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Asked by fierylittle1 to Kate, Kieren, Nicola, Rowena, Roy on 14 Mar 2014.
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Kate Nicholson answered on 14 Mar 2014:
Most animals can’t articulate their vocal chords and tongues the same way we do to form words (although some birds are very good at it!) Some chimps descended from Washoe have learned to talk using American Sign Language, and this skill has been passed on from one generation to another, although they use a lot less words than we do! Most animals will communicate in their own languages, and not all of it is vocal – just watch the dog whisperer and you will get the idea.
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Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 14 Mar 2014:
Their vocal chords. The majority of language comes in intonation and gesture, with only 7% being from the words we use, so you can get a very complicated language without using words. I suppose this means there isn’t a huge evolutionary advantage to develop vocal chords which can handle more complex sounds and would allow animals to talk. Although birds like parrots and mynahs do have the vocal set up to talk like humans they don’t understand what the words mean, but studies like the sign language one on monkeys that Kate mentions showed that these animals do understand what they’re saying they just don’t use words!
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