Animal Language: How to talk to a dog, a dolphin and an elephant
Text: Veronika Kushnaryova
The idea that animals, like cartoon characters, will be able to communicate with people for a long time excites scientists. Documented a huge number of stories that describe the cases of communication of animals with people in different ways. Many monkeys, including Chimpanzee Washo and Neem, Bonobo Kantsi, have learned to communicate using sign language and keyboard characters. African gray parrot Alex learned more than 100 English words that he could use and combine accordingly. As part of the Dolphin Project Wild, scientists have made quite successful attempts to communicate with dolphins. In this material we decided to collect the most impressive examples of such studies of the communication of people with animals.
Talking dogs
The very word "communication" is difficult to give a precise definition. The tiger trainer, who makes it clear to the giant cat where she needs to jump, with the help of a piece of meat, perhaps communicates with her, but this kind of one-way interaction is far from how Dr. Doolittle talks to animals. The tiger, of course, will respond, but will not be able to say anything in response.
Of course, most animals cannot speak, simply because their vocal apparatus is constructed in a completely different way than the human one. But everywhere there are exceptions. In the book "What the" talking "monkeys said" describes the chimpanzee, which after several years of study, even learned three words: "mother", "dates", "cap". Nevertheless, YouTube is filled with videos of dogs, who confess their love to their owners with a guttural "aaa ruu yu", which are very diligently close to the human "I love you". At the same time, happy owners of talking pets firmly believe that it is their pet that really knows how to think, and that is why it speaks so.
Dogs are able to imitate certain expressions of human speech due to the fact that by nature they are able to capture the tonal differences of different sounds, for example, in the pronunciation of words and in general in the process of speaking in humans. This mechanism is developed in animals to transmit and capture emotions, primarily for communication in a flock. Distinct articulate sounds from the "mouth" of a pet, in fact, a side effect of this essential tool for survival.
Scientists argue that the dog’s words cannot understand the human meaning of words, but the hypothesis of "imitative intelligence" in animals is not completely rejected. It also has evolutionary advantages for dogs as a whole. In addition to voice recognition, dogs take into account their host’s body language, posture and gaze direction. All this contributes ultimately to food in order to encourage faithful service.
The record for the number of words learned among dogs was a collie named Rico. She learned about 200 items of her toys and could remember each of them by name even after a month. Scientists say that in this case the dog acted according to the method of fast tracking, which is used, for example, by small children.
Translator with feline
Once the magician Jose Ahonen, who previously showed tricks to his experimental dogs, invited an actor to experiment for the sake of his faithfulness, who most faithfully imitated a dog barking. In the video you can see how the dogs fell into a stupor, not knowing where the sounds come from and what they can mean. Of course, this experiment can not be called scientific, but it perfectly demonstrates what stage the development of verbal communication between man and dog is at.
If you also want to try to communicate with your pet, but you do not have talents for a barking or meowing, you can thoroughly delve into the AppStore, where there are lots of applications that are loudly called "translators into a dog or cat language." One of the most notable is the Human-to-Cat Translator Deluxe for iPhone, created by Electric French Fries.
It is based on the principle of all familiar translator programs: it supposedly analyzes your words and translates them into a set of more than 170 samples that can attract the attention of the cat with which you are trying to "communicate." The translator suggests choosing one of 16 sounds that are related to the main commands, as well as individual sounds of birds and rodents. The creators of the program disclaim any responsibility, stating that the application is intended for entertainment purposes only and does not provide real functionality.
Two-tier system of communication with marine animals
The last 60 years, scientists have been struggling to learn how to communicate with dolphins. The brain volume of dolphins is so large that many specialists had a bold assumption about the animals having their own language. American neurologist John S. Lily was so obsessed with the idea of penetrating the dolphin's consciousness that he even subjected LSD to a single drug. This experiment is still considered one of the most unprincipled in history.
No less well known is his other experiment, which was supposed to shed light on the intellectual level of dolphins and their ability to learn the human language. During the test, an adult male dolphin named Peter was isolated from his fellows and lived for ten weeks in the same pool with a girl named Margaret Howe. Soon it turned out that Peter successfully outlined several commands in English and even learned to imitate the sounds Margaret was uttering, but eventually he began to show sexual aggression towards his concubine.
Of course, dialogue is too loud, in the case of dolphins, communication cannot be verbal, but it will definitely remain communication. A dolphin can talk and always answers something, but his “speech” remains incomprehensible to humans. Oceanologist Deniz Herzig, however, looks at this more optimistically and has already begun work on his own two-level method of sharing and receiving information. As part of the Wild Dolphin Project, Denise spent 29 years studying a group of Atlantic dolphins in the waters of Florida. During this time, the dolphins have learned to trust her and will recognize her, just as she, in turn, distinguishes each individual. In her opinion, the long-term alignment of relationships is a time-consuming and responsible process, but it is a necessary condition for productive communication and learning the communication skills of higher marine animals.
It is known that they use sounds to express concepts, each individual has its own unique whistle, acting as a name. In addition, whistling and crackling, they are able to convey a wide range of emotions and the meaning of their intentions. But language is first of all a sign system, where simple elements are combined into complex ones, and the fact that dolphins have one has not yet been proven. Nevertheless, the fact that dolphins are extremely capable of learning is indisputable. This is proved by the numerous experiments of Diana Reiss, who confirmed that dolphins, for example, are able to recognize themselves in the mirror and send signals from an underwater keyboard, interacting with people through a specially designed “CHAT” device.
Thinker parrot
Dr. Irene Pepperberg became famous for her experiments with the African gray parrot Alex. It is reliably known that the bird knew at least 150 English words that could be put into expressions and use them according to the occasion. Before Pepperberg, there was a common opinion that birds were stupid and could only parody or imitate sounds and human speech. But numerous experiments with Alex have proven that birds can analyze and reason logically at a basic level.
Alex could identify up to fifty different objects and identify up to six items at once. The parrot distinguished seven colors, knew the concepts of "more", "less", "one and the same", "different", "above" and "under". When Alex was shown an object and asked a question about his form, color or material, he gave exact answers in 80 percent of cases. Alex was also able to conduct a simple mathematical calculation, while he was even aware of the concept of zero.
It is known that before his death in 2007, at the age of 31, he told a laboratory assistant who was watching him: "You be good. I love you. See you tomorrow." Irene Pepperberg is currently continuing her research with other birds. In honor of the parrot and in support of the study of the intellectual abilities of large parrots, a whole foundation was established
Primate language and symbol language
Researchers at the University of St. Andrews say they were able to translate the meaning of gestures that wild chimpanzees use to communicate with each other. It turned out that animals have about 66 gestures with which they send specific messages to each other. Observing and filming a chimpanzee community in Uganda, experts studied 4.5 thousand cases of gesticulation and found out that if a female shows her baby's foot, it means that he should climb onto her back.
If one animal wants to scratch his back, he touches the other with his hand. To attract attention, primates chew leaves. “It’s as if you grabbed a hot cup of coffee, shouted and waved your hand,” says study leader Catherine Hobiter. “At the same time, I can understand that coffee was hot and you don’t need to tell me what happened to you.” . In this regard, chimpanzee communication looks exactly like a human.
Science knows many examples when primates managed to learn sign language. The first chimpanzee that was taught to Amlena (the American version of the language) is Washo, who learned about 350 "words." The level of her language communication was quite comparable with the level of a two-year-old child. Already after the chimpanzee's lexicon reached 10-12 characters, she began to combine them of her own free will. So, for example, when Washo was taught the sign "open" ("open the door"), blackmailing her way out on the street, she began to use this gesture towards the refrigerator in the meaning: "open, sweet" (thus expressing that she wants to drink the juice that was there). Washo then began to ask for “open the blanket,” which meant asking to get the blanket out of the closet so she went to bed.
Even more impressive results were achieved by Koko, a gorilla who has been involved in various studies for about forty years. According to the experts who worked with her, during this time she managed to learn about 1000 characters and to learn by ear about 2000 human words. This clever monkey even has its own YouTube channel where you can watch its progress.
Another famous Kanzi monkey, a bonobo breed, has been learning human language since the 1980s under the supervision of scientists from the Atlanta Primate Center and later at the University of Georgia. Unfortunately, the primate passed away two years ago. He knew about 600 English words and knew how to use a special keyboard with symbols and buttons, which he acted perfectly. Due to the fact that the monkeys of the bonobo breed are sensitive to sounds that are varied in tone, Kantsi could even communicate with people through language. For linguists and anthropologists, he became the hope of new scientific discoveries and a symbol of the foundation that studies the intelligence of bonobo monkeys.
Another star primate is chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky, who lived in an American family and communicated with his family using sign language. The 2011 documentary project Nimes shows how the industrious monkey learned language and new signs.
Elephant Vocabulary
The main communication tool of elephants is infrasound, that is, sound waves with a frequency lower than that perceived by the human ear. It is precisely because scientists simply could not hear these "voices" that for a long time it remained unclear exactly how animals communicate. Christian Herbst, of the University of Vienna, divined the secret by conducting a series of experiments on the larynx of a dead elephant. It turned out that for intercourse, elephants use approximately the same mechanisms as humans - the vibrations of the vocal cords. As a result, signals that are in the range from 1 to 20 Hz are transmitted over a distance of up to two kilometers.
At the same time, the elephants have a rather large "vocabulary": the Herbst group managed to record more than 470 different stable signals that they use. It is possible that this sound reproduction mechanism is widespread among other mammals. In addition to communication skills, elephants are prone to complex thought processes. This gives hope that learning programs in the course of intellectual experiments will allow organizing mediated communication and a deeper understanding of the mechanism of their thinking.
Material was first published on Look At Me
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