How do giraffes locate one another? A review of visual, auditory, and olfactory communication among giraffes

摘要

Understanding how giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) communicate is a topic that has intrigued biologists, ecologists, and society for many years. Despite this interest, communication remains one of the most understudied aspects of giraffe ecology. We reviewed published papers that referenced giraffe communication across olfactory, visual, and auditory dimensions. We found 21 studies, published between 1958 and 2018, that referenced the ways in which giraffes communicate. Ten of these studies described giraffe vocal signals and possibilities for vocal communication among giraffes. Giraffes have been reported to produce infrasonic, hisses, and low humming vocalizations. We found five studies that evaluated giraffe olfaction with implications for communication. Eleven studies suggested that giraffes have high visual capabilities with high dependence on sight for communication. From this evidence, we appreciate that giraffes use multimodal signals to convey vital information to each other. Nevertheless, we found that the inferences made about giraffe communication among these studies are primarily derived from opportunistic observations. Thus, our review highlights that communication remains a highly understudied component of giraffe behavior and ecology. We recommend that further studies seek to identify the ways in which visual, auditory, and olfactory signals facilitate communication among giraffes.