Page 24 - Science Focus (Issue 018)

The Fascinating World

of Animal Behavior

标╉⚧熓 廆ᾏ㈴∐䟅

␖䎪妍䇻ⲹ

By Chantelle Sullivan 蘇盈安

Introduction

With the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it is hard not to fall in love with the
cute anthropomorphic animal villagers that you may have come across in the game. The
game series is well known for their cute and colorful animal characters that you, as the main
character, can befriend. Of course, one can argue that it is unrealistic and far-fetched for
animals to act like humans – socializing, building their own furniture, getting married, etc.
(There is a pair of married alpacas in the game!) However, as surprising as it may seem,
many animals have complex behaviors that you may not have previously thought possible.
Therefore, Animal Crossing may actually be more realistic than you think. In this article, we will
look at animal behavior through multiple angles: social relationships between families and
potential mates, and the way of living.
Animals can socialize and communicate via seven different ways: visual, olfactory,
electric, auditory, touch, seismic and thermal. Different animals utilize a different combination
of these ways to convey information to their own kind, their preys and predators!

Social Communication in Elephants

All elephant species are able to communicate with each other via seismic vibrations on
the ground. These animals are constantly on the move and can travel up to 195 kilometers in
a day [1]. Being able to communicate over a long distance is undoubtedly an advantage.
When auditory or acoustic communication reaches its limits, elephants turn to using ground
waves. When an elephant stomps the ground, the vibrations produced were estimated to
be sensed up to 2.2 kilometers away [2]. Researchers are currently investigating the special
receptors in their feet and trunks that allow them to detect such vibrations from their own kind.
Besides their unique form of communication, elephants also have very special social
structures. One herd, led by a matriarch, is comprised of her daughters and grandchildren.
Males depart from the herd when they reach 12–15 years of age to search for mates. Female
members of the same family form the same herd usually stay together till death do them part.
Members within the same herd have their own unique calls and greetings to each other. It
has been reported that members even assign themselves a unique “name” to be called by.
Elephants are also one of the few kinds of animals that mourn the deaths of family and
friends. Cynthia Moss, a researcher who investigates elephants in the Amboseli National
Park in Kenya, brought a dead matriarch’s jawbone to her camp. A few days later, she was
visited by the matriarch’s family. The elephants headed straight to the jawbone of the dead
matriarch [3], surrounded it and caressed it lightly with their trunks. It was also found that one
elephant – stayed particularly longer than the rest, stroke the jawbone and turned it around –
was the dead leader’s seven-year-old son.

Agricultural Practices in Ants
Since animals live in the wild may live under hostile environmental stresses, homes are
crucial to them. This applies to leaf-cutter ants. It is easy to belittle the complexity of their
lives – being such small and seemingly insignificant insects – whose only task in life seems