Information Theory Opens New Dimensions in Experimental Studies of Animal Behaviour and Communication

Abstract

Over the last 40-50 years, ethology has become increasingly quantitative and computational. However, when analysing animal behavioural sequences, researchers often need help finding an adequate model to assess certain characteristics of these sequences while using a relatively small number of parameters. In this review, I demonstrate that the information theory approaches based on Shannon entropy and Kolmogorov complexity can furnish effective tools to analyse and compare animal natural behaviours. In addition to a comparative analysis of stereotypic behavioural sequences, information theory can provide ideas for particular experiments on sophisticated animal communications. In particular, it has made it possible to discover the existence of a developed symbolic "language" in leader-scouting ant species based on the ability of these ants to transfer abstract information about remote events.

Keywords: Kolmogorov complexity; Shannon entropy; animal communication; ants; behavioural patterns; classification; computational ethology; information theory; rodents.

Figure 1

(a) a narrow-headed vole Lasiopodomys gregalis is handling the cockroach with its paws; (b) a fat-tailed gerbil Pachyuromys duprasi is attacking the prey. Photos made by Galina Azarkina.

Figure 2

A laboratory arena divided into two parts, containing an artificial ant nest and a binary tree maze placed in a bath with water. This binary tree has four forks. Photo taken by Nail Bikbaev.