By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D.
LA JOLLA, California — Having just finished reading Suzanne Simard’s book, Finding the Mother Tree, I was bowled over by the ability of trees to communicate with each other through a microbial networks. The Mother Tree is in reality an old tree in the forest who is needed by younger trees to survive and prosper. The old tree sends out micronutrients through its roots. It recognizes its own species, to which it sends life-sustaining copper, iron, aluminum, calcium, and magnesium that it takes from the soil. When a seedling is in distress due to drought, it receives a larger share of carbon, sugar, and proteins.
The old tree knows who needs it, and in times of abundance, it also feeds other species of trees which are needed as neighbors. Dr. Simard has found that diversity is essential for a healthy forest. In other words, a Douglas fir tree needs a Birch nearby who needs a Cedar who needs a fir tree. While the Cedar may send nutrients to the fir, the fir will reciprocate in time. This network of roots and fungus can extend throughout a forest floor uniting a community of trees which feed off each other.
What is uncanny is the kind of discernment of which tree needs what and when; it is a type of intelligence, for lack of a better word. Forest rangers and lumber companies have learned to include diversity in their plantings. Some of these networks reminds us of our own neural pathways connecting us to this other world we are just discovering.
This all made me wonder what other forms of communication are buzzing all around us, though we are unaware of the chatter. I looked up how other non-human species communicate and found a variety of ways animals, insects, and birds all talk to each other non-stop.
I had read about a sanctuary in Africa for orphaned baby elephants whose keeper had died. Within minutes all the elephants in the sanctuary had gathered in front of the keeper’s house and stood vigil. How did they know? No one has come up with an answer…yet.
There are cues we can pick up from the animals we know. Dogs use their ears and tail to send messages that we humans can comprehend. We recognize a meow, a growl, a hiss, but there is a world of communication all around us that escapes us. There are four methods of communication which include: visual, auditory, tactile, and chemical.
Some examples of visual communication are from bees who do a dance to specify the location of a food source. Caribbean reef squid can change the color of their skin to convey a variety of messages to court or warn of predators. They can even have a different message on each side of their bodies.
Human toddlers use 52 discreet gestures to communicate, including clapping, hugging, stomping, raising their arms, and shaking their heads. Great apes use 46 of the same gestures so there is an almost 90-percent overlap.
An example of auditory communication includes birds, whose songs are a language specific to each species. Sperm whales emit clicking sounds that can travel for miles with various patterns in different parts of the ocean. Elephants emit low sounds that we cannot hear, yet it can be heard more than 170 miles away by other elephants. This sound is called infrasound, below 20 Hertz, too low for us humans. One of the smallest primates, the tarsiers, screech. Their sound frequency is over 20,000 Hertz, too high pitched for us and out of range for predators, too.
Tactile communication is used by chimpanzees grooming each other, indicating which area they want groomed. Elephants can communicate by stomping their feet, creating a vibration that can travel for miles through the earth to other elephants’ feet.
Chemical communication are used by many animals urinating to either mark their territory or advertise readiness to mate. White rhinos use communal dung heaps like a community bulletin board with messages that include whether one is sick, ready to mate, or a dominant male has just been in the area.
We humans use all four methods of communication. We use our voices, our facial expressions, and our body language, and we use smell in ways we are unconscious of. Newborn infants can discern the unique smell of their mothers. Each of us has an individual chemical scent that our dogs can discern.
Our planet is a cacophony of sights, sounds, and smells that we are unaware of. We are barely aware of our unconscious ways of communicating which flows as soon as we encounter each other.
© Natasha Josefowitz. This article appeared initially in the La Jolla Village News. You may comment to natasha.josefowitz@sdjewishworld.com