Thinking about the biology of communication

  1. What arguments Donald Griffin presents to justify the existence of animal thinking and communication? Your reply mst present a justification of your own, derived from your reading of the pdf posted with the text of Griffin’s Animal Minds.
  2. The second question refers to the biological mechanism of sexual selection. through which life evolves, mutates and reproduces itself. The aim of your posting should be to show your understanding the communicative dimension fostered by sexual selection. At this point, you should research on sexual selection on the internet, but let us answer this question: what is sexual selection? Sexual selection can be defined as an important development of Darwin’s theory; that recognizes the transmission (communication) of information about the biological quality (fitness) of a potential mating organism. This information is conveyed by displaying traits, attributes, behaviors etc. that, simultaneously, attract females and intimidate males searching for a differential of reproduction. Sexual selection clearly implies choice. Now, considering choice, the question is: how do females all across the natural world chose their mates? What to they chose? Female choice is the selection of a signal, a message. And that leads to another question: how can females fend off deceiving males that promise what they cannot deliver? Based on these assumptions, present the Zahavis’ version of cost signaling theory.

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