Let the owner of a pet who has never spoken to his little companion raise his paw. Person ? Normal, we all know very well that in a certain way, they understand us, that a real exchange exists. Unfortunately we do not have an automatic translator that allows a frank discussion. Not yet…
We are even very far from it. But this is nevertheless what zoosemiotics tends towards. Let’s cut it straight away: these are not telepaths, clairvoyants or other scammers who claim to communicate with your animal through thought. No, we are talking here about real experts who study and decipher the language and the language of animals of all kinds.
Researchers in language sciences, historians, ethologists, veterinarians… A large number of skills are found in the French Society of Zoosemiotics (SFZ) founded in 2017 at the Sorbonne. A scholarly name which hides the study of signs applied to animals.
Some animals are “sentient” beings
“This discipline aims to make animals speak,” explains Astrid Guillaume, lecturer in semiotics at Sorbonne University and founder of the SFZ. Not in the first sense of the term of course, “but we seek to understand their language and their language,” she adds. Great, but really, apart from knowing if our cat slept well (we know very well that yes), what’s the point? “Simply to understand them better and to respect them more,” explains Astrid Guillaume, “because they are sentient beings. »
After the recognition of animals as sentient beings (who feel pain, heat, cold, etc.) in 2015 in France, the SFZ is now working to have certain animals recognized as beings who feel emotions (fear, joy, the anguish, the farce…).
The SFZ has already achieved a first victory with the entry of the word “sentience” into the Larousse in 2020 and is currently working on establishing a list of these animals, including all vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) but also others like the octopus, and perhaps even certain insects.
Name to bring into existence
Because yes, this battle begins with words. “As long as things are not named, they do not exist. We therefore have to create terminology,” explains Astrid Guillaume, who admits that the task is not easy. “There is a lot of reluctance, reluctance in a sometimes quasi-religious attitude to recognize the emotions and intelligence of animals. »
Firstly because we are in the country of gastronomy, and recognizing these qualities in animals could call into question the very fact of eating them and their treatment. But also because philosophy has often rejected the idea, in the movement of Descartes who saw in animals only soulless machines to be exploited. “For many philosophers, an animal will never be intelligent until it has written an encyclopedia. » Yet an animal has already done it… Humans! “If you talk to a biologist, the question doesn’t even arise, humans are one animal among others. »
There already exist animal dictionaries
But to avoid scratching these sensitive souls, Astrid Guillaume takes precautions and prefers to use terms such as zoolangue (for sound exchanges) and zoolangage (for gestures and behaviors). And during this time, researchers from all sides are recording, observing, analyzing animals to first decipher their language.
“We have many, many studies that show these sound exchanges. In cetaceans or cats for example,” explains the academic. What is often wrongly considered as simple chants or vociferations are in reality real dialogues. “In the gibbon, for example, we know that if the threat comes from the sky, with an eagle for example, or from the ground, with a snake, the cry will be different, with a different volume, a different frequency, etc. »
In many species, it is possible, without yet understanding the deeper message, to identify it, whether it is a message of danger, emergency, protection, reproduction. For certain cases like the gibbon, the sophistication is such, and the studies so advanced, that there even exists a dictionary. An achievement that the SFZ would like to extend to other species.
Whales with accents
And like humans, there are multiple types of individuals. “In cats, for example, we know that the Siamese are much more talkative than the Europeans, that the Persians go very high in the high notes,” explains Astrid Guillaume.
Better still, some animals can even have… accents. “There are dialects in certain species. We see among large cetaceans that travel around the world that they learn songs with certain accents which they then transmit to their community of origin. This is also the case with all travelers, whether birds or wolves. These are zoodialects and by comparing them to the original song, we see nuances appear. »
A team from the SFZ is also working with the company Dassault Systèmes on electronic tools and artificial intelligence to achieve semantic sequencing which could make it possible to understand these “songs”.
Behavior for exchanging between species
But language is not the only way animals communicate. The gesture and the behavior are also there. Moreover, zoolanguage is what allows different species to communicate with each other. “There are some common behaviors such as showing one’s teeth when attacked or intimidated. A cat does not wag its tail if it is happy, unlike a dog. But if they spend time together, each will understand the other’s language. A bit like if you meet a stranger, without a common language, through gestures, you will end up creating your own language. »
Zoolanguage also allows us to study the culture of species. Because yes, there is an animal culture which is even recognized by the Ministry of Culture (another success of the SFZ). “By culture, we mean everything that involves transmission and learning. For example, if you bring an adult cat together with a little one, it will teach it things: how to wash itself, for example. If the first cat dies, and another kitten is brought in, the other will teach it what it learned from the first. It’s transmission. »
The game, the prank used to transmit between animals
We can also see it in certain monkeys who learn to break fruit with stones or wash small potatoes. “This is very visible in animals that hunt in packs like orcas or wolves. While the older ones train to occupy space to block prey, putting strategies in place, which denotes very high intelligence, particularly collective intelligence, the smaller ones observe and learn,” explains Astrid Guillaume, who confides that as with humans, we see certain individuals more intelligent or more athletic than others.
And as with humans, this transmission can happen through play, through pranks. “Among primates, the notion of humor is increasingly recognized. In cats, this often involves surprise, hiding to surprise the other. We even find it in certain fish which have been discovered to have a very rich life and zoolanguages. Thanks to the underwater microphones, we could hear exchanges. »
AI to “crack the code of animal language”?
All the understanding of animals could be all the more useful for their condition as climate change threatens them, as the researcher explains: “With the ice cap melting, we are not going to recreate icebergs, but we are perhaps going to know how the animals are doing, where the limits of acceptability are for their organism. » This is why the SFZ also works with lawyers to develop the law towards more recognition of animal intelligence and more protection.
Moreover, the SFZ has already integrated into its charter that zoosemiotics must not be used against the interests of animals. “Understanding and interacting with animals should not be used to exploit them or to use them in times of war for example, as has already been the case with dogs or dolphins,” assures Astrid Guillaume.
Because perhaps one day we will truly be able to fully understand animals and their needs. A team is currently working in the United States on an AI-based translator that could ultimately “break the code of animal language” and act as a “Rosetta Stone”.