Kanzi’s trainers do not claim that he can create grammatical sentences, but he does produce two words and three words statements that appear spontaneous, he communicate on his actions and describes to his trainers those he intends to carry out. He uses the keyboard to communicate with other pygmy chimpanzees undergoing the same training, so as telling one to tickle the other. His sentences also represent his own response to a situation. For example, when deprived of the company of another chimpanzee called Austin, Kanzi apparently felt lonely without the normal bedtime visit from his friend. After several nights, he punches the symbols for Austin and TV on his keyboard, and was shown a videotape of Austin, after which he went happily to sleep.
There is no evidence yet that animals are capable of abstract ideas or of active conversations. Even if we do improve our understanding of how they communicate, they may not have anything of enormous interest to say to us.
Picture Credit : Google