If by the word ‘language’ we mean a system of communication, animals have different languages of their own. Hens and chickens have over 30 different calls, which they use to alert their group to food or danger, for example. Chicks start communicating with their mother hen while they are still in the egg and cockerels have a special food call to let the hens know that food has been found. Hens make a gentle crowing sound when they are happy.
Socialising in the village square. (c) Compassion in World Farming/Chi Keung Wong
Pigs are very chatty, communicating with grunts, squeals, snarls and snorts, champing their jaws and clacking their teeth. Sows have a special call for their piglets when it’s time for the piglets to suckle. Sows and piglets keep contact with each other and with their mother by squeals and grunts. If piglets are separated from Mum, they squeal for her. Scientists found that sows responded more strongly to the desperate squeals from cold, hungry piglets than they did to calls from larger, more well-fed piglets.
Animals can also understand each other’s language. For example, some animals can understand the meaning of another’s alarm call.
Dogs and humans have a long history of living together. While dogs are often quick are picking up what humans are saying – perhaps by the tone of voice rather than by all the actual words – we humans often seem to struggle to understand dog ‘bark language.’ In this really interesting video, courtesy of the social networking site Petstreet , dog communication expert John Rogerson helps us decipher what our furry friends are wanting to tell us.
Sakura, a baby chimpanzee, is showing that chimps prefer melodic music. During a research trial to see which kind of music Sakura would chose, she preferred to listen to a pleasant melody than to discordant musical chords.
Santino, another clever chimp, who's at www.livesofanimals.org/2009/03/santino-rocks/
This shows us more fascinating evidence about the sentience of chimps. In this case, Sakura is in a human-designed, captive environment, which may be somewhat enriched, but which is still unnatural for a chimp. The fact that Sakura works out what to do in these circumstances tells us even more about chimp awareness and understanding. These abilities are strong indicators of animal sentience.
Sakura is not alone in preferring sweet music. Back in 2001, there was research investigating how cows reacted to fast beats or to softer music. The researchers said: “We found that slow music improved milk yields perhaps because it relaxes the cows in much the same way as it relaxes humans.”
Despite increasing awareness of animal sentience, there is still resistance to appreciating or acknowledging that animals are sentient beings and there is reluctance to peer over the barrier of “human vs other animals” that we ourselves have created.
Cows enjoy soothing sounds. Photo (c) Compassion in World Farming/Karen Playford
It was previously thought that this kind of choice and preference about music was a “uniquely human trait.” So we see that Sakura and the dairy cows have overcome yet another barrier!
Mila is a beluga whale at an aquarium in Harbin, NE China. The pool she lives in has an arctic temperature and is also used by divers. In a recent exercise, diver Yang Yun got into trouble and was unable to kick her way back up the surface. But suddenly she felt herself being pushed upwards – Mila was rescuing her.
According to reports, “Mila had spotted her difficulties and using her sensitive dolphin-like nose guided Yun safely to the surface.”
One of the staff is quoted as saying: “Mila noticed the problem before we did. She’s a sensitive animal who works closely with humans and I think this girl owes her her life.”
Belugas are very social and because they are so chatty, they are also known as sea canaries. When you have to swim great distances under ice in the Arctic Sea, it helps to be a good communicator so you can keep up with your pod and let each other know what’s going on. Sadly, beluga whales are yet another threatened species.
Bonnie and Clyde are inseparable border collies. Dogs are social animals so company is very important for them. But this is a bond with a difference: Bonnie is Clyde’s guide dog.
The Daily Mail reports that Bonnie leads Clyde “to food or water, and lets him rest his head on her haunches when he feels a bit lost. They are inseparable, and if Bonnie isn’t nearby Clyde refuses to move a paw.”
Bonnie and Clyde were rescued as strays recently. It appears they were lost in a storm and no-one has come forward for them. Obviously these two have a vital bond and they must be rehomed together.
Apes, crows and dolphins have been seen to make and use tools. Now, captive rooks have joined the band of animals who are “tool users.”
Rooks have not been seen to use tools in the wild. But not only can they use tools, they can use two in succession and they can make new ones. This BBC article reports research in which the rooks worked out how to get a food treat from a apparatus consisting of a tube and a small trap door. They needed to choose a suitable stone and drop it into a tube to release the trap door and get their treat. They chose the heaviest stone as the most likely to be weighty enough to make the trap door open. They also had to choose from different-shaped stones, not all of which would fit into the tube. They chose the best-shaped stone! Here’s the film of the clever rooks with rocks.
Rooks are even more clever than we thought. Photo: foxypar4
The birds also quickly learnt how to bend a straight piece of wire to make a hook, so they could pull up a small container with food in it from the bottom of a test tube. It is amazing to see! Watch the film clip.
Betty, a captive New Caledonian crow, was the only captive bird who had previously been seen to do this. Crows in the wild do use tools, such as twigs and leaves. They use their beaks to make these tools into a satisfactory shape and then pick up ants and other insects. They also use grass stems. The rooks showed they can use and make tools too; three out of four made a hook in their first trial. One of the researchers pointed out: “The study shows the creativity and insight that rooks have when they solve problems.”
Rooks also understand that they can work in pairs to get a good food source. In this experiment, also reported by the BBC, researchers put two hooks on a small tray which had treats for the rooks, and then put a length of string through the hooks. The rooks were in an enclosure and the tray was just out of their reach. To pull the tray to them and get the food, each rook needed to pull on the strings at either side of the tray. The rooks all worked this out – some immediately and others took a bit longer. The rooks’ understanding of this “need for team work” is said to be as good as that of chimpanzees. Here’s the film clip of the dexterous rooks.
Rooks and crows are both in the corvid family, along with jackdaws, jays, magpies and ravens. These birds have long had a reputation for being clever and researcher Nathan Bird at the University of Cambridge said: “I would rate corvids as being as intelligent as primates in many ways.”
Mockingbirds can quickly recognise individual humans who seem to be a threat to their nest. After only a short time, the birds recognise someone who has bothered them and make big efforts to drive them away. But they ignore other passers-by or nearby strangers.
This research took place at the University of Florida, where Professor Doug Levey, a zoologist, is reported as saying:
Mockingbirds can quickly learn to recognise individuals
“We don’t know whether it’s unique to mockingbirds, but it does suggest these birds are a heck of a lot more intelligent than people have ever given them credit for. People have known for a long time that crows and parrots for example have a lot of intelligence. But these birds are fairly small. … It’ll change the way people view the intelligence of birds like this.”
The mockingbirds live in what is considered to be a natural environment, and researchers say their scientific paper will be the first published research to show that “wild animals living in their natural settings recognize individuals of other species.”
These clever birds show us yet again that we need to respect animals’ abilities when human actions affect their lives.
Karta, a 27-year old orang-utan, escaped from her zoo enclosure by twisting the wires in the electric fence with a stick, making them short-circuit.
According to Sky News, clever Karta then “piled up debris to help her climb over a concrete and glass wall.”
Karta took herself back to the enclosure after an hour. The zoo curator says that Karta is ”ingenious”, and that she watches the day to day activities of zoo staff with interest – probably to see what she can learn!
Many animals, including great apes, pigs and elephants, have developed intelligence to obtain a living from their complex environments. Orang-utans in nature live in the Indonesian rainforest, one of the most biodiverse environments in the world.
Lives of Animals.org has some concerns with the comment in this clip that Karta’s enclosure will be “pruned.” While increased security may be wanted, restricting Karta’s environment is unlikely to be the best outcome for her. While the zoo has clearly attempted to provide an interesting enclosure for Karta, perhaps her escape attempt tells us that all is not well with her world. We have to ask to what extent is it possible to provide for the needs of complex, wide-ranging animals in captivity?
Never underestimate an orang-utan There’s a anecdote often told about great apes and if you know its origins, please let us know.
Don't underestimate us
If you give a screwdriver to a gorilla, he will look at it briefly and then discard it.
If you give the screwdriver to a chimp, he’ll think of a hundred uses for it.
If you give the screwdriver to an orang-utan, he’ll pretend to ignore it until you’ve gone, when he will let himself of the cage with it…
More information
You can read more about amazing orang-utans here.
