This black-backed jackals are telling this leopard that its cover has been blown. For an ambush predator like a leopard, having its cover blown ends its ability to hunt properly. This barking actually gives the jackals some control over the situation, which is a good thing for them. Leopards like to eat jackals (and dogs), but the leopard doesn’t particularly want to get bitten. If the jackals know where the leopard is, it has lost the element of surprise.
This barking is simply to tell the leopard that its whereabouts are known.
Barking really isn’t an alarm call. Both jackals in this pair know about the leopard.
It’s about communicating with the leopard.
And when wild dogs bark, that is about the only reason they do so.
However, domestic dogs use their barks for a variety of purposes.
And humans can tell what those barks mean, just from the pitch and tone.
Whether dogs are consciously using these barks to communicate with us, I cannot say.
But they are using these barks differently than the jackals are.
The jackals are telling the leopard that he has been seen and that he shouldn’t try anything.
That’s the only thing the jackals are trying to communicate.
Dogs have to communicate with naked bipedal apes with God complexes and nuclear weapons.
So they use what their ancestors reserved for only very narrow purpose for a wider range of communication.
“Whether dogs are consciously using these barks to communicate with us, I cannot say.”
Why not? Dogs want to communicate with us, dont’ they?
I’m trying to avoid violating Morgan’s Canon.
well, dogs don’t howl to communicate as much as wolves do. So maybe they’ve adjusted their speech to accomodate humans who can’t tell “what are they saying” from a howl-song.
Peggy Richter.
The purpose of barking must be to wake me out of a sound sleep because there’s a bloody vinegaroon in the yard.
When I was about 12, I wanted a pet vinegaroon.
You want one? I’ll pop the next one in a box, usually I just chuck them over the fence. How about a wind scorpion?
You can buy a dead one encased in plastic and use it as a mouse or hang it around your neck.
If dogs don’t instinctively communicate various things to their people, they certainly LEARN to over time! I remember this INANE study done some years ago(it can probably be found on the internet somewhere….) that ballyhooed it had “discovered” that dog barking was simply an instinctive release mechanism, and communicated no meaning to other dogs. Stupid egg-head scientific experiments like this that draw these conclusions based on their tiny, narrow, limited experimentation is why such scientific discovery should always be taken with a good dose of salt! Any dog owner can tell you their dogs have very distinct barks and other vocalizations for very different phenomenon, and multiple dog owners will readily tell you(and can SHOW you, too!) that their dogs react totally differently to different vocalizations–what the heck is that if not communication? Come to find out, this “study” was done in a LABORATORY with wretched beagles in cages, and based on this extremely unnatural(if completely controlled) environment, these scientists made their amazing behavioural discovery! Somtimes I think these highly intellectual scientific types really need to keep a few old farm boys(or girls) around to point out basic common sense things to them, like how beagles kept locked up in tiny cages in a lab aren’t likely to bark any other way but inanely and without much purpose……I can personally tell what my various dogs are barking at instantly–human intruders, wild animals passing by, cat barks, canine intruders, the UPS truck, the power meter reader, a very distinctive snake bark/bay, play barks, aggressive fight barks(in pack), greeting barks, and howls, growls, and whines of every calibre for just as many various things! And they all react appropriately to whomever sounds the alarm, and have trained me to do likewise! Virtually every dog owner in the world can verify this, if they are even the bare minimumalist in observation.
“The leopard’s cover is blown” … the same thing happened here, only it was coyotes’ cover that was blown. I have several cats who live outside and are working ratters. (I have all my cats neutered and vaccinated, so they don’t roam and don’t contribute to overpopulation). Coyotes had discovered my home and were snatching my cats; I was losing a cat to coyote predation about once a month. I tried keeping the cats confined at night, and the coyotes began grabbing cats by day. I live in a very rural area, near a large creek, and I have to have ratters because I refuse to use poison. Quite by accident I found the solution. My grandson’s chihuahua/terrier mix had a broken leg that required surgery. I kept the little fella. He barks at anything that moves. A coyote could make one bite of him. But coyotes don’t like to be noticed, and I only lost one cat after I adopted Rufus. Then later, someone abandoned a female shepherd near here and I adopted her. Friendliest dog on the creek, but she is death on coyotes. So I don’t have to worry about them too much anymore; between the little yapper and the big enforcer, they seem to have the coyote problem licked.
I think our remote ancestors realized the value of their dogs’ barking alarms and encouraged it. And dogs that sounded the alarm and woke their masters were more likely to survive to have pups, etc., so barking became the dog’s primary method of vocal communication, unlike wolves, which bark only occasionally. Which is only one of the reasons that, no matter what the DNA says, I consider dogs and wolves separate, but closely related, species.
I think early “camp wolves” hanging around and giving warning of larger, more dangerous predators is the number one reason early hunter-gatherers tolerated their prescence, and what eventually led to the domestication of the dog. Hunting and other skills that became recognized, used, and selected for came afterwards(my “pet” theory–pun intended!). This barking and other means of warning(growls, body postures and alertness, etc.–my Basenjis don’t bark, and my huskies and former wolf hybrids rarely, but their very obvious behaviour when something is around is impossible to miss!) is INCREDIBLY valuable as a survival tool–something we modern day dog owners often take for granted. An alert dog(s) make for excellent security in modern times, as well. We may not have Sabertooth tigers, or Short-faced Bears,, or Hyenadons, or mammoths passing by, but we do have an even crueler, more invasive and personal species to worry about–HUMANS! I have read various accounts of burglars who relate that they tend to avoid houses with dogs simply because the noise attracts too much attention(size and aggressiveness of the dogs only being secondary). Watch any of those horrible T. V. shows documenting horrendous murders and crimes, involving serial killers and violent youths on crime sprees, etc. who enter peoples’ houses while they are sleepingand kill them in their beds–this just doesn’t happen to people with dogs!!! Or if it ever does, is the exception! Heaven help any murderous idiot that decides to invade my property–if the CSI guys even find enough to identify his/her species after the fact, they will be lucky! And this invaluable service dogs do for us is something that is often forgotten in modern times…..
I wonder if wolves dont bark because they dont have to? Its not because barking isn’t part of their communication. As the top predator in most ecosystems they could probably see off most other predators without empty threats. The reason I say this is because I’ve seen packs of wolves barking at grizzlies, and Ive also seen them barking at large dogs. But that seems to be the only time. In contrast I find it interesting that coyotes bark all the time.
Perhaps. Little dogs tend to be more yappy than big dogs, but I always guessed that was because their energy level was higher and so they were more reactive to most every stimulus.
But it does make sense that little dogs have more dangers to react to.