Talking With the Animals

This is remarkable, she says, considering that elephants' vocal tracts are anatomically different from ours: Despite their different styles of imitations, these animals do have something in common.

They are all "vocal learners". That is, they hear sounds, learn to imitate them, and then produce them. Humans, the best vocal learners, can learn and produce countless different sounds. Beluga whales and dolphins also naturally learn hundreds of new vocalizations throughout their lives. Some parrots and songbirds are prolific learners as well, sometimes even picking up sounds from other species and objects around them. Famously, lyrebirds have learned to mimic the sounds of human machines like camera shutters and chainsaws.

Other vocal learners are much less skilled. While Grey parrots can learn and produce thousands of calls, zebra finches learn only a few songs as fledglings , which they stick to during their entire lifetime. What's more, many vocal learners can only imitate sounds from their own species. Most animals are not vocal learners.

They only produce the calls that they are born with: These animals are unable to imitate new sounds.

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View image of An African grey parrot Psittacus erithacus Credit: There are particular brain circuits that control the muscles for vocalizations, and only some animals have them. In a paper, Jarvis described a region of the forebrain that makes direct connections with the voice muscles in both humans and parrots. These brain circuits help them learn new sounds, and then control their vocal tract muscles to produce the learned sounds. Animals that are not vocal learners lack these forebrain pathways.

They only have circuits in the brainstem, the most primitive part of the brain, that may control their innate calls. This is reflected in the animals' genes.

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In , Jarvis and his colleagues studied how genes are turned on and off in the brains of different animals. A set of over 50 genes showed a similar pattern of activity in the speech-control centres of several vocal learners , including humans, parrots, songbirds and hummingbirds.

This means humans use the same genes to speak as songbirds use to sing. Animals that can't learn new sounds, like chickens and macaques, don't activate these genes in the same way, Jarvis says. View image of A chimpanzee Pan troglodytes , not talking Credit: Strangely, great apes are not great mimics, even though they are our closest relatives and their brains are similar to ours.

Apart from Tilda, most non-human primates show no sign of the advanced mimicry that humans and parrots can do. For a long time, researchers believed that their vocal organs were the issue. Their vocal tract is similar to ours, but studies in the 20th century had suggested that their voice boxes do not descend as far as ours do. But that's not true, says Jarvis. In , researchers found that the voice boxes of baby chimpanzees descend soon after birth , just like those of humans. View image of Zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata are mimics Credit: In fact, when we list the species that can learn to produce new sounds, they are quite far apart on the evolutionary tree.

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Five groups of mammals can do it: There are also three groups of birds that can do vocal learning: So vocal learning looks like a case of convergent evolution: So why did they bother? But in captivity, they are separated from their own kind with only humans to interact with. This novel feels more current than ever. Mowgli would be in terrible trouble without the awesome Bagheera. Shere Khan has nothing on him.

Red Peter chooses the latter, and adjusts to the highly oppressive and judgmental people around him. Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq A young woman in her 20s lands a job at perfume counter. Then she starts gradually transforming into a sow. It offers one of the most distinctive and unique transformation stories of our time and explores questions of sexuality, identity and gender with much-needed insight and superb creativity.

He is expected to be brave, powerful and courageous. Instead, he is terribly scared of the world around him. To me, he is a symbol of self-hatred. It tells the story of a wealthy and successful doctor who surgically implants human testicles and a pituitary gland into a stray dog, a mongrel he names Sharik. An "animal communicator," Summers can converse directly with a variety of animal species, from cats and dogs to rabbits, horses, and iguanas.

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In this beautiful and moving book, the animals share their wisdom, their perspective on life, and even how they feel about human beings. The animals can teach us many things, and Summers uses her abilities to help humans listen and to aid humans and animals in understanding one another better. She also describes the ways that animals comprehend the world, and explains that they always understand the intent of human communications, if not the words. And she teaches that they share our wants and needs, as they desire the same things that humans do: Summers shares numerous encounters with animals, and each story has a valuable lesson - each is a gift of spirit from the animals.

We have so much to learn from our animal companions, domestic and otherwise. Talking with the Animals provides a rare glimpse inside the minds of the creatures with whom we share our planet. Patty Summers has a remarkable gift--she talks with animals. She doesn't just talk to animals, she converses with them. A regular Doctor Dolittle, Summers shares stories of the animals in her life--dogs, cats, and even an iguana named Quasar.

Talking with the Animals will bring a smile to your face, and sometimes a tear to your eye, but there is more here than a human interpretation of animal antics. These stories are told as much by the animals themselves and will teach you as much about the humans on this planet as they do about the furry, feathered, and scaly creatures we share our lives with. Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

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