What's happening?

When was the last time you spoke to an animal?

It sounds like a strange question. But humans talk to animals more than you would think. People tell kittens they are cute and ask their dogs to fetch and catch.

When was the last time an animal spoke back to you? Probably never. But some think that one day, we will be able to chat to different animals.

Scientists have spent years studying apes. They have found something amazing. Apes use a type of sign language to talk to each other. They use 80 different movements to show what they are thinking.

Find out more

A chimpanzee makes a long scratch on its chest to ask for its hair to be stroked and cleaned.

Scientists asked people to guess what the different signs meant. More than half of the time, the humans guessed right. So we can understand apes - and one day we might be able to speak to them.

And with new types of 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. - learning just what to say might get even easier.

Yes! The first steps to chatting to animals are already happening. If we can talk to apes, then we can talk to jellyfish and birds and cats.

No! We might be able to understand chimps - but we are a long way from really talking to them. This is just a dream. It is not a reality.