Recent AI and other technological advances could soon make it possible to chat with animals
In the animated film Upa noisy dog wears an electronic collar that translates his dog thoughts into English words. “My master made me this necklace,” he tells his new acquaintances. “He’s a good and intelligent master and he made me this necklace so I can talk – SQUIRREL!”
In fiction, it is a familiar piece of technology, a tool capable of decoding squeaks, meows, clicks, etc. animals in understandable human language. The science fiction trope works both ways. In the cartoon Rick and Mortyfor example, a translator lets Morty, a human boy, eavesdrop on squirrels who run a global criminal cabal. Their quick, cute little voices talk about coups, the overthrow of the world order and chemtrails.
Here in the world of nonfiction, anyone who owns a pet has probably wondered at one time or another what’s going on inside that inscrutable little head. Scientists can’t say. But there’s reason to think that devices that decode animal sounds into language humans can understand won’t be works of science fiction forever.
Advances in computing power, artificial intelligence, and sound measurement methods promise to speed up this translation process, turning animal chatter into information that can be decoded by humans.
Of course, some animals can already speak to us – also in our favorite languages. Neuroscientist Erich Jarvis tells the story of a parrot who left his California home. He came back years later speaking Spanish, says Jarvis, of Rockefeller University in New York.
This kind of language skills is rare. The mental abilities and physiological flexibility necessary to imagine a message and make complex vocal sounds to convey it are traits found in less than 1 percent of vertebrate species, says Michael Long, a neuroscientist at New York University. And with rare exceptions, none really speak our language. But this gap is not insurmountable.
“Animals speak – to put it very freely – with more dynamism than we have ever given them credit for,” says Long.
Dolphins and whales, like parrots, can be good conversation starters with people. In 2023, scientists were able to use a decoded “hello” from a whale to briefly chat with an Alaskan humpback whale. It wasn’t exactly sparkly; the exchange consisted of a volley of whale whips, translated as “hello” in English. However, it was an interspecies discussion. Another group of researchers has since discovered that whale language sharing statistical properties with those spoken by humans. With this kind of progress, we may soon be exchanging krill recipes.
Some of Jarvis’ research includes genetically engineered mice to produce more complex sounds. He and his colleagues are studying key genes that are active in good vocal learners. Mice with a human version of a protein called NOVA1, for example, makes more complex vocalizations. To be clear, this isn’t a talking mouse situation yet. But research is progressing quickly.
Long notes that communicating with animals doesn’t require a fancy sci-fi gadget. “Animals are broadly expressive,” he says. The sad meows of a cat sitting near its empty food plate are no great mystery. Some messages don’t even require a voice conduit. Mongolian gerbils, for example, strike the ground with percussion. Dances, postures and colors can all convey messages.
So while we wait for a gadget that translates our pets’ thoughts into words, let’s consider the wildly variable ways animals communicate. Long’s cats, for example, have a lot to say, making their needs and desires “very, very transparent.” However, if ever a cat-human translator existed, Long’s message to one of his cats would be short, sweet and practical: “I would tell him not to sit too close to the stove when I’m cooking. I think that’s it.”
