Our cats, those cute little creatures that once they get home they can't stop meowing, despite us feeding them, petting them, and giving them water. It makes us think of how awesome it would be to speak the language of animals.

Scientists have wondered that too, and that’s why today, researchers are working hard to try to understand the animal language. Studies are shedding some light on this topic, and now they know some expressions and signals that animals use to communicate between themselves and with humans. Sadly, and unlike what many people may think, animals cannot speak the human language. Yes, animals understand signals and patterns that they have learned during their lives and reproduce them in order to survive, but there is a big difference between these communication skills and verbal skills.

“But wait… what about parrots, and ravens? They can speak!”

Parrots and ravens are famous for being able to “copy” the words and phrases that we pronounce, but the truth is that they are trying to mimic our language for survival. Since they are very smart birds, they understand that humans are a social group that communicate and share information. Therefore, they interact with humans and perceive the positive answer, and thus they continue repeating those patterns in order to get all of their needs met. Birds don’t use their tongues to mimic the human language; instead, they use the syringeal muscles as a mechanism to produce human sounds.

Michael Schindler, biologist and teacher at Lesley University in an article for the Scientific American Magazine:

“Some benefits of learning may include development of context-specific calls. Imitative vocal learning is also a reliable social display of neural functions—requiring good hearing, memory and muscle control for sound production—that may be under consideration by a potential mate or ally.”

Animals that can communicate with us

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Koko the gorilla learned around 2000 words of spoken English using the American Sign Language and could communicate her feelings and needs to their keepers.

This is one of the most impressive cases of animal communication. In 2015, a video of Koko sending a message about the climate change was released, and it was in the eyes of the world, but after an investigation, researchers discovered that the video was edited and Koko was rewarded to do the signals they were asking for. It was impossible for Koko to understand the climate change, but she was clearly capable of using the sign language to ask for her needs and to express was she was feeling.

Orcas are also able to mimic the human speech, despite they don’t know what the words mean, they will imitate it as long as they get rewarded. The website theconversation.com, shows us how orcas can say “hello” and count numbers repeating after humans, Orcas saying hello and counting numbers.

Also, Alex, an African grey parrot, was able to say up to 150 words in English, but not only that, he could as well describe sizes and count objects. We don’t know if it’s casualty or not, but surprisingly the bird uttered the following words to his owner the night of his death:
"You be good. See you tomorrow. I love you."

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Constantine Slobodchikoff Project

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Constantine Slobodchikoff is the President of the Animal Communication Corporation and is also an expert in animal animal language. He has been studying canine body language and is developing a "dog translator" that can help us understand our canine friends. Mr. Constantine has been studying animal body language since 1993 and his working progress has been faster than lightning. Very soon, we will be able to use his app titled "Zoolingua" for dogs. Through this app, we will be able to know whenever a dog is asking for food, wanting to be petted, wanting their favorite toy, or just want to annoy the hell out of us!

You can learn more about this project by visiting Constantine’s official webpage.

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Conclusions

Despite the fact that animals can communicate through signs and sounds, including those they learn from humans, there is still no proof that animals can really talk and have a conversation. Of course, when we have pets, when we take care of them, the more time we spend with them, the more we understand what they are trying to tell us, and the more they understand us in return. It doesn't matter if we talk through sounds, signs, or feelings; as long as we love animals, we will know what they mean. They say "love" is the universal language. But really, it's up to you to decide if this is true or not.

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Finally, a beautiful husky saying I love you 🐶🐶

Sources and more information:

• Pets translator.
• Orcas mimicking humans.
• Koko the gorilla.
• Animal communication.
• BBC article: will we ever talk to animals?
• A comparative study of human and parrot phonation.
• Syringeal muscles and phonology of birds.
• Why parrots talk?
• Constantine Slobodchikoff.
• Neural systems for vocal learning in birds and humans.
• Scientific American blog about Michael Schindlinger.

Images sources: 1, 2, 3, 4.

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THANKS FOR READING MY ARTICLE!