Beastly Banter: New Book Highlights Debate Over Animals’ Language Skills

From the days of Melampus, the soothsayer of Greek mythology who conspired with termites and vultures, right up to Mr. Ed, the idea of talking animals is one that won’t go away.

A quick look around shows that time has hardly changed things. For years, researchers have studied the songs of birds and whales, hoping to suss out a secret language. The cover story of the March issue of National Geographic, “Inside Animal Minds,” tells of a border collie with a 340-word vocabulary and a bonobo who understands more than 1,000 words. Last month, researchers reported that they had developed a computer program that successfully deciphers dog barks.

And today marks the release of what might be the first biography of a laboratory research animal, “The Chimp Who Would Be Human” (Bantam, $23). Written by Elizabeth Hess, it tells the story of the chimpanzee who became the center of a bitter debate in the 1970s over whether animals possess what could be called language. Publisher’s Weekly states that the book “captures Nim’s legendary charm, mischievous sense of humor, and keen understanding of human beings.”

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Tags: Animal-esque Books, Birds, Bonobo, Border Collies, Chimpanzees, Elizabeth Hess, Melampus, National Geographic, Termites, The Chimp Who Would Be Human, Vultures, Whales