Inter- and intra-species communication in marine animals

By Véronique Barthès-Haffner. A geophysicist, she spent most of her engineering career in Grenoble, at the CENG. Since retiring, she has taken a keen interest in scuba diving. She now leads groups of divers and trains them in knowledge of the underwater environment.

In underwater life, as on land, the relationships that animals establish with each other are rich and varied, but often difficult to interpret, whether inter-species (between different species) or intra-species (between individuals of the same species).

Even if the ultimate goal remains the survival and perpetuation of the species, the strategies deployed go far beyond the "law of the jungle", where only the strongest survive and reproduce. As we have recently learned, the majority of relationships are based on mutual aid and collaboration.

In this presentation, we'll look at relationships in the underwater world from the angle of sociality and collaboration, using examples observed during diving or described in scientific literature.

Ever since the study of animal behavior (which used to be confined to the laboratory) took into account the role of the environment by studying animals in their environment, we've known that they are capable of reflection, empathy, sensitivity, emotion and even culture. The complexity of animal intelligence (of which we humans are a part) forms a continuum.