From Chris Eve, Dundee, UK
What a fascinating article about deciphering animal languages with AI. It is about time because, to date, a few dogs and chimpanzees seem to have learned far more of ours than we have of theirs(30 August, p 36).
I hope someone tries it with wild Brazilian macaws (which would be easy to set up). These birds mate for life and rear their single young for nine months. What takes so long to teach? And what is the medium of instruction?
I once witnessed a 10-minute conversation back and forth between two macaws perched far apart in a tall tree – mainly vocal, but through gesturing, too. One syllable in the conversation was much louder than all the rest, after which one of them flew to perch together with the other. I have wondered if what I saw was a marriage ceremony.
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