Llama Language

Communication in mammals involves the use of one or more of the following systems, visual, chemical, auditory, and tactile. Although, communication can involve a complex integration of more than one system to convey a message. It's important that the message be conveyed clearly. In this program we will focus on the South American Camilla's use of visual communication to convey aggression the South American Camila's include the wild guanaco llama Juanico the vicuna mucuna vicuna as well as the domestic llama llama llama and the alpaca llama Paco's aggression or the aggressive behavior consists of several components these may include vocalizations threats of varying intensities and occasionally physical contact to the casual observer it may appear that fighting or physical contact is the only way to resolve disputes but if we take a closer look we will see that physical contact actually lies at the far extreme of the aggression scale visual cues are the more common behaviors which can easily go unnoticed these include several body postures and various ear and tail postures these subtle cues are just as effective for conveying information and are an integral part of the animal's daily behavior in order to better understand these subtle uses of communication let's examine a group of captive Monaco's and llamas the use of body postures as well as ear and tail postures have been arbitrarily ranked according to the degree of aggression they display these groupings follow along a continuum from very low agree to very high aggression alert ears are at the low end of the aggression scale in this case the ears are upright and directed forward no aggression is apparent as a rule of thumb the lower the ears the higher the level of aggression however there is one exception to the rule this is the relaxed or splayed ear display the ears are down but directed away from the body and no aggression is apparent these are the various ear postures that are associated with aggression above horizontal ear threat also known as a head horizontal ear threat or het below horizontal ear threat or the head flat ear threat or FET and the head up tilt or Hut the above horizontal ear threat is a posture of low aggression the ears are slightly elevated above the head since the arbitrary scale is a continuum the exact position may vary up or down slightly between vertical and horizontal this posture is about halfway in between with a little bit of practice observing these animals the various ear postures will become more readily apparent especially when several members of a group are displaying the same posture as we see here the next ear posture is the horizontal ear threat or het although slightly higher in aggression than the above horizontal ear threat the horizontal ear threat is still fairly low on the scale the ears are positioned roughly level in appearance which again may vary slightly since we're using an arbitrary scale but notice that even as the head is turned or moved up or down the ears remain relatively in the same position as the ears drop lower the level of aggression increases this is evident in the below horizontal ear threat or the het the most frequently used of the ear threats the ears are positioned downward at about a 45 degree angle but again this may vary slightly when an encounter escalates beyond the use of the below horizontal ear threat the ears are flattened tight against the head in a flat ear threat or FET the head is directed slightly upwards which intensifies the threat further notice how you can actually see the ears being tightened against the head when the animal uses this highly aggressive threat at the upper limits of indirect aggression is the head up tilt or Hut which is a modified form of the flat ear threat the ears are still held tightly against the head but the head is directed more sharply upwards spitting will usually follow a head up tilt threat although ear postures are the most easily recognized of the visual cues they are almost always used in conjunction with various tail postures just as with the ear postures tail postures are also ranked on a graded scale or continuum from low aggression to high aggression the scale of tail postures ranges from below horizontal at the low end of the scale to horizontal a moderately aggressive threat to above horizontal and vertical which are highly aggressive threats a rule of thumb for the tails is the higher the position of the tail the higher the level of aggression when the animal is not aggressive the tail is held down against the body in a normal posture very similar to the relaxed or splayed ear display mentioned earlier the first sign of aggression in the tail postures is the below horizontal tail posture which is at the low end of the aggression scale the tail is arched away from the body slightly serving as an early warning indicator this freeze-frame helps to distinguish the below horizontal tail on the right from the normal tail on the left as the level of aggression Rises so does the tail to the horizontal position in this threat the tail is held roughly level or horizontal in appearance a horizontal tail indicates moderate aggression similar to the intensity associated with a flat ear threat for example threats involving the use of the next tail posture may be very high aggression or an indication of anxiety or uncertainty when used aggressively however the above horizontal tail posture serves as a highly visible warning flag when the tail is arched in this position it is easy to see the intensity of aggression displayed usually a combination of high aggression ear postures are used in conjunction with this tail posture when resolving disputes the last of the aggressive tail threats is the vertical tail posture like the head up tilt threat the vertical tail is at the upper limits of the scale it is interesting to note that if the tail passes beyond a vertical posture into a forward curl the behavior changes from high aggression to submission this becomes more evident in a highly visible body posture the submissive Crouch where the head is lowered to form an s-shaped neck and the tail is curled completely forward this posture is used primarily by juvenile or yearling animals as a subordinate response to the adult male of a group non-contact visual displays have become an integral part of the behavioral repertoire of the South American Camila's since it is these indirect aggressive displays that form the basis of everyday communication in these animals as residents of the open terrain visual displays can be seen over relatively long distances and are especially important for advertisement and territorial defense in addition the more subtle ear and tail postures also serve to resolve conflicts within a group if a conflict cannot be resolved in this manner the animals may resort to physical aggression but this is by far the exception to the rule so as we can see ear and tail postures form one part of a complex dynamic communication system known as llama language