Atalking animalorspeaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language.[1] Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal language, however, these usually are not considered a language because they lack one or more of the defining characteristics, e.g. grammar, syntax, recursion, and displacement. Researchers have been successful in teaching some animals to make gestures similar to sign language,[2][3] although whether this should be considered a language has been disputed.[4]
The term refers to animals who can imitate (though not necessarily understand) human speech. Parrots, for example, repeat phrases of human speech through exposure.[5] There were parrots that learnt to use words in proper context and had meaningful dialogues with humans. Alex, a grey parrot, understood questions about color, shape, size, number etc. of objects and would provide a one-word answer to them.[6] He is also documented to have asked an existential question.[7] Another grey parrot, N'kisi, could use 950 words in proper context, was able to form sentences and even understood the concept of grammatical tense.[8]
Alex, a grey parrot researched and trained by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, demonstrated knowledge of cca. 100 words, understood the meaning of several types of questions and was documented to ask one question about himself.[6][7]
N'kisi, a grey parrot, knows over 900 words, can form sentences and even understands grammatical tense.[8]
An owner hears a dog making a sound that resembles a phrase says the phrase back to the dog, who then repeats the sound and is rewarded with a treat. Eventually the dog learns a modified version of the original sound. Dogs have limited vocal imitation skills, so these sounds usually need to be shaped by selective attention and social reward.[19]
A dog on America's Funniest Home Videos named Fluffy, made noises that to some viewers resembled "I want my momma" after being asked "Do you want your momma?".[citation needed] Other videos showed other dogs making noises which to some viewers resembling "Run around", "I want it", "I love momma" and "Hello".
Odie, a pug who produced noises resembling "I love you" on demand, made appearances on several television shows.[20]
Paranormal researcher Charles Fort wrote in his book Wild Talents (1932) of several alleged cases of dogs that could speak English. Fort took the stories from contemporary newspaper accounts.
In 1715 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz published an account of his encounter with a talking dog that could pronounce about 30 words.[21]
Don, a German pointer born around the beginning of the 20th century, was a dog that was reputed to be able to pronounce a couple of words in German and became a vaudeville sensation as a result. Although most scientists at the time dismissed Don's capabilities, the author Jan Bondeson puts forward an argument that Don was genuinely capable of limited human speech and criticises the tests that were performed on Don at the time as having serious methodological flaws.[21]
In 1959 a German sheepdog by the name of Corinna living in Prague spontaneously developed a capability for limited human speech. According to the zoologist Hermann Hartwigg, published under the pseudonym 'Hermann Dembeck', Corinna 'holds the record in modern times for its talking prowess'.[22]
The $10,000-winning video "Cat's Got a Tongue"[23] from Season 10 of America's Funniest Home Videos features a cat speaking purported human words and phrases such as "Oh my dog", "Oh Long John", "Oh Long Johnson", "Oh Don piano", "Why I eyes ya", and "All the live long day."[24] A longer version of the clip (which revealed the animal was reacting to the presence of another cat) was aired in the UK. Clips from this video are prevalent on YouTube. The cat became an Internet phenomenon in 2006 and appeared as a character in "Faith Hilling", the 226th episode of South Park, which aired on March 28, 2012.
In "Cat Says, 'No',"[25] another $10,000-winning video from Season 7 of AFV, a cat repeatedly says, "no."
Miles v. City Council of Augusta, Georgia, in which the court found that the exhibition of a talking cat was considered an occupation for the purposes of municipal licensing law.
Great apes mimicking human speech is rare although some of them have attempted to do so by often watching and mimicking the gestures, and voices from their human trainers. Apparently, human voice control in non-human great apes could derive from an evolutionary ancestor with similar voice control capacities. These include chimpanzees and orangutans.
Johnny (1944–2007), was a chimpanzee that could also clearly say the word "mama".
In 1962, Bioparco di Roma, a chimpanzee named Renata could clearly say the word "mama" when praised by her trainer.
Kokomo Jr., was a chimpanzee and mascot of the Today show, who was known to say the word "mama".
Viki was a chimpanzee that could voice four words:
mama
papa
up
cup
Tilda (born 1965, Borneo), is an orangutan who responds to her keepers in a human-like manner e.g. pointing to the food and repeating the word "Cologne Zoo" by controlling her lips and tongue, as well as manipulating her vocal chords. To do this, she clicks her tongue to produce various tones of her voice, and grumbles in a way that is comparable to humans making vowel sounds. She only does this during feeding time when she wants to attract her keepers' attention. This was mainly due to her former time being taught by a human trainer while she was in the entertainment business.
Rocky (born September 25, 2004), resident of the Indianapolis Zoo, is an orangutan that can say the word "hi". He was the very first ape to produce sounds similar to words in a "conversational context". These sounds have been recorded in use and can be seen here. In the video, Rocky is participating in a training session wherein he is being asked to produce vocals outside of the typical orangutan "vocabulary."[26] The Indianapolis Zoo made a public statement about Rocky's vocalizations and their implications for current and future studies.
Batyr (1969–1993), an elephant from Kazakhstan, was reported to have a vocabulary of more than 20 phrases. Recordings of Batyr saying "Batyr is good", "Batyr is hungry", and words such as "drink" and "give" were played on Kazakh state radio in 1980.[27]
Kosik (born 1990) is an elephant able to imitate Korean words.[28]
NOC, a captive beluga whale in the United States Navy's Cold Ops program, could mimic some words well enough to confuse Navy divers on at least one occasion.[30]
John C. Lilly's assistant Margaret Howe trained a dolphin named Peter to produce several words, including a credible "Mar-ga-ret".
Wikie is an orca that can say "hello", "goodbye", and "Amy" (her trainer).
It is not unusual for goats to make noises that sound like syllables from human words. Some videos of this behavior have ended up becoming popular on YouTube. An example from Tennessee of a baby goat seeming to say "what what what?" got over seven million views.[34]
^Hillix, William A.; Rumbaugh, Duane M. (2004), "Washoe, the First Signing Chimpanzee", Animal Bodies, Human Minds: Ape, Dolphin, and Parrot Language Skills, Springer US, pp. 69–85, doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-4512-2_5, ISBN978-1-4419-3400-0
^E.S. Savage-Rumbaugh; K. McDonald; R.A. Sevcik; W.D. Hopkins; E. Rupert (1986). Spontaneous symbol acquisition and communicative use by pygmy chimpanzees (Pan paniscus). Vol. 115. General. pp. 211–35. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.115.3.211. PMID2428917. {{cite book}}: |magazine= ignored (help)
^F.G. Patterson; E. Linden (1981). The education of Koko. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
^H.L. Miles (1990). "The cognitive foundations for reference in a signing orangutan". In S.T. Parker; K.R. Gibson (eds.). "Language" and intelligence in monkeys and apes: Comparative Developmental Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. pp. 511–539.
^Josiffe, Christopher (January 2011). "Gef the Talking Mongoose". Fortean Times. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2012.
^Is This Goat Talking? | Yahoo News In August, Lyndsey Hyde of Tennessee posted a video to Vine featuring a goat that sounds like it is saying "What? What? What?" The 6-second clip went viral with more than 7 million views on the video-sharing app.
