STORY: INSTINCTIVE COMMUNICATION

There are so many ways we communicate. Of course, there’s spoken language: sounds, vocabulary, grammar. So many languages are spoken around the world – by humans and by non-humans. Some of it we hear, like howling wolves, singing whales, buzzing cicadas. Some of it we don’t; bat clicks, for example, lie just beyond our range of hearing.

But communication is more than talking. It’s also visual, like the pulsating colour changes of a squid. It’s choreography, like the dance of a bee. It’s chemical, like the pheromones of a moth. It’s by touch, like two budgies grooming each other’s feathers.

Communication can be a challenge even if you both belong to the same species, but what happens if you’re trying to communicate across species? How do you make each other understand? What signs, symbols, and gestures are common ground? And what happens if you don’t understand each other?