods to
proclaim
territory
•Males and
females call in
duets to
maintain pair
bond
•Ground
hornbills pair
for life
Location: E, ne South
Africa, Mozambique,
Zimbabwe, n Botswana
and ne Namibia
Habitat: African savanna
Indri Indri indri
•The indri has a
characteristic call,
consisting of a series
of howls
•These howls serve to
unite groups, express
territoriality and
convey information
about age, sex and
reproductive ability
•Indris are lemurs
that live in social
groups in which
females are dominant
Location: Madagascar
Habitat: primary and
secondary lowland and
mid-altitude rain forest
from sea level to about
1500 m
White-collared mangabey
Cercocebus torquatus
•Mangabeys are very
social animals with a
highly developed
communication system
•They communicate by
means of shrieks and
other sounds as well as
by means of expressive
facial gestures
•chuckle: alarm call to
warn other mangabeys
of nearby predators
•whoop-gobble: serves
to communicate
spacing, only used by
mature males, call may
be heard for a distance
of up to 1 kilometer
Location: Sub-Saharan
western Africa
Habitat: Terrestrial and
arboreal. Tropical forests
Wolf spider
Family Lycosidae
•Wolf spiders use
multiple modes of
communication
•Visual displays
•Vibratory signals
• These signals are used
by wolf spiders to
identify species and
individuals
•Males court female
spiders by waving their
legs in complex displays
and tapping on the
ground (vibration
signals)
•Males also use visual
displays during
aggressive interactions
with other males
Location: Common
throughout the U.S. and
Canada
Habitat: Forest leaf litter
Fire worm
Class Polychaeta
•In Bermuda, female
fireworms come to the
surface and emit a
greenish
phosphorescent glow
•This attracts the males,
which dart towards the
females, emitting
flashing lights at the
Location: Tropical
western Atlantic and at
Ascension Island in
mid-Atlantic
Habitat: Abundant on
reefs, beneath stones
in rocky or sea grass
areas and on some
muddy bottoms