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Animal Language?
#1
This is interesting. What animals do is closer to speech than they thought. I would agree with that. I have seen animals communicate complex things to each other. Birds outside definitely have more than just chirping. They communicate.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...peech.html

http://tntoday.utk.edu/2014/08/20/abcs-o...al-speech/
Now if only we can learn the language. Starting to listen would be the first step.
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Catherine

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#2
The trouble is, we spend too much time talking, and not enough listening! Most animals have quite developed communication skills, but until recently scientists didn't seem terribly interested, or else they had a certain mindset which excluded the possibility of advanced intelligence (humans were allegedly "superior" and the only ones capable of detailed conversation).

Thank you so much for drawing attention to this article. Here is another one, from 2007:
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/200...-scie.html
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#3
Many years ago I stopped to listen to Robins as I was walking down my lane. Two Robins were holding a conversation with each other. I listened very carefully for some time. This was obviously not just 'bird-song', and it didn't sound much like two Robins declaring their respective territories either. Their voices were slightly muted (compared with territorial declarations)
The distinct phrasing...the way one Robin fell quiet while the other one spoke....cadences... sounds which did not seem random, as occasionally features, or parts of features were repeated exactly.

I think if we had the ability to translate, we would find those birds were having a complex conversation.

We are also too eager to dismiss other more subtle means of conveying complex communications between creatures too. In cases where voices aren't used, and body signals given, we have a tendency to over-ride those, thinking of them as very simple, when in fact there are slight nuances which mean altogether different things.
Similar to the way a word pronounced with different inflexions of the voice in Mandarin, for example, can mean different things entirely.
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#4
That is an interesting article about the whales. I would take the fact that whales did not invent reality TV shows to be a sign of intelligence.Smiley4
Seriously though, we are overlooking obvious signs of intelligence and language.

You are right, the Robins were probably actually talking. I was just thinking about the Robins I see and hear and then remembered, my Robins are a very different kind of bird. They are known for doing a dawn song and an evening song. One lone Robin will position himself high in a tree and give a long complex musical performance. The other birds stay silent and listen. In the morning as soon as the Robin is done, the rest of the dawn chorus begins. So they have arts and entertainment.
If we really listened we might find that communication happens all around us. I find the non verbal communication to be more honest. You can lie with words, but body language tells the truth.

I am glad that scientists are really studying this finally.
[Image: IMG_9091.JPG]
Catherine

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