The Evolution of Dialogue: From Microorganisms to Man [Russian]

About this book

Language: Russian

This book, aimed at the professional ethologist, charts the rise of efficiency of signaling systems in organic evolution – in parallel with the formation of new material preconditions for this, such as the establishment in certain groups of fauna of advanced senses of vision and hearing. Secondly, it traces the historical changes in the views of experts, specifically the disappearance of some of their illusions about the equivalence of language behavior of humans and animals, as happened, in particular, in the history of the study of the so-called "dance language" of bees.

Furthermore, this book looks at pair-formation of Variable Wheatear Oenanthe picata and singing intensity of Finsch’s Wheatear O. finschii. Further topics covered include territorial and courtship behaviour of Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius and the importance of maintaining individual distance; aggression between the sexes in two species of sparrows Passer; babblers Turdoides spp. as contact species which form groups in which allopreening is regular. Mention may also be made of optical signals in display-flights of raptor pairs; song structure illustrated by sonogram; the ontogeny of vocalizations; song learning how and when; imitative song; dialects (notably in Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella); duetting in Laniarius shrikes; the organizations of song cycles; the role of memory in the organization of singing behaviour; and the information content of birds’ acoustic signals.

Summary in Russian:
В книге с позиции профессионального этолога рассмотрен, во-первых, ход нарастания эффективности сигнальных систем в эволюции органического мира – параллельно с формированием новых материальных предпосылок к этому, таких как становление в тех или иных группах животного мира высокоразвитых функций зрения и слуха. Во-вторых, прослежены исторические изменения во взглядах специалистов-зоологов на сущность сигнализации животных. Имеется в виду постепенный уход от иллюзии о некой их равнозначности языковому поведению человека, как это произошло, в частности, в истории изучения так называемого "языка танцев" пчел.

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