Arik Kershenbaum
Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication by Arik Kershenbaum explores the possible reasons why six specific species of animals communicate. The six animal species Kershenbaum focuses on are wolves, dolphins, parrots, hyrax, gibbons, and chimpanzees. Each chapter includes some fun facts about the species. Kershenbaum then moves to human communication, exploring definitions of what constitutes a language and to what degree we can truly communicate with animals and they with us.
Kershenbaum analyzes the different sounds animals make through the use of a spectrogram which visually represents sounds in time and in pitch. By studying the spectrogram, we can picture animal sounds in our heads. He offers some interesting insights on animal communication, categorizing the different sounds they make and suggesting a correlation between a specific sound and the event that triggered it. He provides fascinating examples of two-way communication between animals and humans.
Animals have species-specific methods of communicating which are governed by a number of factors, including the nature of their habitats, the availability of resources, mating rituals, and predator warning signals. Kershenbaum cautions us against imposing our meanings on animal communication and argues that in order to understand what animals are communicating and why they are communicating, we have to view the world through their set of lenses and not through ours.
Kershenbaum is at pains to argue against the idea that human communication is somehow superior to animal communication. Animal communication evolved to the degree necessary to suit the needs of the specific species inhabiting that specific environment. Our language, which is immeasurably more complex than the “language” of animals, evolved to suit the needs of our immeasurably more complex social environment. Human language is not necessarily superior to animal talk—just different.
Underlying his study is Kershenbaum’s plea for humility in our treatment of animals and when studying their oral and non-oral methods of communication.
Full of interesting insights on animal behavior, the study takes a measured approach to the subject of animal talk.