Page 32 - Fourways Gardens February 2021

Nature

husband-wife team, both psychologists, and social behaviour have been grossly dolphins, even when kilometres apart,
brought an infant chimpanzee into underestimated. communicate with whistle-like calls
their home and raised it alongside their and their ‘whistles’ can identify them as
infant son. the two youngsters got along We now know, for instance, that elephants individuals. Using whistles, they can call
famously. the couple gave up when, after a can receive messages through their feet an individual ‘by name’ from out of a pod:
year, their son began making chimp noises by picking up vibrations from the ground - “hey Fred!” and Fred will respond using
and the chimp had made no progress in the vibrations transmitted by other elephants his own identity whistle to say: “i’m here!”
other direction. way out of sight. elephants, generally
assumed to be silent creatures are anything apart from sound and ultrasound, many
the spinoff from the quest has been a but. Using ultrasound – beyond the range animals communicate using smells
constant stream of the unexpected. it of human ears – they can communicate and body language and, in the case of
brought an awareness that we share our in relays from family to family across dolphins, something bordering on extra
planet with creatures whose intelligence thousands of square kilometres. sensory perception (ESP).

there are institutions concentrating on
finding ways to converse with crows
and parrots and, as we are discovering
they have amassed some quite startling
results.

if ever we are to talk with an animal, we
will have to differentiate that animal’s
grunts, snorts, clicks, squeals, screams,
whistles, rumblings, hoots and roars as
well as its body language, and decipher
them.

surprisingly among the favourites is
the elephant, the dolphin, Prairie dogs
(ground squirrels) and even crows, whose
teaspoon-sized brain outwits that of a
chimp’s.

(Footnote: The writer is currently completing a
book on cross-species communication.)

Fourways Gardens • 30 • February 2021