We humans are blessed with five senses, namely sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Some people also have a special sense, known as the sixth sense, the X-factor, that differentiates them from the rest of the world. But do animals also possess the same? If not the sixth sense, do they possess the other five basic senses. The most precious “power” that we possess is the capability to speak, to write scripts, to form languages, which enables us to communicate and keep our point of view in front of others, whereas there is another world that we share this globe with. The world of animals, that are debarred from such ability, such mental development. All they can do is bark (in case of dogs) or show what they are feeling, through their gestures, just like human babies.
The question that arises is if baby animals are in many ways comparable to baby humans, why does only human family have a possession and good hold over all the five senses, and also the ability to speak, or simply, why can’t animals speak? Why can they produce just one kind of sound? This reminds me of the cartoon program, “Pokemon”, in which, each pokemon could recite nothing other than their own names. They used to express their feelings by bringing a variation in the way, they recited their names. That idea was picked up from the nature, in which, each animal cannot produce any other sound other than a particular one.
It has been observed that since evolution, humans have developed their brains so efficiently that they can run millions of calculations simultaneously in their brain, without even knowing what their brain is up to. If you believe in God, then it can be agreed upon that God gave a special brain to human beings, a little partiality was done with us, but that partiality was to maintain a cycle of nature. This whole world is planned in such a manner. This developed brain of humans has enabled them to converse with anyone in numerous manners, but the only family we can’t converse with is those of the speechless. Numerous tries have been made to translate what animals speak into some language that humans could understand. The language known by humans in the present generation also saw an evolution with time. Earlier, the mode of conversation used to be drawings on walls. It doesn’t date back that long when scripts and vedas were framed, which led to the formation of the modern language.
Animals couldn’t go through that phase so quickly. They developed their own methods, like dolphins that can communicate with the help of water waves, bats that use ultrasound. Such technology has been developed by humans after large number of experimentation, and it is ironical that other species developed them in the prehistoric times. The only thing that lacks now is cross communication, that is communication from the human family to the non-human family and vice-versa. Hopefully that time is also not far away when we would be able to communicate with animals, and communication is always a two-way process.
One of the reasons, humans can communicate in such a proper manner is the environment, the surroundings they are raised in. A small baby is made to speak “Mama” or “Papa” by reciting these words in front of them again and again. This continuous flow of the same word into their ears make them try uttering those words, which is the first stage of learning. The only words that animal hear is a bark, a hiss or other such words. Even if they are capable of hearing to a recurring sound of human beings, their mind is not much capable of processing it and letting them try those words. It has been observed that after proper training, dogs do understand the commands like “Sit”, “Stand” etc. and follow those commands. That is their brain processing those words as commands. In case of some of the parrots, they cram and recite the same thing, without having the understanding of what it means. It is just human nature to find a meaning to everything.
Just like humans can communicate with fellow humans only, similarly animals can communicate with their fellow specie only.
Have you ever noticed, there is a small sound always speaking in the back of your head, that no one else can hear other than you. Talking to that sound is known as “Thinking”. Can you describe the sound of it? Does it know anything else other than you know? Ever pondered upon the possibility that if every other specie has that sound in the back of their heads? Do they also think? If so, then what does that sound speak? In case of a dog, does it continuously keep on saying “Bark! Bark!”, and that is the way they think or is it something else? If they can also think then if given proper aid and help, would they also be able to develop their brains as we humans were able to? These questions remain unanswered. Researches continue, thousands of experiments take place everyday to get an answer to these unanswered questions, but still, in spite of development of much technology by human beings, these questions remain unanswered. Study of brain waves of various animals and comparing them with those of human beings do solve some of the mysteries, but among millions of questions, we only have achieved answers to a couple of questions, which cannot be termed as a huge achievement.