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| Bird Call - July/August 2007
"Communication is an extraordinary simple part of social behaviour that we have managed to complicate beyond reasonable interpretation." -- Neil Heron.  I find it more and more difficult to live in an environment that has become manipulated by the misinterpretations and presumptions of probably the most important basic social skill we require in order to interact with one another -- communication in all its forms. From a visual, olfactory, tactile to vocal perspective are largely ignored by modern man, or misinterpreted and complicated to produce a huge void in our understanding of who we are, where we are and who other people are in our home called life.
Our sense of security, of humility and respect become tainted and confused because of miscommunication or non seen communication, and subsequently illicit emotional and stressful responses to issues that would be simple if we listened and were listened to.  Part of my job as a field guide is to watch and listen to the communication within a wildlife area and then -- as best as I can -- interpret that communication and the resulting behaviour for my guests. Almost always, the descriptions are easily accepted and understood because they are simple and, have over time, been removed from our world and thus remain uncomplicated.
When I ask to include us in the equation, in other words accept that we are also being spoken to, or speaking to wildlife, and that our interactions with one another is as simple as that within the bush, I get science and behaviour manuals and hypothesis thrown at me with an incredibly diverse set of rules and dysfunction.
There is no doubt that behavioural sciences like body language and the aspects like a more vocal display are accurate in their presence, but I cannot help feeling that as we are provided with more access to electronic communication aids like the Internet, email, television and mobile phones we are (although these aids are hugely beneficial in disseminating information) in fact eroding our basic communication needs. - Our need to touch, connect visually, to see physical locomotion and display, to hear a vocalisation - this lack of immediate communication is destroying our ability to feel the needs or wants of others, and so misinterpret or confuse basic interpersonal communication. The results are often devastating with violent, abusive and frightening outcomes. I thought I'd write a note on communication in the wild - perhaps these reflections will jog our memories back to a time where we couldn't wait to talk, interact and socialise with one another - back to a time where our motives for social bonding were still simple. Survival is about food and successful breeding - the first about mechanical individual requirements and the latter about the success of an individual within a social context. Both require the ability to send out communication that will successfully illicit a social response.  Behaviour is a physical adaptation required to send out the message and to acknowledge receiving a message. This behaviour is enhanced by the ability of an individual to utilise their own physical structure in conjunction with the environment.
Success is about the ability to adapt to change, and therefore to continue making best current use of communication through behaviour. The nose, the eyes, the hair and skin, the ears and the physical anatomical structure of an animal combine to allow the animal to communicate and behave in a manner that will best ensure its survival. Competition is one of the processes of natural selection - a way forward by throwing out the not-so-successful elements, and by developing the successful elements of adaptation. So once we establish these basic principals of communication we can understand behaviour, and once we understand behaviour+ we can compete by using counter-behaviour that allow us to continue or discard a social interaction that we believe to be either beneficial or not in our most important task - survival. I am often asked why an animal is behaving in a particular way - I am never asked why a human is behaving in a particular way. I guess we define human behaviour and development and adaptation as removed from other animal behaviour. - I do not subscribe to this. Instead I believe that we are all animals and are therefore 'behaving' for the same communication function - and that the cause and effect of our activities and behaviour should impose similar reflection and reason. In Richard D Estes book - The Safari Companion, A guide to Watching African Animals - he highlights a checklist of behavioural signs with interpretation - as follows: Advertising - male and female Dominance displays Aggression Submission Displacement activities Sociable behaviour like greeting ceremonies, etc Courtship Mother and offspring behaviour Play Response to predators These are all signs and activities that communicate different messages, designed to illicit a response. Here communication equals an ethic (ethos) within which animals normally behave to maintain their way of life. When communication does not illicit the required response, or when communication is garbled or not presented in an accustomed manner, a huge amount of disruptive and stressful behaviour is initiated. It is worth contemplating whether or not human communication has become so much more disruptive and stressful between us because of the erosion of basic communication skills and the inclusion of synthetic communication like the Internet, email, mobile phones, television, etc, which all centre around non-participative communication. It is also worth contemplating the amount of stress and disruptive behaviour we cause to the animals we are no longer able to communicate with even although we don't mean to be so disruptive in our activity - that of simply watching and enjoying animals. I have been fortunate to meet some extraordinary people on safari and over the years I have gained a huge amount of knowledge from my guests. My last two safaris were spent with incredible people with an unbelievable amount of insight. Their journeys into the African bush were so completely different that I thought I'd highlight once again the fact that no two safaris are the same, and that the bush shows us what we want to see.  Martin, Sharon, Shelley and Jack Allen along with their cousin Andrew Dillon were presented with an amazing account of how magical silence and inconspicuous behaviour can be. After assessing a small water hole, and noting that there were no animals about, we decided to sit quietly about 20 metres from the waterhole and wait to see if an animal would turn up. Soon we had sight of an approaching elephant about two hundred metres from us. While we were waiting for the elephant to come to us another vehicle drew up and we were quick to mention the approaching elephant when one of the people in the other vehicle asked: "Have you seen the Rhino drinking?" Well what a surprise, less than 15 metres from us, in clear sight, was a huge bull rhino carefully sipping water from the pool - and we had not even noticed it!
 There are several reasons for not noticing the rhino - the first is that on initial assessment we failed to see the rhino which at that point may have been lying in the reeds less than five metres from us (imagine an unseen 2 tonne rhino five metres away from you). Other reasons include not listening for associated sounds like ox-peckers feeding on the rhino, the rustle of grass, perhaps fresh footprints leading up to the place of rest, etc. All good communication signs but because we were simply getting ready to enjoy an hour or two at a waterhole we weren't making an obvious attempt to 'see' the unseen animal at the waterhole.
The sighting of both the rhino and the approaching elephant played out (after the other vehicle had already left the scene) an inspiring interaction and set of communications about who had the right of way when it came to drinking water. The rhino moved off after a very slight and hardly noticeable display by the approaching elephant. Our nights were filled with conversation and laughter - especially after some vervet monkeys decided to sit on the seats of my game viewing vehicle, some with left behind fruit juice cartons in their hands. "Waiting for a game drive!" exclaimed one of my guests. At some point in their development they'll learn to turn the key in the ignition and actually go out for a drive! More fantastic learned behaviour was watching some vervet monkeys actually turn on a garden tap and then run off expectantly to the end of the hosepipe to wait for the water to come out. Needless to say they always failed to turn the tap off once they were finished. Our big predator sightings were limited but all the sounds and noises were there, and the bush shared the magic of elephant and rhino behaviour with us. An elephant charge on the last morning spiced up the safari and highlighted the need to understand communication quickly, and also to act in a decisive manner (in this case, moving off as quickly and quietly as possible). Andrew Dillon provided me with huge insights to life on a small island. Andrew is from St Helena with a population of 4 000 people. It became obvious to me during my talks with Andrew just how much less complicated life is on St Helena - in fact one of the biggest issues on the 48 square mile island is what to do with all the cars that have served their purpose. I found it incredible that there were 3 000 motor cars on an island with a population of 4 000 people! 
Mike and Karen Domitrz and their four sons were treated to the best the Kruger has to offer in terms of big 5 sightings. Even though we were privileged to see so many lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalo - we were entertained more by the sounds of the bush - lion and leopard roaring, baboons arguing, the voices of hyenas, elephants and jackals all added to a chorus of insect and bird calls which we could relax and enjoy. Mike's unrequited sense and passion for life rubbed off on me and once again instilled in me a sense of just how important it is for people to see and experience nature. All in all a great two months have passed quickly by - just long enough to let me know that I am extremely fortunate to do what I do, and to reinforce my thoughts that the African bush and her ways are to be shared not kept secret. I look forward to meeting you in the future, and to meeting old friends - my next couple of safaris are with people I met a few years ago. Kind regards and best wishes from the Bearded Heron. Neil Heron |
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