Animal Lore

This proficiency enables a character to observe the actions or habitat of an animal and interpret what is going on. Actions can show how dangerous the creature is, whether it is hungry protecting its young, or defending a nearby den. Furthermore, careful observation of signs and behaviors can even indicate the location of a water hole, animal herd, predator, or impending danger, such as a forest fire. The DM will secretly roll a proficiency check. A successful check means the character understood the basic actions of the creature. If the check fails by 4 or less, no information is gained. If the check fails by 5 or more, the character misinterprets the actions of the animal.

A character may also imitate the calls and cries of animals that he is reasonably familiar with, based on his background. This ability is limited by volume. The roar of a tyrannosaurus rex would be beyond the abilities of a normal character. A proficiency check means that only magical means can distinguish the character's call from that of the true animal. The cry is sufficient to fool animals, perhaps frightening them away or luring them closer. A failed means the sound is incorrect in slight way. A failed call may still fool some listeners, but creatures very familiar with the cry automatically detect a false call. All other creatures and characters are allowed a Wisdom check to detect the fake.

Finally, animal lore increases the chance of successfully setting snares and traps (for hunting) since the character knows the general habits of the creature hunted.

Dwarves

The effectiveness of this proficiency varies according to the background of the dwarf. A dwarf who has lived his entire life underground knows little about animals living above ground, but he will be very knowledgeable about those underground. In this case, a dwarf gains a +1 modifier to his Intelligence when dealing with underground animals, but has no knowledge of surface creatures. A sundered dwarf who fears the underground may only have knowledge of above ground animals.

Dwarves with backgrounds of trade with other races or who live both below and above ground, may have normal animal lore proficiency with no modifiers, knowing both above and below-ground animals.

A character may imitate the calls and cries of animals as described above.

Paladins

Although this proficiency allows a character to imitate animal sounds, this ability neither helps nor hinders the paladin when summoning his bonded mount.

[Player's Handbook]
[Complete Book of Dwarves]
[Complete Paladin's Handbook]