At the turn of the 20th century, a famous horse named Clever Hans toured Germany. The horse stunned crowds as his trainer demonstrated the animal's alleged ability to understand German, tell time and ...

Language was long understood as a human-only affair. New research suggests that isn’t so. Credit...Illustration by Denise Nestor Supported by By Sonia Shah Can a mouse learn a new song? Such a ...

In the 1970s a young gorilla known as Koko drew worldwide attention with her ability to use human sign language. But skeptics maintain that Koko and other animals that “learned” to speak (including ...

There are many famous examples of animals who seem to understand human language. But is there any real science behind them? When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

In 2016, according a study by the GFK Group, it was estimated that more than half of the world's population owned a pet, with the stars of the household being cats, dogs, fish and birds. But even if ...

We’ve been wondering what goes on inside the minds of animals since antiquity. Dr. Doolittle’s talent was far from novel when it was first published in 1920; Greco-Roman literature is lousy with ...

Sophie Cohen-Bodénès knew she was onto something when she saw the cuttlefish extend two arms upwards while twisting its six others together. It was making what she calls the “up” sign – and, ...

Little scientific work has been done on the “language” of animals. Partly because most animals are not very gabby, partly because they are shy, until lately the only available collections of animal ...

With artificial intelligence and painstaking study of sperm whales, scientists hope to understand what these aliens of the deep are talking about. Sperm whales, including this adult and calf swimming ...

A rescue cat using "sign language" when hungry has taken over TikTok. In a clip shared by user @ohcharliecat on January 24, a ginger tabby called Charlie can be seen putting his paws together and ...