We know that animals have their own complex communication systems. But can they understand what we say? (Image credit: debibishop via Getty Images)
In the early 20th century, a famous horse named Clever Hans was touring Germany. He amazed onlookers when his trainer demonstrated the animal's supposed ability to understand German, tell time, and even solve math problems.
However, after an independent investigation, it was discovered that Clever Hans' tricks were a hoax. In fact, the horse was simply responding to subconscious signals from his trainer's body and was not capable of truly understanding human language or performing arithmetic tasks.
Scientists are currently exploring the limits of animals' ability to understand humans, but examples like Clever Hans highlight just how challenging the task can be. So do we really know if animals can understand human language?
Research into the language of animals, including primates, birds, dolphins, and others, flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, but skeptics continued to criticize the work, arguing that animals were simply copying their trainers’ behavior, as Clever Hans did. While many animals can pick up on contextual cues like body language and tone of voice, it’s less clear whether they understand the meaning of words or more complex aspects of language like grammar. However, modern research is beginning to suggest that, with training, some animals can understand certain elements of human language, such as the pronunciation and meaning of individual words.
“Humans are unique in many ways, and certainly language is a hallmark of humans,” Simon W. Townsend, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Zurich, told Live Science. “But I think we’re increasingly realizing that there are some similarities between human and animal communication systems.”
Can primates learn human language?
One of the most famous animal language experiments involved Koko, a female western lowland gorilla who mastered a modified American Sign Language (ASL). Koko, who died in 2018, could use about 1,000 signs and respond to more than 2,000 words of spoken English.
However, experts caution that there is a significant difference between learning some modified signs and truly mastering ASL, and Coco has never been fluent in sign language. Critics have also pointed out that Coco sometimes gestured inappropriately, and her trainers often relied on their own interpretations to understand Coco's signs.
According to comparative psychologist and linguist Michael Tomasello, Kanzi, a male bonobo (Pan paniscus) who lived from 1980 to 2025, is the most advanced primate with advanced language skills. Kanzi communicated using a lexigram board, a keyboard consisting of about 200 arbitrary symbols that corresponded to objects in his environment.
Sourse: www.livescience.com
