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Billi (cat)
Billi (August 2, 2008 - June 20, 2024) was a female domestic shorthair cat who displayed behaviors that may have been human-animal communication. Billi reportedly learned over 70 words. She used a set of soundboard buttons, made by Learning Resources and FluentPet, to "talk". Billi was the subject of scientific study TheyCanTalk by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and was monitored by cameras placed in the living room of her owner Kendra Barker. Biography Billi was born on August 2, 2008. In 2009, Kendra Barker found her after she ran across a road and caused a minor car accident. Barker, a veterinarian, took Billi in when her owner couldn't be found. In May 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, Barker taught Billi to use buttons to "speak". Billi was already 11 years old by then. Barker used programmable buttons that Billi could press in succession to form "sentences", and use words such as "mad", "ouch", and "later". After a while Barker and Billi joi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augmentative And Alternative Communication
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) encompasses the communication methods used to supplement or replace speech or writing for those with impairments in the production or comprehension of spoken or written language. AAC is used by those with a wide range of speech and language impairments, including congenital impairments such as cerebral palsy, intellectual impairment and autism, and acquired conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. AAC can be a permanent addition to a person's communication or a temporary aid. Stephen Hawking, probably the best-known user of AAC, had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and communicated through a speech-generating device. Modern use of AAC began in the 1950s with systems for those who had lost the ability to speak following surgical procedures. During the 1960s and 1970s, spurred by an increasing commitment in the West towards the inclusion of disabled individuals in mainstream society and emphasis on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animals On The Internet
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from to . They have complex ecologies and interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology, and the study of animal behaviour is known as ethology. The animal kingdom is divided into five major clades, namely Porifera, Ctenophora, Placozoa, C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Individual Cats In The United States
An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in many fields, including biology, law, and philosophy. Every individual contributes significantly to the growth of a civilization. Society is a multifaceted concept that is shaped and influenced by a wide range of different things, including human behaviors, attitudes, and ideas. The culture, morals, and beliefs of others as well as the general direction and trajectory of the society can all be influenced and shaped by an individual's activities. Etymology From the 15th century and earlier (and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics) ''individual'' meant " indivisible", typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meanin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human–animal Communication
Human–animal communication is the communication observed between humans and other animals, ranging from non-verbal cues and vocalizations to the use of language. Some human–animal communication may be observed in casual circumstances, such as the interactions between pets and their owners, which can reflect a form of spoken, while not necessarily verbal dialogue. A dog being scolded is able to grasp the message by interpreting cues such as the owner's stance, tone of voice, and body language. This communication is two-way, as owners can learn to discern the subtle differences between barks or meows, and there is a clear difference between the bark of an angry dog defending its home and the happy bark of the same animal while playing. Communication (often nonverbal) is also significant in equestrian activities such as dressage. One scientific study has found that 30 bird species and 29 mammal species share the same pattern of pitch and speed in basic messages. Therefore, hum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Intelligence
Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals, including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influenced by research in ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology; the alternative name cognitive ethology is sometimes used. Many behaviors associated with the term ''animal intelligence'' are also subsumed within animal cognition. Researchers have examined animal cognition in mammals (especially primates, cetaceans, elephants, bears, dogs, cats, pigs, horses, cattle, raccoons and rodents), birds (including parrots, fowl, corvids and pigeons), reptiles (lizards, snakes, and turtles), fish and invertebrates (including cephalopods, spiders and insects). Historical background Earliest inferences The mind and behavior of non-human animals has captivated the human imagination for centuries. Many writers, such as Desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koko (gorilla)
Hanabiko, nicknamed "Koko" (July 4, 1971 – June 19, 2018) was a female western lowland gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo and cross-fostered by Francine Patterson for use in ape language experiments. Koko gained public attention as the subject of two National Geographic cover stories and, in 1985, the best-selling children's picture book, ''Koko's Kitten''. Koko became the world's most famous representative of her critically endangered species. Koko's communication skills were hotly debated. Koko used many signs adapted from American Sign Language, but the scientific consensus to date remains that she did not demonstrate the syntax or grammar required of true language. Patterson has been widely criticized for misrepresenting Koko's skills, providing insufficient care for Koko and her companion gorillas, and inappropriate treatment of Gorilla Foundation staff members. Despite such controversies, Koko's story changed the public image of gorillas, previously assumed to be bra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clever Hans
Clever Hans (; ) was a horse that appeared to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks during exhibitions in Germany in the early 20th century. In 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing these mental tasks, but was watching the reactions of his trainer. The horse was responding directly to involuntary cues in the body language of the human trainer, who was entirely unaware that he was providing such cues. In honour of Pfungst's study, this type of artifact in research methodology has since been referred to as the ''Clever Hans effect'' and has continued to be important to the observer-expectancy effect and later studies in animal cognition. Pfungst was an assistant to German philosopher and psychologist Carl Stumpf, who incorporated the experience with Hans into his further work on animal psychology and his ideas on Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. Spectacle During the early twentieth century, the public was espec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bunny (dog)
Bunny (born c. August 2019) is a sheepadoodle who has reportedly learned 92 words using a set of soundboard buttons, made by FluentPet, to "talk". Bunny first rose to prominence when she went viral on video-sharing platform TikTok. Bunny has 8 million followers on TikTok as of September 2022. Bunny is currently the subject of scientific study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego. She is part of the TheyCanTalk study, and is monitored by cameras placed in the living room of her owner Alexis Devine. Biography Bunny was born around August 2019. Her exact date of birth remains unknown. She is a sheepadoodle mix. Her owner, Alexis Devine, always planned for Bunny to learn how to talk. She researched communication and cognition in canines, as well as dog training. Devine also cited the work of Christina Hunger, a speech pathologist, who had been teaching her dog to speak using augmentative and alternative communication. Hunger used programmable buttons that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex (parrot)
Alex (May 18, 1976 – September 6, 2007) was a grey parrot and the subject of a thirty-year experiment by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and later at Harvard University and Brandeis University. When Alex was about one year old, Pepperberg bought him at a pet shop. In her book "Alex & Me", Pepperberg describes her unique relationship with Alex and how Alex helped her understand animal minds. Alex was an acronym for avian language experiment, or avian learning experiment. Before Pepperberg's work with Alex, it was widely believed in the scientific community that a large primate brain was needed to handle complex problems related to language and understanding; birds were not considered to be intelligent, as their only common use of communication was mimicking and repeating sounds to interact with each other. However, Alex's accomplishments supported the idea that birds may be able to reason on a basic level and use words creatively. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kanzi
Kanzi (October 28, 1980 – March 18, 2025), also known by the lexigram (from the character 太), was a male bonobo who was the subject of several studies on great ape language. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo since the 1990s, Kanzi exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude. Biography Kanzi was born to Lorel and Bosandjo at Yerkes Field Station at Emory University in 1980. Shortly after birth, Kanzi was stolen and adopted by a more dominant female, Matata, the matriarch of the group. In 1985, Kanzi was moved to the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. He was later relocated, along with his sister, Panbanisha, to the Great Ape Trust, in Des Moines, Iowa. The ill-fated facility, founded in 2004 by local businessman, Ted Townsend, closed after losing funding, experiencing allegations of neglect, and a flood. In 2013, the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative (ACCI), under the direction of Jared Tagl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yerkish
Yerkish is an artificial language developed for use by human, non-human primates. It employs a Computer keyboard, keyboard whose keys contain ''lexigrams'', symbols corresponding to objects or ideas. Lexigrams were notably used by the Georgia State University Language Research Center to communicate with bonobos and Common chimpanzee, chimpanzees. Researchers and primates were able to communicate using lexigram boards made in up to three panels with a total of 384 keys. Context The Yerkish language was developed by Ernst von Glasersfeld and used by Duane Rumbaugh and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh of Georgia State University while working with primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Primates were taught to communicate by means of a lexigram board, a computerized array of keys labeled with lexigrams. Von Glasersfeld coined the term "lexigram" in 1971, created the first 120 of them, and designed the grammar that regulated their combinat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
