How do perissodactyls communicate using sounds and scents?

Perissodactyls utilize a variety of vocalizations and chemical signals to communicate, though the methods differ significantly between families.

Vocal Communication

Equids, such as the horse, rely heavily on a range of sounds to maintain social contact and express emotion. For example, the plains zebra uses a "whinny" to keep group members in contact, as well as specific alarm calls, snorts of satisfaction, and squeals of pain or fear. In contrast, rhinoceroses and tapirs primarily use snorting, squealing, bellowing, and whistling sounds for communication.1

Scent Communication

Chemical signaling is vital for marking territories and maintaining social contact:

• Equids: Stallions often engage in the flehmen response—lifting the head and curling the upper lip—after smelling a mare’s urine or feces. They may then deposit their own waste on the same spot, a behavior also seen in communal dung heaps.2
• Rhinoceroses and Tapirs: Excretory products are essential for marking home ranges. Dominant male white rhinoceroses defecate on specific heaps and scatter the material by kicking, which is believed to leave a distinct scent mark. They also use ritualized urine spraying to mark their territory. Similar dung-heap behaviors are observed in other rhinoceros species and tapirs to establish presence and maintain contact.2