document_title: Animal communication

question_text: which animal whistles to communicate with its group

root

text: Animal communication

text: Modes[edit]

text: Visual[edit]

text: Gestures: The best known form of communication involves the display of distinctive body parts, or distinctive bodily movements; often these occur in combination, so a movement acts to reveal or emphasize a body part. A notable example is the presentation of a parent herring gull’s bill to its chick as a signal for feeding. Like many gulls, the herring gull has a brightly coloured bill, yellow with a red spot on the lower mandible near the tip. When the parent returns to the nest with food, it stands over its chick and taps the bill on the ground; this elicits a  begging response from a hungry chick (pecking at the red spot), which stimulates the parent to regurgitate food. The complete signal therefore involves a distinctive morphological feature (body part), the red-spotted bill, and a distinctive movement (tapping towards the ground) which makes the red spot highly visible to the chick.  While all primates use some form of gesture,[2] Frans de Waal concluded that apes and humans are unique in that only they use intentional gestures to communicate. He tested the hypothesis that gestures evolve into language by studying the gestures of bonobos and chimps.

tag: ul

text:
Facial expression: Facial gestures play an important role in animal communication.  Often a facial gesture is a signal of emotion.  Dogs, for example, express anger through snarling and showing their teeth. In alarm their ears perk up, in fear the ears flatten while the dogs expose their teeth slightly and squint their eyes. Jeffrey Mogil studied the facial expressions of mice during increments of increasing pain; there were five recognizable facial expressions; orbital tightening, nose and cheek bulge, and changes in ear and whisker carriage.[3]
Gaze following: Social animals coordinate their communication by monitoring of each other's head and eye orientation. Such behaviour has long been recognized as an important component of communication during human development, and gaze-following has recently received much attention in animals. Studies have been conducted on apes, monkeys, dogs, birds, and tortoises, and have focused on two different tasks: "follow[ing] another’s gaze into distant space" and "follow[ing] another’s gaze geometrically around a visual barrier e.g. by repositioning themselves to follow a gaze cue when faced with a barrier blocking their view". The first ability has been found among a broad range of animals, while the second has been demonstrated only for apes, dogs, wolves, and corvids (ravens); attempts to demonstrate this "geometric gaze following" in marmoset and ibis gave negative results.  Researchers do not yet have a clear picture of the cognitive basis of gaze following, but developmental evidence indicates that "simple" gaze following and "geometric" gaze following probably rely on different cognitive mechanisms.[4]
Color change: Color change can be separated into changes that occur during growth and development, and those triggered by mood, social context, or abiotic factors such as temperature.  The latter are seen in many taxa.  Some cephalopods, such as the octopus and the cuttlefish, have specialized skin cells (chromatophores) that can change the apparent colour, opacity, and reflectiveness of their skin.[5] In addition to their use for camouflage, rapid changes in skin color are used while hunting and in courtship rituals.[6] Cuttlefish may display two entirely different signals simultaneously from opposite sides of their body. When a male cuttlefish courts a female in the presence of other males, he displays a male pattern facing the female and a female pattern facing away, to deceive other males.[7]  Some color signals occur in cycles. For example, when a female olive baboon begins to ovulate, her anogenital area swells and turns a bright red/pink. This signals to males that she is ready to mate.[8]
Bioluminescent communication: Communication by the production of light occurs commonly in vertebrates and invertebrates in the oceans, particularly at depths (e.g. angler fish).  Two well known forms of land bioluminescence occur in fireflies and glow worms. Other insects, insect larvae, annelids, arachnids and even species of fungi possess bioluminescent abilities.  Some bioluminescent animals produce the light themselves whereas others have a symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria. (See also: List of bioluminescent organisms)

text: Auditory[edit]

text:
Crows flocking

A flock of American crows.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

text: Many animals communicate through vocalization. Vocal communication serves many purposes, including mating rituals, warning calls, conveying location of food sources, and social learning. In a number of species, males perform calls during mating rituals as a form of competition against other males and to signal females. Examples include frogs, hammer-headed bats, red deer, humpback whales, elephant seals, and songbirds.[10] Other instances of vocal communication include the alarm calls of the Campbell monkey,[11] the territorial calls of gibbons, and the use of frequency in greater spear-nosed bats to distinguish between groups.[12] The vervet monkey gives a distinct alarm call for each of its four different predators, and the reactions of other monkeys vary appropriately according to the call. For example, if an alarm call signals a python, the monkeys climb into the trees, whereas the "eagle" alarm causes monkeys to seek a hiding place on the ground. Prairie dogs also use complex calls that signal predator differences. According to Con Slobodchikoff and others, prairie dog calls communicate the type, size, and speed of an approaching predator.[13][14][15][16] Whale vocalizations have been found to have different dialects based on region.[17]

tag: p

text: Not all animals use vocalization as a means of auditory communication. Many arthropods rub specialized body parts together to produce sound. This is known as stridulation. Crickets and grasshoppers are well known for this, but many others use stridulation as well, including crustaceans, spiders, scorpions, wasps, ants, beetles, butterflies, moths, millipedes, and centipedes. Another means of auditory communication is the vibration of swim bladders in bony fish. The structure of swim bladders and the attached sonic muscles varies greatly across bony fish families, resulting in a wide variety of sounds. Striking body parts together can also produce auditory signals. A well-known example of this is the tail tip vibration of rattlesnakes as a warning signal. Other examples include bill clacking in birds, wing clapping in manakin courtship displays, and chest beating in gorillas.[18]

text: Olfactory[edit]

text: Despite being the oldest method of communication, chemical communication is one of the least understood forms due in part to the sheer abundance of chemicals in our environment and the difficulty of detecting and measuring all the chemicals in a sample.[18]  The ability to detect chemicals in the environment serves many functions, a crucial one being the detection of food, a function that first arose in single-celled organisms (bacteria) living in the oceans during the early days of life on Earth.[18] As this function evolved, organisms began to differentiate between chemicals compounds emanating from resources, conspecifics (same species; i.e., mates and kin), and heterospecifics (different species; i.e., competitors and predators).[18]   For instance, a small minnow species may do well to avoid habitat with a detectable concentration of chemical cue associated with a predator species such as northern pike.[19] Minnows with the ability to perceive the presence of predators before they are close enough to be seen and then respond with adaptive behaviour (such as hiding) are more likely to survive and reproduce.[citation needed] Scent marking and scent rubbing are common forms of olfactory communication in mammals.[20][21]

text: Electric[edit]

text: Electrocommunication is a rare form of communication in animals. It is seen primarily in aquatic animals, though some land mammals, notably the platypus and echidnas, sense electric fields that might be used for communication.[22]

text: Weakly electric fishes provide an example of electrocommunication, together with electrolocation.  These fish use an electric organ to generate an electric field, which is detected by electroreceptors.  Differences in the waveform and frequency of changes in the field convey information on species, sex, and identity.  These electric signals can be generated in response to hormones, circadian rhythms, and interactions with other fish.  Some predators, such as sharks and rays, are able to eavesdrop on these electrogenic fish through passive electroreception.

text: Touch[edit]

text: Touch is a key factor in many social interactions. Here are some examples:

text:
Fighting: In a fight, touch may be used to challenge an opponent and to coordinate movements during the fight. It may also be used by the loser to indicate submission.
Mating: Mammals often initiate mating by grooming, stroking or rubbing against each other. This provides the opportunity to apply chemical signals and to assess those excreted by the potential mate. Touch may also announce the intention of the male to mount the female, as when a male kangaroo grabs the tail of a female. During mating, touch stimuli are important for pair positioning, coordination and genital stimulation.
Social integration: Touch is widely used for social integration, a use that is typified by the social grooming of one animal by another. Social grooming has several functions; it removes parasites and debris from the groomed animal, it reaffirms the social bond or hierarchical relationship between the animals, and it gives the groomer an opportunity to examine olfactory cues on the groomed individual, perhaps adding additional ones. This behaviour has been observed in social insects, birds and mammals.
Foraging: Some ant species recruit fellow workers to new food finds by first tapping them with their antennae and forelegs, then leading them to the food source while keeping physical contact. Another example of this is the waggle dance of honey bees.[23]
Huddling: Prolonged physical contact or huddling also serves social integration. Huddling promotes heat exchange, together with the transfer of olfactory or tactile information. Some organisms live in constant contact in a colony, for example colonial corals. When individuals are linked tightly in this way an entire colony can react on the aversive or alarm movements made by only a few individuals. In several herbivorous insect nymphs and larvae, aggregations where there is prolonged contact play a major role in group coordination. These aggregations may take the form of a procession or a rosette.

text: Seismic[edit]

text: Seismic communication is the exchange of information using self-generated vibrational signals transmitted via a substrate such as the soil, water, spider webs, plant stems, or a blade of grass.  This form of communication has several advantages, for example it can be sent regardless of light and noise levels, and it usually has a short range and short persistence, which may reduce the danger of detection by predators.  The use of seismic communication is found in many taxa, including frogs, kangaroo rats, mole rats, bees, nematode worms, and others.  Tetrapods usually make seismic waves by drumming on the ground with a body part, a signal that is sensed by the sacculus of the receiver.  The sacculus is an organ in the inner ear containing a membranous sac that is used for balance, but can also detect seismic waves in animals that use this form of communication. Vibrations may be combined with other sorts of communication.[24]

text: Thermal[edit]

text: A number of different snakes have the ability to sense infrared (IR) thermal radiation, which allows these reptiles to derive thermal images from the radiant heat emitted by predators or prey at wavelengths between 5 and 30 μm. The accuracy of this sense is such that a blind rattlesnake can target its strike to the vulnerable body parts of a prey animal.[25] It was previously thought that the pit organs evolved primarily as prey detectors, but it is now believed that they may also be used to control body temperature.[26]

text: The facial pits enabling thermoregulation underwent parallel evolution in pitvipers and some boas and pythons, having evolved once in pitvipers and multiple times in boas and pythons.[27]   The electrophysiology of the structure is similar between lineages, but it differs in gross structure anatomy. Most superficially, pitvipers possess one large pit organ on either side of the head, between the eye and the nostril (loreal pit), while boas and pythons have three or more comparatively smaller pits lining the upper and sometimes the lower lip, in or between the scales. Those of the pitvipers are the more advanced, having a suspended sensory membrane as opposed to a simple pit structure.  Within the family Viperidae, the pit organ is seen only in the subfamily Crotalinae: the pitvipers. Despite the detection of IR radiation, the pits’ IR mechanism is dissimilar to photoreceptors; while photoreceptors detect light via photochemical reactions, the protein in the facial pits of snakes is a temperature sensitive ion channel. It senses infrared signals through a mechanism involving warming of the pit organ, rather than chemical reaction to light.[28] This is consistent with the thin pit membrane, which allows incoming IR radiation to quickly and precisely warm a given ion channel and trigger a nerve impulse, as well as vascularize the pit membrane to rapidly cool the ion channel back to its original “resting” or “inactive” temperature.[28]

text: Common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) have specialized IR sensors in their nose-leaf.[29] Vampire bats are the only mammals that feed exclusively on blood. The IR sense enables Desmodus to localize homeothermic animals such as cattle and horses within a range of about 10 to 15 cm. This infrared perception may be used in detecting regions of maximal blood flow on targeted prey.

text: Autocommunication[edit]

text: Autocommunication is a type of communication in which the sender and receiver are the same individual. The sender emits a signal that is altered by the environment and eventually is received by the same individual. The altered signal provides information that can indicate food, predators or conspecifics. Because the sender and receiver are the same animal, selection pressure maximizes signal efficacy, i.e. the degree to which an emitted signal is correctly identified by a receiver despite propagation distortion and noise.  There are two types of autocommunication.  The first is active electrolocation found in the electric fish Gymnotiformes (knifefishes) and Mormyridae (elephantfish) and also in the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus).  The second type of autocommunication is echolocation, found in bats and toothed whales.

text: Functions[edit]

text: There are many functions of animal communication.  However, some have been studied in more detail than others.  This includes:

text: Communication during contests: Animal communication plays a vital role in determining the winner of contest over a resource.  Many species have distinct signals that signal aggression or willingness to attack or signals to convey retreat during competitions over food, territories, or mates.

text:
Mating rituals:  Animals produce signals to attract the attention of a possible mate or to solidify pair bonds.  These signals frequently involve the display of body parts or postures.  For example, a gazelle will assume characteristic poses to initiate mating.  Mating signals can also include the use of olfactory signals or mating calls unique to a species.  Animals that form lasting pair bonds often have symmetrical displays that they make to each other.  Famous examples are the mutual presentation of reeds by great crested grebes studied by Julian Huxley, the triumph displays shown by many species of geese and penguins on their nest sites, and the spectacular courtship displays by birds of paradise.
Ownership/territorial: Signals used to claim or defend a territory, food, or a mate.

text:
Food-related signals: Many animals make "food calls" to attract a mate, offspring, or other members of a social group to a food source.  Perhaps the most elaborate food-related signal is the Waggle dance of honeybees studied by Karl von Frisch.  One well-known example of begging of offspring in a clutch or litter is altricial songbirds. Young ravens signal will signal to older ravens when they encounter new or untested food.  Rhesus macaques will send food calls to inform other monkeys of a food source to avoid punishment.   Pheromones are released by many social insects to lead the other members of the society to the food source. For example, ants leave a pheromone trail on the ground that can be followed by other ants to lead them to the food source.
Alarm calls: Alarm calls communicate the threat of a predator.  This allows all members of a social group (and sometimes other species) to respond accordingly.  This may include running for cover, becoming immobile, or gathering into a group to reduce the risk of attack. Alarm signals are not always vocalizations. Crushed ants will release an alarm pheromone to attract more ants and send them into an attack state.
Meta-communication: Signals that will modify the meaning of subsequent signals. One example is the 'play face' in dogs which signals that a subsequent aggressive signal is part of a play fight rather than a serious aggressive episode.

text: Interpretation of animal behaviour[edit]

text: As described above, many animal gestures, postures, and sounds, convey meaning to nearby animals. These signals are often easier to describe than to interpret. It is tempting, especially with domesticated animals and apes, to anthropomorphize, that is, to interpret animal actions in human terms, but this can be quite misleading; for example, an ape's "smile" is often a sign of aggression. Also, the same gesture may have different meanings depending on context within which it occurs.  For example, a domestic dog's tail wag and posture may be used in different ways to convey many meanings as illustrated in Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872. Some of Darwin's illustrations are reproduced here.

text:
Examples of tail position indicating different emotions in dogs

"Small dog watching a cat on a table"

"Dog approaching another dog with hostile intentions"

"Dog in a humble and affectionate frame of mind"

"Half-bred shepherd dog"

"Dog caressing his master"

text: Interspecific communication[edit]

text: Much animal communication is intraspecific, that is, it occurs between members of the same species. As for interspecific communication, that between predator and prey is of particular interest.

text: Prey to predator[edit]

text: If a prey animal moves, makes a noise or vibrations, or emits a smell in such a way that a predator can detect it, this is consistent with the definition of "communication" given above. This type of communication is known as interceptive eavesdropping if a predator intercepts a message intended for conspecifics.

text: There are however, some actions of prey species are clearly directed to actual or potential predators. A good example is warning coloration: species such as wasps that are capable of harming potential predators are often brightly coloured, and this modifies the behaviour of the predator, who either instinctively or as the result of experience will avoid attacking such an animal. Some forms of mimicry fall in the same category: for example hoverflies are coloured in the same way as wasps, and although they are unable to sting, the strong avoidance of wasps by predators gives the hoverfly some protection. There are also behavioural changes that act in a similar way to warning colouration. For example, canines such as wolves and coyotes may adopt an aggressive posture, such as growling with their teeth bared, to indicate they will fight if necessary, and rattlesnakes use their well-known rattle to warn potential predators of their venomous bite. Sometimes, a behavioural change and warning colouration will be combined, as in certain species of amphibians which have most of their body coloured to blend with their surroundings, except for a brightly coloured belly. When confronted with a potential threat, they show their belly, indicating that they are poisonous in some way.

text: Another example of prey to predator communication is the pursuit-deterrent signal. Pursuit-deterrent signals occur when prey indicates to a predator that pursuit would be unprofitable because the signaler is prepared to escape. Pursuit-deterrent signals provide a benefit to both the signaler and receiver; they prevent the sender from wasting time and energy fleeing, and they prevent the receiver from investing in a costly pursuit that is unlikely to result in capture. Such signals can advertise prey’s ability to escape, and reflect phenotypic condition (quality advertisement), or can advertise that the prey has detected the predator (perception advertisement). Pursuit-deterrent signals have been reported for a wide variety of taxa, including fish (Godin and Davis, 1995), lizards (Cooper et al., 2004), ungulates (Caro, 1995), rabbits (Holley 1993), primates (Zuberbuhler et al. 1997), rodents (Shelley and Blumstein 2005, Clark, 2005), and birds (Alvarez, 1993, Murphy, 2006, 2007). A familiar example of quality advertisement pursuit-deterrent signal is stotting (sometimes called pronking), a pronounced combination of stiff-legged running while simultaneously jumping shown by some antelopes such as Thomson's gazelle in the presence of a predator. At least 11 hypotheses for stotting have been proposed. A leading theory today is that it alerts predators that the element of surprise has been lost. Predators like cheetahs rely on surprise attacks, proven by the fact that chases are rarely successful when antelope stot. Predators do not waste energy on a chase that will likely be unsuccessful (optimal foraging behaviour).  Quality advertisement can be communicated by modes other than visual.  The banner-tailed kangaroo rat produces several complex foot-drumming patterns in a number of different contexts, one of which is when it encounters a snake.  The foot-drumming may alert nearby offspring but most likely conveys vibrations through the ground that the rat is too alert for a successful attack, thus preventing the snake's predatory pursuit.[30]

text: Predator to prey[edit]

text: Typically, predators attempt to reduce communication to prey as this will generally reduce the effectiveness of their hunting. However, some forms of predator to prey communication occur in ways that change the behaviour of the prey and make their capture easier, i.e. deception by the predator. A well-known example is the angler fish, an ambush predator which waits for its prey to come to it. It has a fleshy bioluminescent growth protruding from its forehead which it dangles in front of its jaws. Smaller fish attempt to take the lure, placing themselves in a better position for the angler fish to catch them. Another example of deceptive communication is observed in the genus of jumping spiders (Myrmarachne). These spiders are commonly referred to as “antmimicking spiders” because of the way they wave their front legs in the air to simulate antennae.

text: Human/animal[edit]

text: Various ways in which humans interpret the behaviour of animals, or give commands to them, are consistent with the definition of interspecies communication. Skillful interpretation of animal communications may be critical to the welfare of animals that are being cared for or trained by humans. For example, behaviours indicating pain need to be recognized. Indeed, the survival of both the animal and its human caretaker may be at stake if, for example, a human fails to recognize a signal for imminent attack. It is also important to take into account that non-human animal species may interpret the signals of humans differently than humans themselves. For instance, a pointing command refers to a location rather than an object in dogs[31].

text: Since the late 1990s, one scientist, Sean Senechal, has been developing, studying, and using the learned visible, expressive language in dogs and horses. By teaching these animals a gestural (human made) American Sign Language-like language, the animals have been found to use the new signs on their own to get what they need.[32] The recent experiments on animal language are perhaps the most sophisticated attempt yet to establish human/animal communication, though their relation to natural animal communication is uncertain.

text: Other aspects[edit]

text: Evolution[edit]

text: The importance of communication is evident from the highly elaborate morphology, behaviour and physiology that some animals have evolved to facilitate this. These include some of the most striking structures in the animal kingdom, such as the peacock's tail, the antlers of a stag and the frill of the frill-necked lizard, but also include even the modest red spot on a European herring gull's bill.  Highly elaborate behaviours have evolved for communication such as the dancing of cranes, the pattern changes of cuttlefish, and the gathering and arranging of materials by bowerbirds.  Other evidence for the importance of communication in animals is the prioritisation of physiological features to this function, for example, birdsong appears to have brain structures entirely devoted to its production. All these adaptations require evolutionary explanation.

text: There are two aspects to the required explanation:

text:
identifying a route by which an animal that lacked the relevant feature or behaviour could acquire it;
identifying the selective pressure that makes it adaptive for animals to develop structures that facilitate communication, emit communications, and respond to them.

text: Significant contributions to the first of these problems were made by Konrad Lorenz and other early ethologists. By comparing related species within groups, they showed that movements and body parts that in the primitive forms had no communicative function could be "captured" in a context where communication would be functional for one or both partners, and could evolve into a more elaborate, specialised form. For example, Desmond Morris showed in a study of grass finches[citation needed] that a beak-wiping response occurred in a range of species, serving a preening function, but that in some species this had been elaborated into a courtship signal.

text: The second problem has been more controversial. The early ethologists assumed that communication occurred for the good of the species as a whole, but this would require a process of group selection which is believed to be mathematically impossible in the evolution of sexually reproducing animals. Altruism towards an unrelated group is not widely accepted in the scientific community, but rather can be seen as reciprocal altruism, expecting the same behaviour from others, a benefit of living in a group. Sociobiologists argued that behaviours that benefited a whole group of animals might emerge as a result of selection pressures acting solely on the individual. A gene-centered view of evolution proposes that behaviours that enabled a gene to become wider established within a population would become positively selected for, even if their effect on individuals or the species as a whole was detrimental;[33]

text: In the case of communication, an important discussion by John Krebs and Richard Dawkins established hypotheses for the evolution of such apparently altruistic or mutualistic communications as alarm calls and courtship signals to emerge under individual selection. This led to the realization that communication might not always be "honest" (indeed, there are some obvious examples where it is not, as in mimicry). The possibility of evolutionarily stable dishonest communication has been the subject of much controversy, with Amotz Zahavi in particular arguing that it cannot exist in the long term. Sociobiologists have also been concerned with the evolution of apparently excessive signaling structures such as the peacock's tail; it is widely thought that these can only emerge as a result of sexual selection, which can create a positive feedback process that leads to the rapid exaggeration of a characteristic that confers an advantage in a competitive mate-selection situation.

text: One theory to explain the evolution of traits like a peacock's tail is 'runaway selection'. This requires two traits—a trait that exists, like the bright tail, and a prexisting bias in the female to select for that trait. Females prefer the more elaborate tails, and thus those males are able to mate successfully. Exploiting the psychology of the female, a positive feedback loop is enacted and the tail becomes bigger and brighter. Eventually, the evolution will level off because the survival costs to the male do not allow for the trait to be elaborated any further. Two theories exist to explain runaway selection. The first is the good genes hypothesis. This theory states that an elaborate display is an honest signal of fitness and truly is a better mate. The second is the handicap hypothesis. This explains that the peacock's tail is a handicap, requiring energy to keep and makes it more visible to predators. Thus, the signal is costly to maintain, and remains an honest indicator of the signaler's condition. Another assumption is that the signal is more costly for low quality males to produce than for higher quality males to produce. This is simply because the higher quality males have more energy reserves available to allocate to costly signaling.[1]

text: Cognitive aspects[edit]

text: Ethologists and sociobiologists have characteristically analysed animal communication in terms of more or less automatic responses to stimuli, without raising the question of whether the animals concerned understand the meaning of the signals they emit and receive. That is a key question in animal cognition. There are some signalling systems that seem to demand a more advanced understanding. A much discussed example is the use of alarm calls by vervet monkeys. Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney showed that these animals emit different alarm calls in the presence of different predators (leopards, eagles, and snakes), and the monkeys that hear the calls respond appropriately—but that this ability develops over time, and also takes into account the experience of the individual emitting the call. Metacommunication, discussed above, also seems to require a more sophisticated cognitive process.

text: It has been reported [34] that bottlenose dolphins can recognize identity information from whistles even when otherwise stripped of the characteristics of the whistle; making dolphins the only animals other than humans that have been shown to transmit identity information independent of the caller’s voice or location. The paper concludes that:

text: The fact that signature whistle shape carries identity information independent from voice features presents the possibility to use these whistles as referential signals, either addressing individuals or referring to them, similar to the use of names in humans. Given the cognitive abilities of bottlenose dolphins, their vocal learning and copying skills, and their fission–fusion social structure, this possibility is an intriguing one that demands further investigation.

text: Human behaviour[edit]

text: Another controversial issue is the extent to which human behaviours resemble animal communication, or whether all such communication has disappeared as a result of our linguistic capacity. Some of our bodily features—eyebrows, beards and moustaches, deep adult male voices, perhaps female breasts—strongly resemble adaptations to producing signals. Ethologists such as Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt have argued that facial gestures such as smiling, grimacing, and the eyebrow flash on greeting are universal human communicative signals that can be related to corresponding signals in other primates. Given how recently spoken language has emerged, it is very likely that human body language does include some more or less involuntary responses that have a similar origin to the communication we have.

text: Humans also often seek to mimic animals' communicative signals in order to interact with them. For example, cats have a mild affiliative response of slowly closing their eyes; humans often mimic this signal towards a pet cat to establish a tolerant relationship. Stroking, petting and rubbing pet animals are all actions that probably work through their natural patterns of interspecific communication.

text: Dogs have shown an ability to understand human communication. In object choice tasks, dogs utilize human communicative gestures such as pointing and direction of gaze in order to locate hidden food and toys.[35] It has also been shown that dogs exhibit a left gaze bias when looking at human faces, indicating that they are capable of reading human emotions.[36] Dogs do not make use of direction of gaze or exhibit left gaze bias with other dogs.

text: A new approach in the 21st century in the field of animal communication uses applied behavioural analysis, specifically functional communication training. This form of training previously has been used in schools and clinics with humans with special needs, such as children with autism, to help them develop language. Sean Senechal at the AnimalSign Center has been using an approach similar to functional communication training with domesticated animals, such as dogs since 2004 and horses since 2000, with encouraging results and benefits to the animals and people. Functional communication training for animals, Senechal calls "AnimalSign Language". This includes teaching communication through gestures (like simplified American sign language), Picture Exchange Communication System, tapping, and vocalisation. The process for animals includes simplified and modified techniques.[citation needed]

text: Linguistics[edit]

text:
External video
 Do animals have language? - Michele Bishop, TED Ed, 4:54, September 10, 2015[37]

text: For linguistics, the interest of animal communication systems lies in their similarities to and differences from human language:

text:
Human languages are characterized for having a double articulation (in the characterization of French linguist André Martinet). It means that complex linguistic expressions can be broken down in meaningful elements (such as morphemes and words), which in turn are composed of smallest phonetic elements that affect meaning, called phonemes. Animal signals, however, do not exhibit this dual structure.
In general, animal utterances are responses to external stimuli, and do not refer to matters removed in time and space. Matters of relevance at a distance, such as distant food sources, tend to be indicated to other individuals by body language instead, for example wolf activity before a hunt, or the information conveyed in honeybee dance language.It is therefore unclear to what extent utterances are automatic responses and to what extent deliberate intent plays a part.
In contrast to human language, animal communication systems are usually not able to express conceptual generalizations. (Cetaceans and some primates may be notable exceptions).
Human languages combine elements to produce new messages (a property known as creativity). One factor in this is that much human language growth is based upon conceptual ideas and hypothetical structures, both being far greater capabilities in humans than animals. This appears far less common in animal communication systems, although current research into animal culture is still an ongoing process with many new discoveries.

text: A recent and interesting area of development is the discovery that the use of syntax in language, and the ability to produce "sentences", is not limited to humans either. The first good evidence of syntax in non-humans, reported[38] in 2006, is from the greater spot-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) of Nigeria. This is the first evidence that some animals can take discrete units of communication, and build them up into a sequence which then carries a different meaning from the individual "words":

text: Similar results have also recently been reported in the Campbell's mona monkey.[39]

text: Errors in communication[edit]

text: There becomes possibility for error within communication between animals when certain circumstances apply. [40]These circumstances could include distance between the two communicating subjects, as well as the complexity of the signal that is being communicated to the "listener" of the situation. It may not always be clear to the "listener" where the location of the communication is coming from, as the "singer" can sometimes deceive them and create more error.[citation needed]


document_title: Quantum

question_text: who discovered that energy travels in discrete units that he called quanta

text: Quantum

text: Etymology and discovery[edit]

text: The word quantum comes from the Latin quantus, meaning "how great". "Quanta", short for "quanta of electricity" (electrons), was used in a 1902 article on the photoelectric effect by Philipp Lenard, who credited Hermann von Helmholtz for using the word in the area of electricity. However, the word quantum in general was well known before 1900.[2] It was often used by physicians, such as in the term quantum satis. Both Helmholtz and Julius von Mayer were physicians as well as physicists. Helmholtz used quantum with reference to heat in his article[3] on Mayer's work, and the word quantum can be found in the formulation of the first law of thermodynamics by Mayer in his letter[4] dated July 24, 1841. Max Planck used quanta to mean "quanta of matter and electricity",[5] gas, and heat.[6] In 1905, in response to Planck's work and the experimental work of Lenard (who explained his results by using the term quanta of electricity), Albert Einstein suggested that radiation existed in spatially localized packets which he called "quanta of light" ("Lichtquanta").[7]

text: The concept of quantization of radiation was discovered in 1900 by Max Planck, who had been trying to understand the emission of radiation from heated objects, known as black-body radiation. By assuming that energy can only be absorbed or released in tiny, differential, discrete packets he called "bundles" or "energy elements",[8] Planck accounted for certain objects changing colour when heated.[9] On December 14, 1900, Planck reported his findings to the German Physical Society, and introduced the idea of quantization for the first time as a part of his research on black-body radiation.[10] As a result of his experiments, Planck deduced the numerical value of h, known as the Planck constant, and could also report a more precise value for the Avogadro–Loschmidt number, the number of real molecules in a mole and the unit of electrical charge, to the German Physical Society. After his theory was validated, Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery in 1918.

text: Beyond electromagnetic radiation[edit]

text: While quantization was first discovered in electromagnetic radiation, it describes a fundamental aspect of energy not just restricted to photons.[11] In the attempt to bring theory into agreement with experiment, Max Planck postulated that electromagnetic energy is absorbed or emitted in discrete packets, or quanta.[12]

text: Misuse[edit]

text: The adjective "quantum" is frequently used in common parlance to mean the opposite of its scientific definition. A "quantum leap" has been used colloquially since the 1950s to imply a large change, as opposed to the smallest possible change.[13][14] It is also used in a range of pseudoscientific beliefs (quantum mysticism), where the adjective is used to imply that a paranormal event is a consequence of quantum physics.[15][16]


document_title: Climb Ev'ry Mountain

question_text: who sang climb every mountain in the movie sound of music

text: Climb Ev'ry Mountain

text:
"Climb Ev'ry Mountain"SongReleased
1959Genre
ShowtuneComposer(s)
Richard RodgersLyricist(s)
Oscar Hammerstein II

tag: table

text: "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. It is sung at the close of the first act by the Mother Abbess. It is themed as an inspirational piece, to encourage people to take every step toward attaining their dreams.

text: Background[edit]

text: This song shares inspirational overtones with the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel. They are both sung by the female mentor characters in the shows, and are used to give strength to the protagonists in the story, and both are given powerful reprises at the end of their respective shows. As Oscar Hammerstein II was writing the lyrics, it developed its own inspirational overtones along the lines of an earlier Hammerstein song, "There's a Hill Beyond a Hill". He felt that the metaphors of climbing mountains and fording streams better fitted Maria's quest for her spiritual compass.[1] The muse behind the song was Sister Gregory, the head of Drama at Rosary College in Illinois. The letters that she sent to Hammerstein and to Mary Martin, the first Maria von Trapp on Broadway, described the parallels between a nun's choice for a religious life and the choices that humans must make to find their purpose and direction in life. When she read the manuscript of the lyrics, she confessed that it "drove [her] to the Chapel" because the lyrics conveyed a "yearning that … ordinary souls feel but cannot communicate."[2]

text: Although this song has parallels with "You'll Never Walk Alone," the song shares musical similarities with the song "Something Wonderful" from The King and I. Both songs are played at a similar broad tempo, and both songs have accompaniments punctuated by heavy chords in the orchestral score.

text: The song has often been sung by operatically trained voices in professional stage productions. In the original Broadway production it was sung by Patricia Neway, in the original London production it was sung by Constance Shacklock, and in the original Australian production it was sung by Rosina Raisbeck.

text: In the original stage play, the Mother Abbess sings the song at the end of the first act. When Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, he shifted the scene so that this song would be the first major song of the second act. When Robert Wise and his film crew were filming this scene, Peggy Wood had some reservations about the words, which she felt were too "pretentious."[3] So they filmed Peggy Wood in silhouette, against the wall of the set for the Mother Abbess' office. Peggy Wood's singing voice is dubbed by Margery MacKay, the wife of the rehearsal pianist Harper MacKay, as Wood was not able to sing the high notes of the song. Rodgers wrote the piece in the key of A, with a modulation towards the end of the piece, making the last note that the Mother Abbess sings in the film an A flat (Ab5)[4].   With the popularity of the stage play it would seem Peggy Wood was not alone.   MacKay set the bar high with "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."  Given the range of the piece and the average age of the actor playing Mother Abbess, the oldest character in the story, the song has proven daunting for many actresses over the years. [5]

text: Other versions[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
"Climb Ev'ry Mountain"
Single by Shirley Basseyfrom the album Shirley BasseyB-side
"Reach for the Stars"Released
July 1960Format
7-inch singleRecorded
1959Length
3:10Label
ColumbiaSongwriter(s)
Rodgers and HammersteinShirley Bassey singles chronology

"You'll Never Know" (1961)

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (1960)

"I'll Get By" (1961)

"You'll Never Know" (1961)

"Climb Ev'ry Mountain" (1960)

"I'll Get By" (1961)

text:
1959: Tony Bennett had a minor hit single (#74) of the song
1960: Andy Williams on his album The Village of St. Bernadette
1990: The Fleetwoods on their album, The Best of The Fleetwoods
1961: Welsh singer Shirley Bassey, as part of a double A-sided single with "Reach for the Stars", which reached #1 in the UK and remained on the charts for 18 weeks[6]
1971: Judith Durham recorded and released a version as the first single from her album, Climb Ev'ry Mountain
1989: Sissel Kyrkjebø sang a Norwegian version, "Se Over Fjellet" on the album Soria Moria[7]
1992: Alex Burrall's version in the movie The Jacksons: An American Dream, portraying Michael Jackson (6–8 years of age) at a school pageant show
2000: Christina Aguilera on her concert DVD My Reflection
2003: Guy Sebastian's interpretation on Australian Idol season 1 when he performed it on the 1960s theme night (recorded it for the B-side of his #1 single "All I Need Is You")
2013: Australian operatic mezzo-soprano Jacqui Dark for ABC Classics as part of a compilation album, I Dreamed a Dream: The Hit Songs of Broadway[8]
2015: Jordan Smith on the season nine finale of The Voice
2016: Barbra Streisand recorded the song as a duet with Jamie Foxx for her 2016 album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway.


document_title: Flag of Canada

question_text: what do the colours of the canadian flag mean

text: Flag of Canada

text: Origins and design[edit]

text: The flag is horizontally symmetric and therefore the obverse and reverse sides appear identical. The width of the Maple Leaf flag is twice the height. The white field is a Canadian pale (a square central band in a vertical triband flag, named after this flag); each bordering red field is exactly half its size[5] and it bears a stylized red maple leaf at its centre. In heraldic terminology, the flag's blazon as outlined on the original royal proclamation is "gules on a Canadian pale argent a maple leaf of the first".[6][8]

text: The maple leaf has been used as a Canadian emblem since the 18th century.[9] It was first used as a national symbol in 1868 when it appeared on the coat of arms of both Ontario and Quebec.[10] In 1867, Alexander Muir composed the patriotic song "The Maple Leaf Forever", which became an unofficial anthem in English-speaking Canada.[11] The maple leaf was later added to the Canadian coat of arms in 1921.[10] From 1876 until 1901, the leaf appeared on all Canadian coins and remained on the penny after 1901.[12] The use of the maple leaf by the Royal Canadian Regiment as a regimental symbol extended back to 1860.[13] During the First World War and Second World War, badges of the Canadian Forces were often based on a maple leaf design.[14] The maple leaf would eventually adorn the tombstones of Canadian military graves.[15]

text: By proclaiming the Royal Arms of Canada, King George V in 1921 made red and white the official colours of Canada; the former came from Saint George's Cross and the latter from the French royal emblem since King Charles VII.[16] These colours became "entrenched" as the national colours of Canada upon the proclamation of the Royal Standard of Canada (the Canadian monarch's personal flag) in 1962.[17] The Department of Canadian Heritage has listed the various colour shades for printing ink that should be used when reproducing the Canadian flag; these include:[5]

text:
FIP red: General Printing Ink, No. 0-712;
Inmont Canada Ltd., No. 4T51577;
Monarch Inks, No. 62539/0
Rieger Inks, No. 25564
Sinclair and Valentine, No. RL163929/0.

text: The number of points on the leaf has no special significance;[18] the number and arrangement of the points were chosen after wind tunnel tests showed the current design to be the least blurry of the various designs when tested under high wind conditions.[19] Some textbooks for Canadian schoolchildren assert erroneously that "Each point stands for a province and the three territories" [1]. When the flag was designed in 1964, however, Canada had 10 provinces and 2 territories (Yukon and the Northwest Territories); Nunavut was not made separate from the Northwest Territories until 1999.

text: The image of the maple leaf used on the flag was designed by Jacques Saint-Cyr;[20] however, Jack Cook claims that this stylized eleven-point maple leaf was lifted from a copyrighted design owned by a Canadian craft shop in Ottawa.[21] The colours 0/100/100/0 in the CMYK process, PMS 032 (flag red 100%), or PMS 485 (used for screens) in the Pantone colour specifier can be used when reproducing the flag.[5] For the Federal Identity Program, the red tone of the standard flag has an RGB value of 255–0–0 (web hexadecimal #FF0000).[22] In 1984, the National Flag of Canada Manufacturing Standards Act was passed to unify the manufacturing standards for flags used in both indoor and outdoor conditions.[23]

text: History[edit]

text: Early flags[edit]

text: The first flag known to have flown in Canada was the St George's Cross carried by John Cabot when he reached Newfoundland in 1497. In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in Gaspé bearing the French royal coat of arms with the fleurs-de-lis. His ship flew a red flag with a white cross, the French naval flag at the time. New France continued to fly the evolving French military flags of that period.[4][24] As the de jure national flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Flag (commonly known as the Union Jack and, by law, called the Royal Union Flag in Canada since 1964) was used similarly in Canada since the 1621 British settlement in Nova Scotia. Its use continued after Canada's independence from the United Kingdom in 1931 until the adoption of the current flag in 1965.[4]

text: Shortly after Canadian Confederation in 1867, the need for distinctive Canadian flags emerged. The first Canadian flag was that then used as the flag of the Governor General of Canada, a Union Flag with a shield in the centre bearing the quartered arms of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves.[25] In 1870 the Red Ensign, with the addition of the Canadian composite shield in the fly, began to be used unofficially on land and sea[26] and was known as the Canadian Red Ensign. As new provinces joined the Confederation, their arms were added to the shield. In 1892, the British admiralty approved the use of the Red Ensign for Canadian use at sea.[26] The composite shield was replaced with the coat of arms of Canada upon its grant in 1921 and, in 1924, an Order in Council approved its use for Canadian government buildings abroad.[4] In 1925, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King established a committee to design a flag to be used at home, but it was dissolved before the final report could be delivered. Despite the failure of the committee to solve the issue, public sentiment in the 1920s was in favour of fixing the flag problem for Canada.[27] New designs were proposed in 1927,[28] 1931,[29] and 1939.[30]

text: During the Second World War, the Red Ensign was the recognized Canadian national flag. A joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons was appointed on November 8, 1945, to recommend a national flag to officially adopt. It received 2,409 designs from the public and was addressed by the director of the Historical Section of the Canadian Army, Fortescue Duguid, who pointed out red and white were Canada's official colours and there was already an emblem representing the country: three joined maple leaves seen on the escutcheon of the Canadian coat of arms.[26] By May 9 the following year, the committee reported back with a recommendation "that the national flag of Canada should be the Canadian red ensign with a maple leaf in autumn golden colours in a bordered background of white". The Legislative Assembly of Quebec, however, had urged the committee to not include any of what it deemed as "foreign symbols", including the Union Flag, and Mackenzie King, then still prime minister, declined to act on the report, leaving the order to fly the Canadian Red Ensign in place.[16][25][31]

text: Great Flag Debate[edit]

text: By the 1960s, debate for an official Canadian flag intensified and became a subject of controversy, culminating in the Great Flag Debate of 1964.[32] In 1963, the minority Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson gained power and decided to adopt an official Canadian flag through parliamentary debate. The principal political proponent of the change was Pearson. He had been a significant broker during the Suez Crisis of 1956, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[33] During the crisis, Pearson was disturbed when the Egyptian government objected to Canadian peacekeeping forces on the grounds that the Canadian flag (the Red Ensign) contained the same symbol (the Union Flag) also used as a flag by the United Kingdom, one of the belligerents.[33] Pearson's goal was for the Canadian flag to be distinctive and unmistakably Canadian. The main opponent to changing the flag was the leader of the opposition and former prime minister, John Diefenbaker, who eventually made the subject a personal crusade.[34]

text: In 1961, Leader of the Opposition Lester Pearson asked John Ross Matheson to begin researching what it would take for Canada to have a new flag. Pearson knew the Red Ensign with the Union Jack was unpopular in Quebec, a base of support for his Liberal Party, but strongly favoured by English Canada. By April 1963, Pearson was prime minister in a minority government and risked losing power over the issue. He formed a 15-member multi-party parliamentary committee in 1963 to select a new design, despite opposition leader Diefenbaker's demands for a referendum on the issue.[35] On May 27, 1964, Pearson's cabinet introduced a motion to parliament for adoption of his favourite design, presented to him by artist and heraldic advisor Alan Beddoe,[26] of a "sea to sea" (Canada's motto) flag with blue borders and three conjoined red maple leaves on a white field. This motion led to weeks of acrimonious debate in the House of Commons and the design came to be known as the "Pearson Pennant",[36] derided by the media and viewed as a "concession to Québec".[26]

text: Flag today[edit]

text: A new all-party committee was formed in September 1964, comprising seven Liberals, five Conservatives, one New Democrat, one Social Crediter, and one Créditiste, with Herman Batten as chairman, while John Matheson acted as Pearson's right-hand man.[26] Among those who gave their opinions to the group were Duguid, expressing the same views as he had in 1945, insisting on a design using three maple leaves; Arthur R. M. Lower, stressing the need for a distinctly Canadian emblem; Marcel Trudel, arguing for symbols of Canada's founding nations, which did not include the maple leaf (a thought shared by Diefenbaker); and A. Y. Jackson, providing his own suggested designs.[26] Also considered by a steering committee were approximately 2,000 suggestions from the public, in addition to 3,900 others, "including those that had accumulated in the Department of the Secretary of State and those from a parliamentary flag committee of 1945–1946".[26] Through a six-week period of study with political manoeuvring, the committee took a vote on the two finalists: the Pearson Pennant (Beddoe's design) and the current design. Believing the Liberal members would vote for the Prime Minister's preference, the Conservatives voted for the single leaf design. The Liberals, though, all voted for the same, giving a unanimous, 14 to 0 vote[26] for the option created by George Stanley and inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario.[37]

text: There, near the parade square, in March 1964, while viewing the college flag atop the Mackenzie Building, Stanley, then RMC's Dean of Arts, first suggested to Matheson, then Member of Parliament for Leeds, that the RMC flag should form the basis of the national flag. The suggestion was followed by Stanley's memorandum of March 23, 1964, on the history of Canada's emblems,[38] in which he warned that any new flag "must avoid the use of national or racial symbols that are of a divisive nature" and that it would be "clearly inadvisable" to create a flag that carried the Union Jack or a fleur-de-lis. According to Matheson, Pearson's one "paramount and desperate objective" in introducing the new flag was to keep Quebec in the Canadian union.[39] It was Dr. Stanley's idea that the new flag should be red and white and that it should feature the single maple leaf; his memorandum included the first sketch of what would become the flag of Canada. Stanley and Matheson collaborated on a design that was ultimately, after six months of debate and 308 speeches,[26] passed by a majority vote in the House of Commons on December 15, 1964. Just after this, at 2:00 am, Matheson wrote to Stanley: "Your proposed flag has just now been approved by the Commons 163 to 78. Congratulations. I believe it is an excellent flag that will serve Canada well."[40] The Senate added its approval two days later.[16]

text: Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, proclaimed the new flag on January 28, 1965,[16] and it was inaugurated on February 15 of the same year at an official ceremony held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, in the presence of Governor General Major-General Georges Vanier, the Prime Minister, other members of the Cabinet, and Canadian parliamentarians. The Red Ensign was lowered at the stroke of noon and the new maple leaf flag was raised. The crowd sang "O Canada" followed by "God Save the Queen".[41] Of the flag, Vanier said "[it] will symbolize to each of us—and to the world—the unity of purpose and high resolve to which destiny beckons us."[42] Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate, said: "The flag is the symbol of the nation's unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief, or opinion."[41] Yet there was still opposition to the change, and Stanley's life was even threatened for having "assassinated the flag". In spite of this, Stanley attended the flag raising ceremony.[43]

text: At the time of the 50th anniversary of the flag, the government—held by the Conservative Party—was criticized for the lack of official ceremony dedicated to the date; accusations of partisanship were levelled.[42] Minister of Canadian Heritage Shelly Glover denied the charges and others, including Liberal Members of Parliament, pointed to community events taking place around the country.[42] Governor General David Johnston did, though, preside at an official ceremony at Confederation Park in Ottawa, integrated with Winterlude. He said "[t]he National Flag of Canada is so embedded in our national life and so emblematic of our national purpose that we simply cannot imagine our country without it."[44] Queen Elizabeth II stated: "On this, the 50th anniversary of the National Flag of Canada, I am pleased to join with all Canadians in the celebration of this unique and cherished symbol of our country and identity."[45] A commemorative stamp and coin were issued by Canada Post and the Royal Canadian Mint, respectively.[44]

text: Flags used in Canada from 1497 to the present[edit]

text:
Flag on John Cabot's ship, and used during the English colonization of the Americas before the Act of Union (1497-1707)

Flag used during the Scottish colonization of the Americas before the Act of Union (1621-1707)

Flag of France at time of Jacques Cartier (1534–1604)

Merchant Flag used by Champlain and French merchants (1604–1663)

New France Flag (1663–1763)

The Great Britain Union Flag (1763–1801)

The United Kingdom Union Flag (1801–1964) and the Canadian Royal Union Flag (1964–present)

Flag used (1868–1921)

1907 Canadian Red Ensign commonly used in western Canada. Note the inclusion of all the provincial emblems.

Flag used (1921–1957)

1957 version of the Canadian Red Ensign that had evolved as the de facto national flag until 1965

First flag proposal to Parliament; the Pearson Pennant

Flag of the Royal Military College of Canada; used as inspiration by George F.G. Stanley

Earlier (1964) version of the proposal that was adopted

Current flag, (1965–present)

Current flag, using Pantone specifications.

text: Proclamation[edit]

text: After the resolutions proposing a new national flag for Canada were passed by the two houses of parliament, a proclamation was drawn up for signature by the Canadian queen. This was created in the form of an illuminated document on vellum, with calligraphy by Yvonne Diceman and heraldic illustrations. The text was rendered in black ink, using a quill, while the heraldic elements were painted in gouache with gilt highlights. The Great Seal of Canada was embossed and secured by a silk ribbon.[46]

text: This parchment was signed discreetly by the calligrapher, but was made official by the signatures of Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Lester Pearson, and Attorney General Guy Favreau. In order to obtain these signatures, the document was flown to the United Kingdom (for the Queen's royal sign-manual) and to the Caribbean (for the signature of Favreau, who was on vacation). This transport to different climates, combined with the quality of the materials with which the proclamation was created, and the subsequent storage and repair methods (including the use of Scotch Tape) contributed to the deterioration of the document: The gouache was flaking off, leaving gaps in the heraldic designs, most conspicuously on the red maple leaf of the flag design in the centre of the sheet, and the adhesive from the tape had left stains. A desire to have the proclamation as part of a display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization marking the flag's 25th anniversary led to its restoration in 1989. The proclamation is today stored in a temperature and humidity controlled, plexiglass case, so as to prevent the vellum from changing dimensionally.[46]

text: Alternative flags[edit]

text: As a symbol of the nation's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, the Royal Union Flag is an official Canadian flag and is flown on certain occasions.[47] Regulations require federal installations to fly the Royal Union Flag beside the national flag when physically possible, using a second flagpole, on the following days: Commonwealth Day (the second Monday in March), Victoria Day (the same date as the Canadian sovereign's official birthday), and the anniversary of the Statute of Westminster (December 11). The Royal Union Flag can also be flown at the National War Memorial or at other locations during ceremonies that honour Canadian involvement with forces of other Commonwealth nations during times of war. The national flag always precedes the Royal Union Flag, with the former occupying the place of honour.[47] The Royal Union Flag is also part of the provincial flags of Ontario and Manitoba, forming the canton of these flags; a stylized version is used on the flag of British Columbia and the flag of Newfoundland and Labrador.[47] Several of the provincial lieutenant governors formerly used a modified union flag as their personal standard, but the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia is the only one who retains this design.[47] The Royal Union Flag and Red Ensign are still flown in Canada by veterans' groups and others who continue to stress the importance of Canada's British heritage and the Commonwealth connection.[47]

text: The Red Ensign is occasionally still used as well, including official use at some ceremonies. It was flown at the commemorations of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 2007.[48][49] This decision elicited criticism from those who believe it should not be given equal status to the Canadian flag and received praise from people who believe that it is important to retain the ties to Canada's past.[48][49]

text: In Quebec, the provincial flag (a white cross on a field of blue with four fleurs-de-lis) can be considered a national flag along with the Maple Leaf flag, as is the Acadian flag in the Acadian regions of the Maritime provinces,[20][50] and the flags of the Iroquois Nation, the Metis Nation and other groups.

text: Protocol[edit]

text: No law dictates the proper use of the Canadian flag. However, Canadian Heritage has released guidelines on how to correctly display the flag alone and with other flags. The guidelines deal with the order of precedence in which the Canadian flag is placed, where the flag can be used, how it is used, and what people should do to honour the flag. The suggestions, titled Flag Etiquette in Canada, were published by Canadian Heritage in book and online formats and last updated in August 2011.[51] The flag itself can be displayed on any day at buildings operated by the Government of Canada, airports, military bases, and diplomatic offices, as well as by citizens, during any time of the day. When flying the flag, it must be flown using its own pole and must not be inferior to other flags, save for, in descending order, the Queen's standard, the governor general's standard, any of the personal standards of members of the Canadian Royal Family, or flags of the lieutenant governors.[52] The Canadian flag is flown at half-mast in Canada to indicate a period of mourning. Canadian Forces does have a special protocol for folding the Canadian flag for presentations, such as during a funeral ceremony; however, CF does not recommend this method for everyday use.[53]

text: Promoting the flag[edit]

text: Since the adoption of the Canadian flag in 1965, the Canadian government has sponsored programs to promote it. Examples include the Canadian Parliamentary Flag Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage and the flag program run by the Department of Public Works. These programs increased the exposure of the flag and the concept that it was part of the national identity. To increase awareness of the new flag, the Parliamentary Flag Program was set up in December, 1972, by the Cabinet and, beginning in 1973,[54] allowed members of the House of Commons to distribute flags and lapel pins in the shape of the Canadian flag to their constituents. Flags that have been flown on the Peace Tower and the East and West Blocks of Parliament Hill are packaged by the Department of Public Works and offered to the public free of charge. However, the program has a 34-year waiting list for East and West Block flags, and a 48-year waiting list for Peace Tower flags.[55]

text: Since 1996, February 15 has been commemorated as National Flag of Canada Day.[41] In 1996, Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps instituted the One in a Million National Flag Challenge.[56] This program was intended to provide Canadians with a million new national flags in time for Flag Day, 1997. The program was controversial because it cost some $45 million, and provided no means to hoist or fly the flags. The official numbers from Canadian Heritage put the expenses at $15.5 million, with approximately a seventh of the cost offset by donations.[57]


document_title: President of Trinidad and Tobago

question_text: who appoints the prime minister in trinidad and tobago

text: President of Trinidad and Tobago

text: This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
President of the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Presidential standard

Incumbent
Paula-Mae Weekes
since 19 March 2018

Residence
President's House

Appointer
Electoral college consisting of all of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives

Term length
Five years, renewable indefinitely

Constituting instrument
Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago

Precursor
Queen of Trinidad and Tobago

Inaugural holder
Sir Ellis Clarke

Formation
24 September 1976

Salary
$54,600 (1976)[1]

Website
www.otp.tt

text:
Trinidad and Tobago

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Trinidad and Tobago

Government[show]

President (list)

Paula-Mae Weekes

Prime Minister

Keith Rowley

Parliament[show]

Senate
House of Representatives

Leader of the Opposition

Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Judiciary[show]

Supreme Court

Chief Justice: Ivor Archie
Court of Appeal
High Court

Magistracy
Family Court
Privy Council committee (UK)

Elections[show]

Recent elections

General: 2002
2007
2010
2015

Political parties

Local government[show]

Administrative divisions

Former counties

Tobago House of Assembly

Foreign relations[show]

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Diplomatic missions

of Trinidad and Tobago
to Trinidad and Tobago

Passport
Visa requirements

Other countries
Atlas

v
t
e

text: The President of Trinidad and Tobago is the head of state of Trinidad and Tobago and the commander-in-chief of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. The office was established when the country became a republic in 1976, before which the head of state was Queen Elizabeth II. The last Governor-General, Sir Ellis Clarke, was sworn in as the first President on 1 August 1976 under a transitional arrangement. He was formally chosen as President by an electoral college consisting of members of both houses of Parliament on 24 September 1976, which is now celebrated as Republic Day.

text: Under the 1976 constitution, the President is the nominal source of executive power. Like the British Sovereign (and heads of state in other Westminster systems), he or she "reigns but does not rule". In practice, executive authority is exercised by the Prime Minister and his or her cabinet, on behalf of the President. The President appoints as Prime Minister the leader of the largest party in the House of Representatives, and also appoints members of the Senate on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The President must be at least 35 years old (although no President has been younger than 59), a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, and at the time of nomination must have been resident in the country for an unbroken period of ten years.

text: The current President of Trinidad and Tobago is Paula-Mae Weekes. The official residence of the President is President's House, previously known as Government House when it was used by the Governors-General and Governors of the islands.