When I research fungi and mushrooms, I come across stories of mushrooms talking, but it seems that there are many other living things that talk too. It’s well known that birds communicate through song and bees communicate through dance, but it seems that there are many other languages and means of communication.
Apparently, squids change the color and pattern of their skin to mimic or intimidate. If you think of intimidation as a form of communication, there may be no animals that don’t communicate. Crabs raise their claws to show they’re healthy and are looking for a mate. It’s kind of cute.
https://gigazine.net/news/20180108-animal-have-language
To be treated as a language, it seems important that there are words that can be combined, there are rules for how they are arranged, they can express many things, they can express events other than those in front of you, etc. Strictly speaking, they may not be languages, but there seem to be many things that allow for coordination and communication.
Insects communicate by vibrations of their wings and smells such as pheromones. Other examples include fireflies that communicate with light and honeybees that communicate with dance. The amount of information conveyed by bee dance is amazing. The angle at which they move forward while wagging their tails is the angle between the sun and the nectar source, and the faster they wag their tails, the closer they are to the nectar source.
https://cells.jp.net/biology/2170
Fish communicate with each other through skin color and body language, but there are also species that communicate by emitting electricity. And recently, it has been discovered that fish can also communicate through sounds by contracting their gastric bladders. Anglerfish and catfish seem to be quite talkative.
https://nazology.kusuguru.co.jp/archives/104398
Birds seem to communicate mainly through their calls. Crows seem to send messages by the number of calls they make. Great tits have a wide variety of calls, and they use grammar such as “Pi-tsu-pi-ji-ji-ji” (be on guard and gather together), and there are apparently more than 200 patterns of sentences.
https://unique.kaonavi.jp/2156
Mammals seem to be able to have even more complex conversations. Chimpanzees communicate using 66 different gestures, and prairie dogs can use over 100 words, using nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. Prairie dogs form districts where families gather, and the districts gather together to form towns. Prairie dogs are amazing.
https://www.excite.co.jp/news/article/Sinkan_8238
Dolphins, which are marine mammals, seem to communicate using sounds, and whales seem to communicate through songs. Dolphins and whales seem to be particularly mysterious creatures, but they also seem to have a high level of intelligence. Living together in groups, they seem to form a complex society.
https://natgeo.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/25/021200077
It seems that plants can hear sounds too. Some species emit ultrasonic waves, which humans cannot hear, but some animals may be able to hear. In addition, plants cannot move, so when they are in danger, they release volatile substances to call in the natural enemies of pests. Plants are amazing.
https://natures.natureservice.jp/2024/06/11/19078
Information transmission is thought to be linked to the survival strategy of living things, and the wide variety of languages is amazing. There seem to be many conversations that are beyond the range of human perception, but it’s fun to imagine conversations flying around in various ways. Language is amazing. The Earth is amazing.
