Studying the ways different species communicate\u2014through sight, sound, and scent\u2014is challenging. Many species live in remote habitats, or even underwater, where it\u2019s difficult to observe them; some also use a combination of signals at one time, making it hard to interpret them individually.<\/p>\n
Understanding different species<\/p>\n
We can, however, pick up on dogs\u2019 communication cues\u2014such as posture, facial expressions, and vocalizations\u2014because we spend so much time with them, and thousands of years of domestication have taught them to understand our commands. \u201cIn some ways, dogs have had that interspecies communication bred into them,\u201d says Kershenbaum.<\/p>\n
But having the ability to recognize words doesn’t mean dogs can understand sentences or express sophisticated concepts; that, for now, seems unique to human language. \u201cI don’t think there’s anything similar in the animal world,\u201d says Yossi Yovel<\/a>, a zoologist at Tel Aviv University and Chair of the Coller Dolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication<\/a>. \u201cIf you expect to have a conversation with an animal like you and I are talking right now\u2026well, maybe not.\u201d<\/p>\n The sounds animals make, along with their posture and even their scents, can communicate important information to others of their species. This might include feelings\u2014such as that they are hungry or afraid\u2014as well as attracting mates or warning of danger.<\/p>\n Intelligent, highly social animals\u2014like dogs, wolves, dolphins, whales, and primates\u2014are more likely to have complex communication systems. \u201cWhen you live in a social group, understanding the emotional state of other individuals is really important,\u201d says Kershenbaum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Studying the ways different species communicate\u2014through sight, sound, and scent\u2014is challenging. Many species live in remote habitats, or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[25045,93793,172793,172795,172794,18,440,172792,19,17,8659,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-374583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-animal-behavior","9":"tag-animal-communication","10":"tag-can-animals-talk-to-humans","11":"tag-can-animals-understand-humans","12":"tag-can-humans-talk-to-animals","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-human-animal-communication","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-language","19":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116194683403923392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}