Territoriality In Animals
Just as people come together voluntarily in artists' colonies, college communities, and selected living areas, so do many animals come together in social groupings. And, like some people who become entrapped in a given spatial area, animals find themselves in ter· ritories to which they lay claim. Like some humans, the animal who feels a given space to be his decides whom he will allow to share it. A squirrel, for example, will tolerate a mouse in his territory, but may try to keep some other animal out. Both animals and humans defend their "psychological territory," which is something more than a specified area of earth, water, or air. Some animals compete for mates and man is no less subtle; a woman asserts that a certain man is hers. Animals, like man, may ignore NO TRESPASSING signs. The lion pays little heed to territorial rights anywhere in the jungle. Some naturalists state that the songs of birds at dawn are not primarily music, or invitations to mate, but basically warnings from one male to another to stay out of his territory. "i can protect my territory," says the skunk as he releases his unique sign of ownership, Yet, animal territory, like that of humans, can be invaded. Some ants play both defensive and aggressive games. Some species make war and even practice slavery whereby they use a form of "chemical propaganda." The slavemaker ants typically attack the nestof a closely related species. The defend· ing workers are killed or driven off; the nest is invaded and the worker pupae are carried off. When the pupae mature, they become slaves in their new home.
Territoriality relates to problems in communication. The boy-girl engagement follows. a sequential pattern of communication. The whale has evolved a social organization that stands at the pinnacle of life in the sea and his survival hinges on long-range communication. Whales produce a wide range of vocal signals which men have yet to completely decode. Low-frequency sounds have been measured to pulsate outwards for hundreds of mUes enabling whales to find each other. Interestingly pollution in the ocean has been found to disrupt whale (and other sea animal) frequency signals, thus reducing mating possibilities. Even the bond between parent and young has been found to be snapped by pollution toxins, leaving the young to be preyed on ipstead of cared for.
