The African penguin is not one of nature's great conversationalistsPeople who are good at or fond of engaging in conversation.. Its typical one-liners translate as: "Hello", "Get away from me" and "Look at how big I am. Fancy mating?"

But in this small talk lies the clue to deeper rules of linguistics. Scientists have found that this communication follows the same rules as human speech.

As with us, they use the syllables available to them to speak in the most economical way they can - for instance by reserving the shorter ones for the most common calls.

Livio Favaro, from the University of Turin, decided to see if their vocalisations followed the standard linguistic rules seen in primates. Favaro and his colleagues looked at a subset of the penguins' calls, known as "ecstatic display songs".

The researchers found that the linguistic laws of compression - which are true in humans, primates and even in the computer programs humans use to send information - were also true among penguins.

This research is a reminder that an incredibly diverse range of animals is capable of using complex forms of communication.

Many animals, including elephants, have been known to imitate human speech. Most famously, this is an area in which parrots excel.

Chimps and gorillas can master sign language. One gorilla named KokoHer mind was as developed as that of a small child. After watching Jurassic Park, she even became scared of her toy dinosaurs., who was raised in a research facility, understood over 2,000 words of spoken English and liked to be referred to as "Queen". 

Bees are known to dance in such a way that they mimeTo use body movements without speech.  out directions for other bees to find flowers. While critics will say the dances and their comprehension are hard-wired, it could imply that animals as simple as insects can have an idea of the future and plan their actions.

When scientists cut up a recording of birdsong, effectively remixing it, the birds did not respond to the new version. It made no sense to them. This suggests that these birds even have a simple sense of grammar. Their song was not just a random string of tweets.

Con Slobodchikoff has spent his life studying prairie dogsLarge burrowing rodents that live on the grasslands of North America. . With just a single chirp, a prairie dog can communicate the shape, speed, size and even clothing of humans. 

"Over a series of experiments, we have found that prairie dogs have a very sophisticated system of communication that I'm comfortable calling language," he declared in an interview last month. 

Now, Slobodchikoff wants to use his research to help humans communicate with their pets. "The idea is that we have a device that you can point to a dog, and the device analyses the dog's body language and vocal signals and says, 'I'm hungry' or 'please let me out'." 

Deciphering how other creatures see the world is a life goal for many scientists. Language is a window into what they find important enough to share with other members of their species. 

For now, it is still impossible to see inside the mind of another animal. But scientists hope that this soon will change. If it does, it will fundamentally transform our understanding of animal life forever.

Yes: The huge range of animals that communicate suggests that it is our definition of language that should be broadened. For all we know, animal languages could be even more complex than our own.

No: Language might be our most essential human traitCharacteristic.. It distinguishes us from other species. Other animals might communicate, but they are not able to enjoy the full benefits of language as we know it.

Or... It simply does not matter how we classify it. But every week, we are learning more and more about the extraordinary ability of animals. We should not underestimate their capabilities.