Why can’t we speak to animals?

[lalalagarden]

We can learn other languages so why can’t we speak to animals? Or understand their communication

We would certainly get more sense from them.

We can? Social animals body language is very detailed.

Because we're not Dr. Doolittle?

I can speak to cats.
We mostly understand each other 😁

I always speak to animals…..they just don’t speak back 😂

Obviously they don't speak in words but there's lots of animals we can communicate with well - dogs & horses among others

Most wild animals don't need to communicate with us, don't need us & would actually be better off without us

We can, and do. Ask a dog owner. Or a horse rider.

Love that line in Dracula: there is much to be learned from beasts.

We don't need to talk to them to be in awe.

My cats nd I communicate! They have different meows and body language that mean different things. They also understand when I say NO.

We can.

(some of them anyway)

chimpanzees have learnt simplified sign language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)

Gorillas have learnt sign language to a more complex level
https://www.koko.org/communication/

There are projects looking at dolphins as well
https://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/the-dolphin-pod-2/

Yes. My cat is very, very good at getting her point across.

I can understand my dog perfectly, and he generally understands me. I'm less fluent in cat.

Here he is, in the car on the way home from the vets after getting his fun plums/love spuds (balls) removed. Absolutely no ambiguity here about what he is saying. But I'm not going to translate him for you - I'd get banned off Mumsnet for life...

I can hear the birds chirping away as I type and I do wonder what they’re all saying. Maybe they’re commenting that I’m in my bed again 😬

Oh dear

A stunning display of finery ❤️

They're clearly taking you for a Disney princess and are hoping you'll come to the window and sing along with them about handsome princes...

Verbal communication is obviously not an option with 98% of animals however non verbal options are there.

You just need to have a high level of trust with the animal and put the hours in.

Certain species are easier to understand than others, whales/dolphins/birds & certain insects for example have certain sounds for danger, admiration, playfulness, hunger…etc. As above if you develop a relationship with those animals, you’ll learn to not speak their language obviously, but understand it

It’s usually one of two things :

1, ‘This branch is my territory, so piss off”

Or,

2, ‘Hello sexy, fancy a shag?’

My cat understands me. I say something to her and she gives me filthy looks back because I am beneath her....

Dogs, Cats and horses learn words. You can also communicate with sounds, gestures and body language. To be honest, my horses are much easier to communicate with than a lot of humans!

Look up #Whataboutbunny on Facebook. Her owner studies human animal communication and has trained the lovely bunny (old English sheepdog cross) to use buttons. It's fascinating.

There are 'talking' cats too on their feed

My sister had those for her dog.

It backfired a bit though because he was constantly pressing Treat.

Inevitably!

I was fascinated by them, but didn’t even momentarily consider it. He was extremely opinionated, and giving him extra words to couch his demands was not going to help.

Ive given up showing my dog how to do the housework and learn to talk. He paid loads of attention but then did zilch. He just looks at me and struts off! Freeloader 🤣