How people tried to talk to animals and is it even possible

We grew up with tales of talking animals and myths about Solomon's ring, which, when worn, he could communicate with any living creature. But how real is the possibility of someday having a conversation with your cat?

We understand how people tried to learn to speak with animals, why they did not succeed, and then, it seems, they succeeded. Or is it still not?

Why Talking to Animals Wasn't Taken Seriously at First

Since ancient times, people have tried to understand what kind of relationship exists between an animal and a person. Thus, in his writings, Aristotle wrotethat there are three kinds souls: vegetable, animal and reasonable. The latter can only be possessed by a person, and only he, of all living inhabitants, has a mind, and, accordingly, the ability to think, reason and speak.

Another philosopher, René Descartes, argued

that animals are biological automata that cannot have consciousness and, therefore, their own language. For the people of that time, the very idea of ​​communicating with the smaller brothers was shattered by the idea of ​​the uniqueness and superiority of the human mind.

Anyone who tried to talk to members of other species would be taken for a lunatic.

In 1800 Gottfried Wenzel entered the discussion. He published essay, in which he stated that animal languages ​​\u200b\u200bcan differ significantly from human - for example, they do not have an alphabet and words. And if this is so, then it would be wrong to say that animals do not have a mind just because they do not conduct conversations with people. However, his statement was not taken seriously and sunk into oblivion.

Only laterwhen linguistics, anthropology and biology have developed into independent disciplines, this topic has again attracted attention.

When animals began to learn human language

In the 1950s happened "cognitive revolution" - against the backdrop of the popularization of psychology, scientists from various fields began to study human consciousness. The well-known behaviorist John Watson, who conducted experiments on animals, made statement that their intellect differs from ours not as radically as previously thought.

This inspired scientists to new research. In the 1960s and 1970s there was boom animal language studies - studying the language of animals. Researchers began to massively observe communication bees, teach sign language to monkeys and communicate with dolphins. Here are some examples of such experiments.

Dolphins and talking through the nose

For a long time, scientists have been confident that due to their high intelligence, dolphins will be the first species with which we will be able to find a common language.

One of those who hoped so was John Lilly, a psychotherapist and neuroscientist. In 1961 he published book "Man and Dolphin", in which he summarized the results of many years of observation of these animals.

In it he wrote that dolphins can understand and imitate the language of humans by making sounds similar to human speech through their breathing holes. So, according to his notes, once an experimental female with a characteristic accent allegedly said: “We were deceived!”, And a day later she was found dead in the pool.

To find out if dolphins are able to communicate with humans, Lilly put experiment. To do this, he invited a volunteer - naturalist Margaret Hugh Lovett, who was supposed to be around the clock next to the dolphin Peter.

A laboratory was built for her, built into the pool, where she slept and took notes. The purpose of the experiment was to teach Peter English.

Lovett worked with the dolphin twice a day, relentlessly fixing animal progress on audio. She taught him to start the lesson with the phrase: "Hi, Margaret." "M" was difficult for Peter. But he worked hard to achieve a cleaner pronunciation.” spoke young woman.

The researchers soon ran into one problem: Peter got aroused too often. "He rubbed against my knee or my leg." As a result, some concluded that Peter really fell in love with his teacher. And when the experiment ended and Lovett left the pool, the dolphin committed suicide - he deliberately stopped breathing and sank to the bottom.

For three months, the naturalist managed to make several interesting observations: after some time, the dolphin began to imitate Lovett's speech and make sounds that are in the English language.

He also probably understood the syntax - for example, he distinguished between the commands "bring the ball to the doll" and "bring the doll to the ball."

All this gave Lilly hope. He argued that mankind would be able to communicate with animals in the next 10–20 years. However, soon the scientist's projects had to be curtailed due to lack of funding.

Later, another American researcher, Diane Reiss, once again decided to teach dolphins to speak. To do this, she used a special underwater keyboard with symbol balls applied to it, from which it was possible to compose sentences.

The dolphins not only pressed those buttons for which they were given a better reward, but also learned to imitate the sounds that they correspond to. However, this experiment criticized, pointing out that the animals do it for a reward, and not out of a sincere desire to communicate.

Monkeys and sign language

The physical resemblance between humans and apes was one of the most important factors on the basis of which scientists concluded that they can be taught language.

However, the first attempts to do so were unsuccessful. At first, the experimenters decided that speech primatein will arise by itself, if you organize enough comfortable conditions for this. For example, to settle a monkey in a house next to people and not restrict food and movement.

So, back in the early twentieth century, Lightner Whitmer conducted a two-year series of observations of Peter, a male chimpanzee. He easily coped with simple logical tasks, but did not have special abilities for writing and speaking. Although some sounds he managed to pronounce quite easily.

Peter later learned to say "mom" with considerable effort and apparent reluctance, Whitmer wrote. And although he often failed to voice his thoughts, he understood the spoken words.

However, the chimpanzee did not get very far. Whitmer made the assumption that it is worth teaching the language to the cubs - then the process will be more efficient. Peter was 4 to 6 years old.

However, it later became clear that this was not the case at all, but anatomical differences man and monkey. The latter have a very different vocal apparatus, which is why they cannot make the same sounds as people.

Therefore, experiments that were already taking place in the 1960s were organized quite differently: primates began to be taught Amslen, American Sign Language.

The first monkey to successfully master it, became Washoe is a female chimpanzee. A four-year project to educate her was started by the Gardners, who settled her in their backyard.

Washoe lived in a fully self-contained trailer home with her own bedroom, kitchen, toilet and play area. Throughout the project, the researchers communicated with each other and with the chimpanzees only through Amslen.

Taught Washoe by the method of associations: first she was shown some object or action, and then the corresponding gesture. However, she never took it as a game. The animal understood that Amslen helps to communicate with people.

Later, Washoe began to ask them questions, comment on her own actions and the actions of her teachers. And when playing with members of the research group, she called everyone by name: "Roger, you tickle me", "Greg, peekaboo!".

Washoe even tried to use Amslen when communicating with other beings. One day, wanting to get rid of the annoying dog, she began to show him with gestures: “Dog, go away.”

By the end of her life, her vocabulary consisted of more than 350 characters.

Another outstanding monkey, the gorilla Koko, a follower of Washoe, even managed to master more than 1,000 signs of Amslen. She learned to convey feelings, joke and even swear.

For example, when another gorilla ripped off her rag doll's leg, Koko called her "dirty bad toilet" in Amslen.

Some criticize these experiments, emphasizing that they still do not make it clear how consciously the monkeys perceive this communication. As if their gestures are a simple imitation of the researchers and the results training.

But Boyce Rensberger, a former Washington Post science columnist, argues with critics. His parents were deaf and dumb, so he learned Amslen as a child. After talking to a chimpanzee on it, he said: “Suddenly I realized that I was talking to a representative of another species in my own language.”

Parrots and Private English Lessons

For a long time it was believed that these birds are only capable of parodying and imitating human speech. However, Dr. Irene Pepperberg in the 1980s tried prove the opposite by conducting a series of experiments with the Jaco parrot Alex.

In order to teach him to speak consciously, Irene developed the "triangle method", according to which two people participate in the educational process at once. One of them takes on the role of a teacher, the other becomes a student - a competitor of the bird.

Alex quickly began to make progress. He not only memorized new words in English, but also could successfully use them in various situations. At the same time, in parallel with the "main program", the parrot learned the vocabulary from the conversations of others.

For example, he independently managed to understand the meaning of the word “no”. He began to use it when something did not suit him. And the word "chicken" became in his vocabulary abusive - that's what he called other parrots.

Through this experiment, Irene Pepperberg concluded that parrots capable of learning human language. By the end of his life, Alex knew more than 100 English words. He knew how to distinguish colors, shapes, materials, and also tried to express his feelings and desires. For example, he asked not to leave him alone in a dark room: “Don’t leave…”, “I’m sorry…”.

The last words Alex said to Pepperberg were, “Be nice. See you tomorrow. I love you". In his honor, the scientist founded a fund that sponsors her research, and wrote book "Alex and Me"

Is it possible to create a zoological version of "Google Translate"

If the experiments described above were still relatively successful, then why doesn’t a translator from gorilla into Russian still exist? Because in all the studies there was one problem: instead of trying to master the language of animals, scientists they waited for sounds similar to human speech to come out of the mouth of a parrot or the nose of a dolphin.

All of them believed that the language of people is qualitatively superior to the languages ​​of any other species, said Lawrence Doyle. This prevented them from approaching the study of the issue with the other side.

The same idea is conveyed by Professor Karen Bakker in her book The Sounds of Life.

However, this problem is solvable. Now, by words Karen Bakker, thanks to the development of digital bioacoustics, scientists can record huge amounts of data.

Small, portable and lightweight digital recording devices, similar to miniature microphones, are mounted on the body of animals or in their habitats. These gadgets continuously record sound in remote places that scientists cannot easily reach.

And then, thanks to Data Science and AI, scientists discover patterns in them. It helps them build dictionaries soundsproduced by animals.

There are already databases of whale songs and honey bee dances that Bakker writes could one day become "a zoological version of Google Translate."

For example, Elodie Brifer, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, has developed an algorithm that analyzes a pig's grunt and determines whether the animal is experiencing positive or negative emotions. Another project called DeepSqueak is helping to find out if rodents are in stressful condition.

Now you can even download applications to your phone that “translate” the sounds made by cats and dogs and reproduce the most common phrases like “Go eat”, “You can’t”, “I love you”. The quality of their decryption raises questions, so many users treat such programs as games.

Karen Bakker surethat we are on the verge of a revolution: soon we will be able to have elementary two-way conversations with animals. However, she warns, every technology has two sides of the coin.

The fact is that such bioacoustic instruments can do an excellent job of monitoring the environment and protecting endangered species. But they can also be used to hunt or exploit animals that have not previously been domesticated by humans.

And this, Karen argues, is creating a whole new control society, not to mention animal welfare issues and environmental risks.