Communication With Animals Is No Longer Just For Dr. Doolittle

Jonathan Dishon
ENG 1101
Dr. Hughes
September 4, 2009
As everyone knows humans are the smartest animals on the planet, but that does not mean that other animals cannot communicate with us. They may not be able to speak our language but they find other ways to get our attention and let us know what they want. There are many ways that they can do this. For example dogs bark loudly and run to the door if they want to go outside or they will cower and whimper if they are scared. They also will jump all over you and go crazy when they see after a long time. Dogs are the prime example of how animals of what many would call lower intelligence can communicate with humans, but they are not the only ones. Another example is Koko the gorilla. Koko is able to communicate with her trainer through sign language. Koko has been brought up with sign language for in her whole life pretty much, and is now able to communicate on about the level of a toddler. This feat alone is incredible, but what is even more amazing is her ability to communicate emotions. She was given a kitten that would keep her company, and she acted very differently around the cat. She was more energetic and just seemed happier. This greatly resembles what humans do when they are either with their friends or family. She would play with the kitten all the time and developed a great affection for her new friend. So when she found out that her new friend was hit by a car and killed she was devastated. Koko was able to show her sadness by signing “bad”, “sad”, and other depressing words to her trainer. Now every animal is not able to communicate to humans through sign language, but they do have ways of doing so. Whether they change the tone of their sound, the gesture or posture of their bodies, or their attitude, they show humans what they would like to do or how they are feeling.