This was very interesting, thanks for writing it :)
My zero-knowledge instinct is that sound-wave communication would be very likely to evolve in most environments. Motion → pressure differentials seems pretty inevitable, so would almost always be a useful sensory modality. And any information channel that is easy to both sense and affect seems likely to be used for communication. Curious to hear your thoughts if your intuition is that it would be rare.
This depends on the size and distances involved, but it’s a good intuition. You need a mechanism to generate the pressure differentials, which can be an issue in very small organisms, which can be an issue.
Small and sedentary organisms tend to use chemical gradients (i.e. smell), but anything bigger than a mouse (and quite a few smaller things) usually has some kind of sound signals, which are really good for quick notifications in a radius around you, regardless of the light level (so you can pretty much always use it). Also, depending on the medium, sound can travel really far—like whales which communicate with each other over thousands of miles, or elephants stomping to communicate with other elephants 20 miles away.
This was very interesting, thanks for writing it :)
My zero-knowledge instinct is that sound-wave communication would be very likely to evolve in most environments. Motion → pressure differentials seems pretty inevitable, so would almost always be a useful sensory modality. And any information channel that is easy to both sense and affect seems likely to be used for communication. Curious to hear your thoughts if your intuition is that it would be rare.
This depends on the size and distances involved, but it’s a good intuition. You need a mechanism to generate the pressure differentials, which can be an issue in very small organisms, which can be an issue.
Small and sedentary organisms tend to use chemical gradients (i.e. smell), but anything bigger than a mouse (and quite a few smaller things) usually has some kind of sound signals, which are really good for quick notifications in a radius around you, regardless of the light level (so you can pretty much always use it). Also, depending on the medium, sound can travel really far—like whales which communicate with each other over thousands of miles, or elephants stomping to communicate with other elephants 20 miles away.