Will there be a day when we can chat to any animal? Zoologists have discovered that humans and wild apes share a sign language. Some think this is the start of a beautiful kinship.
Revealed! Humans and apes speak same language
Will there be a day when we can chat to any animal? Zoologists have discovered that humans and wild apes share a sign language. Some think this is the start of a beautiful kinship.
Lingua franca
We talk to animals more than we think. We tell kittens that we love them, command dogs to fetch and sit, and shoo foxes away from our gardens. Yet we never expected any of these animals to speak back - until now.
ZoologistsScientists who study animals and their behaviour. have spent years researching the great apes.1 The findings are amazing. Apes use a type of sign language to talk to each other, using a shared alphabet over 80 gestures.
A chimpanzee or bonobo can make a long scratch across their chest to ask to be groomed. It can call its friends over by beckoning with its fingers pointing down. And it can stroke another's mouth to ask to share some food.
A study from St Andrews University reveals something incredible. Researchers asked over 5,500 volunteers to answer a multi-choice quiz on what these signs meant.
The humans were correct over 50% of the time. This suggests that we can understand around half of their language. Maybe we can learn to speak it.
Speaking to animals has been a fantasy. But now, the door to the possibility of human-ape communication has begun to open.
It might soon open even further, to the whole animal world. Scientists have set up listening spots in climates around the planet, and fitted animals with microphones.2
It has taken years to decode even small amounts of this information. But this may be about change. Experts are creating Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence, or "AI," is the ability for a computer to think and learn. With AI, computers can perform tasks that are typically done by people, including processing language, problem-solving, and learning. programmes that might be able to decode it quickly. We could attempt to speak back to animals using this information.
Others are unsure. Huge progress has been made with apes. But they are our closest relatives. Their bodies are similar to ours.
Take anything else, whether a horse, an elephant, a hummingbird or a jellyfish, and the picture gets more complex. Even if we work out how seahorses chat, we may not be able to reply.
Yes: First the great apes. Then the whole animal kingdom. The seeds of communication are already laid. And we are on the verge of a change that could connect us for good.
No: We should not get ahead of ourselves. Even if we manage to decode the language of animals, we might not be able to speak it back to them. How does a human sing whale song or perform a waggle dance?
Or... It is clear that some animals have powerful communicative abilities. But they are the special few. There is no sign that seagulls, slugs or starfish can talk to us in the same way.
Will there be a day when we can chat to any animal?
Keywords
Zoologists - Scientists who study animals and their behaviour.
Artificial Intelligence - Artificial intelligence, or "AI," is the ability for a computer to think and learn. With AI, computers can perform tasks that are typically done by people, including processing language, problem-solving, and learning.
Revealed! Humans and apes speak same language
Glossary
Zoologists - Scientists who study animals and their behaviour.
Artificial Intelligence - Artificial intelligence, or “AI,” is the ability for a computer to think and learn. With AI, computers can perform tasks that are typically done by people, including processing language, problem-solving, and learning.