Why cant animals learn to speak? Even though some animals have much bigger brains then we do?

Question: Why cant animals learn to speak? Even though some animals have much bigger brains then we do?

Asked by evee to MarkF, Mark, Michael, Panos, Sarah on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- Mark Fogg answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  Animals do speak to each other, it’s just we stupid humans don’t understand what they’re saying. OK then, parrots can be pretty good at it. 😉
  We’ve been pretty fortunate in the evolutionary lottery to have the cartilage and skin in our throats that makes the voice box and have it combined with a big brain, but who’s to say that’s the pinnacle of evolutionary communication? Human speech is just one way of communicating amongst thousands. Cats purr, dogs wag their tails, chimps screech, insects excrete chemicals, birds chirp and bacteria ooze communicative goo (not the technical term I might add). Human speech is nothing more than a bog standard method of communication. However, I’d love to know the thoughts of a Dolphin (huge brain) on whether it thinks speaking underwater, like a human, is really a very good idea. 😉
- Michael Loughlin answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  well here is a link about how animals can communicate ( i especially like the bee dance)
  http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/snot/can_animals_talk_and_what_do_they_say.aspx
  well this is the answer i gave to someone else
  
  i thinkthe main barrier is we use words as symbols as things to replace real things…so we might say ball..which links in our mind to all the things that ball remidns us of…to an animal if they are trained..then they will go…”ah ball thats , that noise which means if i got fetch a ball i get a treat”…its not “ahh ball thats the word for ball”
  i think its that jump that is the main barrier..aninmals can learn what symbols or words get a certain response..but no evidence they can use words or symbols to rpelace an object in meaning….if that makes sense
  
  and to add to it…I think they can communicate well enough with each other, and sometiems other species through sound, boddy language , smell etc
  just not our own particluar very sound orientated way of communicating..which is ahrd enough foir us to master other languages of our own species
- Panos Soultanas answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  Hello evee,
  
  A lot of animals have diverse ways of communicating either by different types of sounds or behaviours. Their different anatomies means that many do not have the necessary vocal cords to produce the complex sounds we can but they can produce and hear other sounds sometimes that we cannot hear or produce ourselves.
  
  Our brains are very complex organs and the complexity of neurone connections and development has resulted in our intelligence and dominance as a living species. Although animals do not have a well developed speach they can learn some words and respond accordingly i.e. they can develop understanding of a small vocabulary. As their brains are getting challenged they can develop even more complex ways of communicating and who knows in some cases after many years of further evolution they may develop complex speech too.
- Sarah Burl answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  the size of the brain is not the important part but the size of the fissures (crevaces in the brain) that count, well that is what I remeber someone at school telling me. Animlas do speak but in their own language. Some animals can immitate humans like parrots but they don’t use this as a language. Animals lack a higher consciousness so they are more instinctual as their needs are simple; food, sleep, reproduce! Did you know a honey bee can count?

Question: Why cant animals learn to speak? Even though some animals have much bigger brains then we do?

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