1. Titi Monkeys Use Sentence-Like Order.Titi monkey-talk has just been deciphered, with researchers now comparing the communication of these small primates to those of humans. The study, published in the latest issue of Biology Letters, notes that titi alarm calls specify the type of predator, such as caracara (predatory bird) or oncilla (mammalian hunter). The calls also mention where the predator is located, such as in flight or stalking on the ground.
伶猴使用语言发出指令。专家们已经破译了伶猴的语言,并将这些灵长类动物的交流方式和人类语言做比较。最新一期的《生物学快报》中刊登了他们的研究结果,指出伶猴发出叫声来区分捕食者,比如是卡拉卡拉鹰(食肉鸟类)或者小斑虎(食肉哺乳动物)。这些叫声同时还能指出捕食者所在的位置,比如是在空中或者埋伏在大地上。

The calls are emit in an orderly sequence, similar to how humans construct sentences. Lead author Cristiane Casar of the University of St. Andrews and her colleagues report it's “the first demonstration of a sequence-based alarm call system in a non-human animal that has the capacity to encode both location and type of predatory threat.
这些叫声依照顺序连续发出,和人类组成句子的方式类似。圣安德鲁大学的首席作者克里斯汀娜·卡萨尔及其同事宣称,这是“第一次证明有人类以外的动物发出有顺序且能同时告知捕食者位置和危险类型的指令系统”。

2. Dolphins name themselves withsignature whistle that include other information -- such as sex, age,mating receptivity and health status. They broadcast the names when lonely for their buddies.
海豚通过具有鲜明特征的哨声来传递信息,比如性别、年龄、交配意向和健康状况。当他们单独和自己的同伴在一起时,他们还会互相呼唤对方的名字。

Researcher Stephanie King of the University of St. Andrews Sea Mammal Research Unit told Discovery News, “Animals produced copies when they were separated from a close associate and this supports our belief that dolphins copy another animal’s signature whistle when they want to reunite with that specific individual.”
圣安德鲁斯大学海洋哺乳动物研究室的斯蒂芬妮·金研究员告诉《探索新闻》,“动物在和同伴分开后,他们会模仿对方的声音。这也印证了我们的看法:海豚会模仿其他同类的特别声音,从而找到想要和它重聚的另一方”。

3. Gorilla in the wild have their own detailed ways of communicating via calls, gestures,handclap and more. In captivity, gorillas can be trained to interact with humans using sign language.
生活在野外的大猩猩也有他们自己的交流方式,比如呼叫、打手势、拍手等等。而生活在动物园的大猩猩,也能通过训练掌握和人类交流的手语。

A gorilla named Koko, according to The Gorilla Foundation, has “a sign language vocabulary of over 1,000 words, which she uses in complex statements and questions. Most of these signs are standard American Sign Language (ASL), but some are natural gestures (intrinsic to gorillas), some are invented (untaught) and some ASL signs are slightly modified by Koko to form what we call Gorilla Sign Language (GSL).”
据大猩猩基金会介绍,一只名叫可可的猩猩“能使用手语词表达超过1000个单词,用在各种复杂的陈述句和疑问句中。在这些手语中,大部分是标准美国手语(即ASL),但也有很多是自然手势(大猩猩与生俱来的),还有一些是他自创的(而非别人教的),另外,还有一些标准美国手语被可可略微改动形成了我们所说的大猩猩标准手语(即GSL)。”

 

4. An Asian elephant male named Koshik can imitate human speech, according to Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna and colleagues. Fitch told Discovery News that Koshik’s vocabulary so far consists of five words: annyong (hello), anja (sit down), aniya (no), nuo (lie down), and choah (good).
维也纳大学的蒂卡姆西·芬奇和他的同事称,有一头名叫柯西卡雄性亚洲象能够模仿人的语言。芬奇告诉《探索新闻》,柯西卡现在会说五个单词:你好、坐下、不、躺下和很好。

“Some of the words were commands that Koshik learned to perform, such as ‘lie down’ and ‘sit down,’ or were given as feedback, and we have every reason to believe he understands the meaning of these words,” Fitch said.
其中的一些指令性单词,芬奇还会表演出来,比如“躺下”和“坐下”,或者当它听到这些词时会做出对应的反馈,因此我们有充分的理由相信它是理解这些单词的意义的。

 

5. Chimpanzee communication includes a mixture of passionate gestures, vocalizations and even sign language, which are all used to get their points across with each other. The gestures frequently happen in sequence so, similar to titi monkey alarm calls, come to mirror human sentence structures.
黑猩猩的交流方式是各种热情的姿势、发声和手语,他们用这些方式来让对方明白自己的意思。这些姿势经常是有顺序的,类似于伶猴的指令语,语句结构也跟人类语言相似。

“There istremendous overlap in human and chimpanzee gestures,” Mary Lee AbshireJensvold, associate director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, told Discovery News. “Many gestures that you see in chimpanzee play, such as slaps, tickles, pokes, blocks and kicks, are ones that you would see in human play. Imagine play wrestling between two humans, and you’ve imagined a scene with two chimpanzees playing.”
“在黑猩猩的手势中,有大量与人类的手势相似,”黑猩猩和人类交流研究所的副董事玛丽·李·杰斯伍德如是告诉《探索新闻》,“很多黑猩猩使用的手势在人类交流中也存在,比如:拍手、瘙痒、戳、躲避和踢打。想象一下两个人摔跤的样子,你很容易会联想到黑猩猩打架的场景。