Use the links to answer the Animal language research questions. Then complete the concept map on page two
1. Dolphin
website research
2. Chimps
http://science.howstuffworks.com/zoology/mammals/chimps-learn-language.htm
Dolphin Language
1. What is the language instinct? Do you think this instinct is social or biological?
2. What are some examples of dolphin communication skills?
Beyond echolocation, clicking and whistling, dolphins communicate with a variety of body language signals including tail and flipper slapping
on water, leaping out of water, bumping each other and spy hopping.
3. Compare the dolphin communication system to Human language.
Bottlenose dolphins learn language the same way humans do: they begin by babbling. Gradually, they learn the rules of their language and by
20 months, their communication patterns conform to the same language laws as adult human speech.
4. How do dolphins use vocalizations for communication? How is dolphin vocalization limited?
Dolphins also communicate through a series of clicking sounds and whistles, each with their own unique vocal pitch. These differences in
vocal pitch are essential to communicating within the pod so dolphins can decipher who's speaking. A dolphin does not have vocal cords in its
larynx. Sounds are probably produced by air movements in the nasal passage. Bottlenose dolphins can produce both clicks and whistles at the
same time.
5. Do you think dolphins use a language? Explain your conclusion.
I do believe that dolphins use a language. The reason i feel this way is because all dolphins seem to communicate with each other clearly.
When one speaks the other speaks.
Chimpanzee Language skills
1. What is gene FOXP2? What other animals have the gene?
Forkhead box protein P2 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the FOXP2 gene. FOXP2 is a member of the forkhead box family of
transcription factors, proteins that regulate gene expression by binding to DNA. Similar FOXP2 proteins can be found in songbirds, fish, and
reptiles such as alligators.
2. Explain the vocal theory and gestural theory of communication.
The Gestural Theory states that human language was developed from gestures that were a primitive form of communication, as opposed to the
vocal signals that might have been adopted by non-human primates. Vocal communication of emotion refers to the process wherein speakers
express emotions by modulating nonverbal aspects of their speech, and listeners utilize the nonverbal aspects of speech in order to make
inferences about the emotional experience of the speaker.
3. Who was Washoe and what was she able to do? Does this prove language skills in apes?
A female common chimpanzee who was the first non-human to learn to communicate using American Sign Language (ASL) as part of a
research experiment on animal language acquisition. Washoe learned approximately 350 signs of ASL, also teaching her adopted son Loulis
some signs.
4. Why was Nim Chimpsky’s communication skills limited?
Nim Chimpsky was a chimpanzee and the subject of an extended study of animal language acquisition at Columbia University. Nim continued
to show signs of the sign language he learned decades ago whenever a former trainer at the Institute for Primate Studies went to visit him.
5. What human language skills have proved to be too complex for rhesus monkeys and chimpanzees?
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