Naturalist Notes

After a brief introduction on the basics of bird language, I led fifteen students down a trail at a nature preserve to perform what is known as a bird language ‘sit’ (a term coined by Jon Young, author of What the Robin Knows). Not wanting to overwhelm anyone with too many instructions, I had as...

Breeding season has begun in the southern parts of North America, where birds are now defining and defending territories. If you want to know where a mating pair's territory begins and ends, playing a song of a local species can tell you very quickly, as detailed in this article and audio from N...

Defining animal language When we speak of animal language, we are referring to a coarse way of interpreting and understanding the inter-species communication around us. All higher animals/mammals communicate and depend upon messages and cues from each other for their survival. They do so in orde...

For humans and other mammals, the process of learning language begins in the womb. Scientists know that even at an early stage of development, embryos pick up on the sound of their mother’s voice and others who are nearby. In the case of homo sapiens, having a complete understanding of what is b...