summary
The passage explains that animal communication involves a balance between benefit and risk.
Although signals such as sounds or movements can expose animals to predators, communication is essential for survival tasks like finding food and reproducing.
Examples such as birdsong and honeybee dances show how communication supports mating and cooperative foraging.
The passage also notes that communication can be directed at predators, as when gazelles signal awareness to deter pursuit.
Finally, it challenges earlier assumptions that communication occurs only between intended participants, showing that unintended listeners, such as dolphins eavesdropping on fish, can exploit these signals.
Overall, animal communication is shaped by cooperation, competition, and the possibility of being monitored.
中文
本文說明動物溝通涉及利益與風險之間的權衡。聲音或動作等訊號雖然可能暴露位置、引來掠食者，但在覓食與繁殖等生存活動中仍不可或缺。以鳥類歌唱與蜜蜂舞蹈為例，溝通能促進交配並提升群體覓食效率。文章亦指出，某些訊號會直接指向掠食者，例如羚羊透過跳躍表明自己已察覺獵捕行為，從而阻止追逐。最後，研究顯示溝通不只存在於發送者與預期接收者之間，像海豚便能竊聽魚類的聲音以尋找獵物。整體而言，動物溝通同時受到合作、競爭與被監聽可能性的形塑。
Animal Communication: Cooperation and Risk
Communication among animals often involves a trade-off between benefit and danger.
Producing sounds or visual signals can attract predators by revealing an animal’s location.
Despite this risk, communication plays a crucial role in survival, particularly in locating food and reproducing.
For example, when a male bird sings, the sound may draw predators, but it also attracts females, increasing the chance of passing on its genes.
Similarly, honeybees use complex dance movements to communicate the location of food sources to other members of the colony, enabling efficient group foraging and supporting the survival of the hive.
Animal communication is not limited to cooperation within the same species.
In some cases, signals are directed at predators themselves.
Gazelles, for instance, may leap high into the air when they detect a stalking lion.
This behavior signals that the predator has been seen and that a chase would likely fail, encouraging the lion to abandon the hunt.
Such interactions reduce wasted energy for both predator and prey.
Researchers once assumed communication always involved a sender and an intended receiver.
More recent studies show that unintended listeners may also benefit.
Dolphins can detect the sounds fish use to communicate with one another, allowing dolphins to locate prey more efficiently.
These findings suggest that animal communication is shaped not only by cooperation, but also by competition and surveillance.
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