• Question: Will evoloution ever make it possible for humans to communicate with other animals by simply talking to them? ((and having them respond)

    Asked by gbeaubo to Sarah, Murray, Alan on 25 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Murray Collins

      Murray Collins answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      Well, we already can communicate with animals by talking to them. The most obvious example I can think of is sheep dogs who resopnd specifically to shouted instructions and whistles.

      However, our great ape cousins also are able to respond to language. In particular there is a Bonobo ni captivity in USA called Kanzi who seems to be able to resopnd to spoken English and also use symbols to communicate with huamns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzi This is really fascinating.

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 25 Mar 2011:

      I don’t think it will be evolution that will help us do that, but our own knowldge of how animals communicate and possibly technology will advance to enable us to communicate back.

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