Joy Ward, Dogster’s Dog Blogger found a great article from Discovery on human potential to understand mammals and even birds.

Scruffy of Dogster has a lot to say!

Ever since watching Koko the signing ape speak with her trainer I realized that though we don’t know what animals are saying are thinking, we have to assume it’s not all that different from basic human thoughts. There is no secret language or incomprehensible brain patterns. Animals have the wants, fears and joys that any person has and they like to verbally share them. I recall footage of Koko watching her new dating parter on videotape before he was transfered to her facility and she goes goofy like a teenager, saying how she wants him and loves him and wished he was there now. Heck she expressed her emotion better than I used to.

Here are some snips from the article. Give it a read.

What do dog barks have in common with bird tweets and human baby cries? All appear to communicate basic emotions, such as fear, aggression and submission, in somewhat the same acoustic way, according to a new Applied Animal Behavior Science study that suggests a primitive communication system may unite virtually all mammals.

And just like any long-term relationship the more time creatures have lived together the better they can understand each other

The scientists believe years of domestication have improved the way that dogs, versus their wolf ancestors, can communicate with us. They point out that such communication isn’t limited to vocalizations. It also includes visual signals, such as changes in looks.

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise. The fact that our genes are so similar means we’re all cut from the same cloth. All out lover-level programming is very similar we just haven’t found the rosatta stone to know for sure.