Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication

by Arik Kershenbaum, John Hastings (Narrator)

"Animal communication doesn’t need to resemble human language to be full of meaning and nuance. Arik Kershenbaum delivers an expert overview of the astonishing discoveries made in the last few decades" —Frans de Waal

From leading zoologist Arik Kershenbaum, a delightful and groundbreaking exploration of animal communication and its true meaning

Animal communication has forever seemed intelligible. We are surrounded by animals and the cacophony of sounds that they make—from the chirping of songbirds to the growls of lions on the savanna—but we have yet to fully understand why animals communicate the way they do. What are they saying? This is only part of the mystery. To go deeper, we must also ask, what is motivating them?

Why Animals Talk is an exhilarating journey through the untamed world of animal communication. Following his international bestseller, The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy, acclaimed zoologist Arik Kershenbaum draws on extensive original research to reveal how many of the animal kingdom’s most seemingly confusing or untranslatable signals are in fact logical and consistent—and not that different from our own. His fascinating deep dive into this timeless subject overturns decades of conventional wisdom, inviting readers to experience for the first time communication through the minds of animals themselves.

From the majestic howls of wolves and the enchanting chatter of parrots to the melodic clicks of dolphins and the spirited grunts of chimpanzees, these often strange expressions are far from mere noise. In fact, they hold secrets that we are just beginning to decipher. It’s one of the oldest mysteries that has haunted Homo sapiens for hundreds of thousands of Are animals talking just like us, or are we the only animals on the planet to have our own language?


* This audiobook edition contains a downloadable PDF with charts and pictures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Animals, Nature, Biology, Audiobook, Linguistics

Audible Audio

Published August 6, 2024

About the author

Dr Arik Kershenbaum is a zoologist, College Lecturer, and Fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge. He has researched animal vocal communication for the past ten years in Europe, Israel and the United States and has published more than twenty academic publications on the topic. He is also a member of the international board of advisors for METI.org, a think tank on the topic of Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. Arik has done extensive field work on animal communication, following wolves around Yellowstone National Park and the forests of central Wisconsin to uncover the meaning of their different kinds of howls, as well as decoding the whistles of dolphins among the coral reefs of the Red Sea, and the songs of hyraxes in the Galilee

Reviews

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. While I appreciated the author's passion for the subject, I do have to say this listened more like a lengthy college lecture than a fascinating nonfiction work. The complete lack of any personal notes or humor thrown in just gave it a very standard, droning feel, and while I adore animals and all things nature, I often found my attention span wandering.

[Nima Mf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main lesson of this book for me is that we don't need to find similarities between animal and human communication to appreciate the former. Animals are not lesser humans - which seems to be suggested by those apparent animal advocates arguing for continuity between language and animal signals. Animal communication is perfect, it's perfect for the functions that drove its evolution, not because it's language-like.

[Mary Arkless · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from the library. I am the first person to have borrowed this book. :)

This is a rather interesting read for the total layperson. The author is also rather amusing. Quick read as a comparatively small book.

[Maria Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this, and perhaps misunderstood the premise slightly. I found the way that the research was introduced and explained to be rather confusing for this lay person, and it really impacted my enjoyment.

[Salty Swift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between the covers we learn why some animals talk among themselves but not how to get them to communicate with us....

[Uli Vogel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gained quite a few insights. The final chapter is simply brilliant.

[Migdalia Jimenez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kershenbaum, a distinguished zoologist, explores the fascinating, wide and wild world of animal communication, dedicating each chapter to one of six animals: wolves, dolphins, parrots, hyraxes, gibbons and chimpanzees.

Each one of these extraordinary animals provides a unique perspective, into their biology and habitat, and how their communication is shaped by them. In attempting to answer the age-old question -why animals talk- Kershenbaum delves deeply into the question of animal intelligence and the very concept and origin of language itself.

This well-researched and passionate book is for readers who are curious about animals and enjoy reading about the natural world in a manner that does not prioritize human experience nor does it assert human superiority, but rather situates humanity within the broader context of the Animal Kingdom.

Fans of Temple Grandin and Ed Yong will want to pick this one up.

[D.J. Desmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot of research put into this book. The book answers what it sets out to answer, and I appreciate that as a reader. Animal communication seems to have 65% of their research figured out, with the other 35% still mostly unknown. Funny enough, that's probably due to the fact that animals can't just tell us their communication systems, AND they tend to "Toy Story" us by ceasing communication once we get too close.

Basically, I like the organization and the openness, but I was hoping for more information that (no fault to anyone) isn't available yet.

I don't rate it high b/c the reading experience was good but nothing special. Felt like I was reading many articles on animals, which is what I signed up for but there's a level of spice that authors can add to any writing, even nonfiction.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still don't really understand what a hyrax is, despite the photography, but this author told me that it was trying to communicate something out there, so I think it has to exist somewhere in the world.

I also absolutely love dolphins, having played Ecco the Dolphin until the adaptor started to smoke.

There are other animals here too like parrots and more. I remember having a bird on my shoulder from age five to seventeen. It was hard when he passed away.

However in this book you and I can find remnants of animals like him and similar ones, as well!

[Scott Bolick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that is well structured and easy to follow. The author does a great job of highlighting how different animals communicate based on their needs, not based on how we would like them to communicate. I learned at least a few things from each section which I always count as a win.

[honey · Rating 4 out of 5]

“But it is a genuinely helpful way to remember how to think about animal language. They have what they need: no more, no less. No matter how similar to us, their communication is not like ours - it's precisely like theirs. As it should be.”

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Very good introduction to animal communication, also for biology undergrads

[Alex Hartburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, a solid argument to move away from human exceptionalism!

[Twirlsquirrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really wanted to love this. Gave it several tries. Eventually made it near the end of the audiobook before giving up in frustration.

There are fascinating tidbits, like when Alex the grey parrot sees himself in a mirror, asks what color he is seeing, and is taught the word "grey"...but even in those tidbits there are problems.

For example, the author says that Alex's interaction is "the only instance of a nonhuman asking a direct question" - a very strong claim, and obviously wrong!

Consider Bunny the dog, who uses an English button board to ask direct questions of his caretaker, with the interactions recorded for the whole world to see. Is the author referring to something other than dynamics like this when he makes his claim about Alex? Did he intend rather to write something more specific - perhaps "the only instance of a nonhuman asking a direct question about the nature of its own unique identity"?

Or is the author simply unaware of Bunny? This would represent a startling failure of due diligence for an animal communication expert researching a pop science book on animal communication in a Western market where the average reader is likely to have direct communication experience with dogs.

This book also often fails to ask the obvious next questions. For example, was Alex interested in his own color because he recognized that he was seeing himself? The author doesn't pursue this line of reasoning at all, which is strange considering how prominently the question of selfhood features in the later chapter on chimpanzee language.

More importantly, was Alex actually seeing a dazzling array of UV patterns on himself, which the human researcher mistakenly identified as "grey" because our species lacks UV photoreceptors? Given what we know about bird vision, this seems probable and represents an obvious opportunity to discuss cross-species conceptual miscommunication, which in turn seems extremely relevant to a book on animal language. Yet the author addresses none of this.

For the most part this isn't a bad book. It just doesn't say much. A lot of the book seems to be the author asking questions, telling a few tangential anecdotes of varying relevance, then concluding that no one knows. It mostly feels like padding. Sure it's important to be honest about our ignorance, but I'm reading a book like this because I already know I'm ignorant and I'm hoping to learn from someone who is less ignorant.

Organization could be better too. Here's the concluding quote from the second-to-last chapter, which is where I finally gave up: "But it is a genuinely helpful way to remember how to think about animal language: They have what they need - no more, no less. No matter how similar to us, their communication is not like ours. It's precisely like theirs...as it should be."

This is true and important, but it belongs in the intro. This is first-principles background, the kind of stuff that needs to be made clear right up front so readers and listeners can read and listen with this guiding principle in mind. Instead we don't see or hear it until we've already had five chapters of human-nonhuman linguistic comparisons, several incomplete definitions of "language", and several incomplete arguments about whether various nonhuman animals meet those incomplete definitions. Makes for a subtly but persistently frustrating experience.

There are a few statements that really bothered me, like when the author mentions that "some people would say animals have no intentions at all" and then immediately avoids dealing with that statement by saying "but intention isn't necessary for us to call something meaningful". It is obvious to everyone who isn't a solipsist or a eugenicist that nonhuman animals have intentions, that there is no magical line separating humans from our relatives in this regard. So this is like saying "Some people think only humans have a soul." It just doesn't belong in a science book on its own merits, so why include it if you're not going to deal with it properly by contextualizing it and explaining the known issues with it? Otherwise you're just giving unnecessary breathing room to the same Cartesian delusions that have already generated so much ecocide over the past several centuries of colonialism and capitalism. I don't think this was the author's intent, but I do think it's irresponsible.

Giving this three stars instead of two because I learned some genuinely interesting facts, the tone of certain passages was comforting, and the author seems to really care about the creatures he studies.

[Robin Ellsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. I loved learning about hyraxes for the first time! There were so many wonderful insights about the evolutionarily necessary communication methods of different species, specific to their social groups and habitat. There’s so much we still don’t know about what goes on in the mind of an animal, but this was a good foray into the subject.

I also really appreciated how important nonverbal communication is between humans and domesticated animals. Animal communication is driven by evolution. It makes complete sense that domesticated dogs evolved to communicate both verbally and nonverbally with humans, because so much of human communication happens nonverbally.

The ultimate lesson of this book is: animal communication doesn’t need to be similar or the same as human communication. A dog’s bark or a dolphin’s whistle does not need to be directly translatable into a human word, because a dog or a dolphin have no need for that type of communication. They have each evolved into exactly what THEY need as a species. And we can appreciate animals for exactly what they are.


I definitely want to look more into this!

[Annie O’Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

this took me so long to finish, and I chalk it up to the last four chapters being leaps and bounds more fascinating than the rest of the book. to be honest, I think a lot of this book was great, and if I were coming into it with no prior knowledge of the topic I probably would have enjoyed it more. i just don’t think i agree with him on the definition of human language and what the implications of us talking to animals are. i don’t think the key to navigating animal language is demeaning human language, even if we have only recently evolved to have it, SO WHAT. language is fantastic! I’ve seen new tools being developed (AI for bioacoustics, hearing aids and noise exposure threshold discoveries for all kinds of creatures), and i wish this could have gone into more of the tech for the future. Also, the structure of covering a new species with more complex language than the previous chapter…. this could have been sped up a bit. And not giving honeyguides a whole chapter is criminal. Overall, i liked it okay, but i think it was both too speculative and not in depth enough for my liking.

[shaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Ed Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the choice of title here is revealing — Kershembaum wants to approach animal communication from the perspective of its utility and benefit, and to do that, we need to understand not so much what animals say as why they say it. He profiles six species — dolphins, wolves, hyraxes, parrots, chimps and gibbons. Eventually, he even gets around to humans. For each, he takes us inside their lives in the wild, to see not just how they communicate but why it provides an evolutionary advantage. It’s a fascinating exercise, because it sort of turns the whole language thing on its head — and that puts human language into perspective as well. Kershenbaum makes an interesting observation toward the end that our big brains probably evolved to process the amount of sensory information we could take in, which made our rich language possible — but that language’s evolution was probably beneficial from a social perspective, and that the social benefits is why it evolved rather than died out. He also applies the Occam’s razor idea that any communication only develops if it enhances the fitness of the user — so, hyraxes don’t communicate more deeply because it wouldn’t help them to do so. That’s probably not a huge breakthrough in the field, but it was a new perspective for me. Throughout the book, Kershembaum combines science with storytelling in a compelling way, and drops little interesting tidbits — for example, wolves use two styles of vocalization, probably based on their distance from one another. He also makes it quite clear how hard this kind of research is to do in the field, which explains in part why we have such gaps in our knowledge. It’s very tough to observe dolphins and whales in the wild, but even ones we think we know, like chimps, are tough to follow, never mind shyer creatures like gibbons. Regardless, this was a fascinating book on an interesting topic, well told, well written and entertaining to read.

Grade: A

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tags: Non-fiction, Biology, Animals

Picked this up from the library.

The author, Dr. Arik Kershenbaum, a zoologist with a PhD in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology from the University of Haifa, focuses specifically on sound communication. He explains:


“Of all the different media through which animals can communicate, only sound has these four crucial properties: it can travel long distances, it travels those distances fast, it can contain a lot of information, and, crucially, sound travels around things.” (Pg 17)

The book is structured with main chapters broken into subheaders like “Can there be a chimp dictionary?” making it accessible, though having some background in reading music might help with understanding the differences in sound.

Each chapter examines a different animal (I’ve provided some of my takeaways):
Wolves – Howls, pitch, and emotion
Dolphins – Whistles and dolphin names
Parrots – Copying vs. understanding
Hyrax – Syntax and songs
Gibbons – Bond songs and balancing simplicity with complexity
Chimpanzees – Deceptive behavior and social dynamics
Humans – Language, cooperation, and communication

The author chose these species because:
“Six species that I have chosen because their complex communication shines a little light on the similarities and differences between what animals say and what we say. Six species that are champion communicators of the animal world, and yet we struggle to understand what they are saying.” (Pg 232)

Ultimately, there’s still a lot we don’t know about animal communication. The author even suggests potential research that could be done—but isn't being pursued yet.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

People enjoy hearing birds and animals communicate, but do those sounds have specific meanings? Do they make more than one sound and, if so, under what conditions?
Arik Kershenbaum undertook a study observing six species in their natural habitats: wolves dolphins, parrots, hyrax, gibbons, and chimpanzees. He discovered how they communicated quite often depended on where they were living and why they had to communicate. He also tried to link their communication with that of humans.
He tried to learn if they use syntax and created spectrograms to illustrate their sounds, which makes it much easier for us to understand the patterns.
Some animals live in groups, others are more singular. He shows that some animals have a warning sounds while others are providing information or just keeping in touch. They have special sounds for individuals they know.
Dolphins have their own names.
Male and female gibbons will sing duets.
The hyrax produces six different sounds.
Chimpanzees Communicate differently with people than they do with other chimpanzees. Their language is more complex than that of other animals.
Kershenbaum created a chart showing when singing began. For gibbons, it was 13 million years ago, for humans, 4 million.
WHY ANIMALS TALK is an unusual book. It’s scholarly but the spectrograms make it easier to visualize.

[Indra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Animal Talk" by Arik Kershenbaum is a fascinating dive into the world of animal communication, perfect for the curious layperson! 🌳 Kershenbaum, a distinguished zoologist, dedicates each chapter to one of six extraordinary animals, offering unique insights into their communication methods and habitats.

The book stands out by appreciating animal communication on its own terms, not just as a comparison to human language. It's like trying to understand a foreign culture instead of expecting it to be just like ours! 🌍 The author's amusing tone and the book's compact size make it a quick, enjoyable read.

While it's packed with well-researched information, don't expect to learn how to chat with animals yourself – it's more about understanding their intricate communication systems. 🐒🐺 The book is open about the limits of current research, with roughly 35% still shrouded in mystery.

Fans of Temple Grandin and Ed Yong will definitely want to pick this one up! However, be aware that the reading experience is more informative than thrilling. It's like reading a collection of engaging articles rather than a suspenseful novel.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5/5 – A well-researched, engaging read that could use a touch more "spice" in its storytelling.

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a great time with this audiobook! Since the subject is animal communication, clips are incorporated into the narration to provide examples of the types of animal noises being discussed. This was especially useful for animals that I'd never heard of before, like the hyrax, but also for familiar animals whose sounds I didn't know how to describe.

Each chapter focuses on a different type of animal (wolves, dolphins, parrots, hyraxes, chimpanzees, and humans), and I found this structure immensely satisfying. I also loved the references to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and I'm interested in checking out Arik Kershenbaum's other book, "The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy" sometime in the future.

Another thing that I appreciated about this book is how Kershenbaum talks about neurodivergent people. He mentioned meeting Temple Grandin and emphasized how neurodivergent students bring great perspectives and enthusiasm to the field of animal communication. Like "Accidental Astronomy" (the audiobook I listened to before this one), the author of this book felt like a cool person, someone I'd want to have for a science professor. I highly recommend this title to anyone interested in the subject matter.

[Cheryl]

I read the introduction and the conclusion. There's been lots of new research and analysis lately, but not enough to make this book anything other than premature speculation, sorry.

From the intro.
"Why animals need to talk is the important question to ask before we can answer how and what animals are saying."
"It's unhelpful to start with a conviction that animals 'must' have a language like ours, or that animals'obviously' don't say anything meaningful. Let's see what we find, and what the evidence indicates.'"
"Gibbons are apes, like humans, but unlike the rest of the apes (chimps, gorillas, orangutans, etc.), gibbons have an exceptionally complex and diverse vocal repertoire. Perhaps these long-armed relatives of ours, swinging gracefully through the jungle trees, have the closest thing to human language among our near relatives. Charles Darwin certainly thought so."

From the concl.
"We could of course, simply equate language with communication and the problem goes away, but by doing so we would be doing ourselves, and science, a great disservice.... Language *is* different from just communication, but where to draw the line isn't very clear. Perhaps for now it doesn't have to be."

September 2025

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I lost interest in this book almost from the get but pushed on to halfway before I decided to stop wasting my time.
My biggest issue was the narrator (this was the audible version) because he seemed so invested in the research done for this book. The premise was to find out if animals talk, and if they do, what are they saying, or are they just making sounds that have no meaning. My reaction was that human beings don’t even understand each other or there wouldn’t be wars or misunderstandings amongst people who supposedly speak the same language. Other species get along fine within their own groups so why should we, the so-called top-of-the-food chain species, think we can figure out the language of animals, mammals, and birds?

[Cassandra Lashae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compared to other books about non-human communication, I found this book to be better organized and easy to follow. In part because it is general and doesn't dive too deeply into any of the wheelhouses: linguistics, psychology, or biology. Also, probably in part due to the fact that we have been studying the way that animals communicate much longer than say plants and their intelligence. The author's review of older research is tactfully brought to the current century by way of research on specific types of animals that get earmarked as animals with more language than others. He relates to the animals and his own relationship with anthropomorphizing them and acknowledges the complications of how we think and question animal communication.

[Karin Künnapas · Rating 3 out of 5]

/Audiobook/

I don't think I've ever thought much about how animals communicate with each other. I assumed that they do somehow, and that's it. This is a very deep dive into a lot of research that has gone into the subject, especially with some species.

Has my world changed after reading this book? No. Will I remember all the details and research that have been put into this field? Definitely, no. Was I entertained? Yes.

I think the key thing here to remember is that we cannot compare animal communication with humans and assume that they have to have similar words and constructions in their own languages. There are different ways to communicate, and that's what they do.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was amazed at the hyraxes' "talk". What is particularly my take-away is how AK progresses through how we could define "talk" for animals by examining 10 different ones in increasing complexity of sound communication and trying to define thereby what we could mean by "animal talk/communication." The use of diagrams to analyze complex sound expressions, and spectrograms to represent discreet sounds, and visual representations of such such sounds, together with the use od AI to analyze the sound expressions is new to me and intriguing.

[Ken A · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will not learn to talk to animals reading this book.

The author examines how six animals communicate: wolves, dolphins, parrots, hyraxes, gibbons and chimpanzees. He also writes about how researchers have tried to discover what is being communicated.

Very enjoyable to read. Lots of references to explore. I will probably get the author's previous book just because I enjoyed reading this one so much.

[E-K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m normally more of a non-fiction reader (hence the long read-time!) but this book was fascinating and a terrific balance between readable and informative - interesting and not patronising. The narrative was set out in an easy-to follow sequence that built up knowledge and observations over time. References are clear and any unknowns and debated theories were honestly pointed out. Highly recommend, and I must look up Arik Kershenbaum’s other book.

[Sonja]

Solid 3.5 stars from someone academically interested in animal communication. Love the simplified spectrograms and benefited from discussion of what types of signals travel long distances/don’t. Appreciated the discussion of the function of these signals. It took me a while to read, though, because some of the chapters dragged on while feeling somewhat repetitive/not novel. Maybe okay for a novice to this area.