WPA poster by Kenneth Whitley, 1939

The talking animal or speaking animal term, in general, refers to any form of animal which can talk or conduct speech. This can by itself be interpreted in several manners, as listed in the below sections. Download high resolution version (429x640, 33 KB)Kenneth Whitley, Sept. ... Download high resolution version (429x640, 33 KB)Kenneth Whitley, Sept. ... One might be looking for the academic discipline of communications. ...

Imitation of speech

The term may have a nearly literal meaning, by referring to animals which can imitate human speech, though not necessarily possessing an understanding of what they may be mimicking. The most common example of this would be the parrot, which can learn to speak either through exposure or human training. The myna bird is another well-known mimic. Genera A parrot is any of about 330 species of bird belonging to the Psittaciformes, the biological order which includes both the Psittacidae (or true parrots) and the Cacatuidae (or cockatoos). ... Binomial name Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) The Common Myna, Acridotheres tristis, is a myna, a member of the starling family. ...

Research done by Dr. Irene Pepperberg strongly suggests that parrots are capable of speaking in context and with intentional meaning. Pepperberg's star pupil, Alex the African Grey Parrot, is even learning how to assemble words out of letters--in other words, to read and spell. Irene Pepperberg (born April 1, 1949, Brooklyn, New York) is a scientist noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots. ... Alex is an African grey parrot whose use of language has been studied intensively for over 20 years by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and currently at Brandeis University. ...

While most mimicry is done by birds, there is one documented example of a harbor seal, Hoover, that would repeat common phrases he heard around his exhibit at the New England Aquarium, including his name. Binomial name Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 The Harbor Seal or Common seal (Phoca vitulina) is a true seal of the Northern Hemisphere. ... The New England Aquarium is a major aquarium located in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. ...

An animal language

Main article: Animal language

To take this literally, this would refer to certain species or groups of animals which have a pronounced way of vocal communication, hence having the ability to conduct speech between its members with an understanding of what they are communicating. Although such a prospect may seem unlikely to many, certain more intelligent animals, such as the dolphin and the ape, have shown to make sounds at each other with a marked repetition in vocal patterns, which strongly suggests that they are indeed communicating with each other using their own language. This is widely discussed and investigated. While the term animal languages is widely used, most researchers agree that they are not as complex or expressive as the human language. ... One might be looking for the academic discipline of communications. ... Genera See article below. ... Families Hylobatidae Hominidae Apes are the members of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates, including humans. ...

Some researchers use American Sign Language to try to communicate with animals that have difficulty with speech, such as Koko the gorilla. As with vocal speech, however, some skeptics consider the results to be another form of mimickry and not true communication. American Sign Language (ASL, also Amslan obs. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...

Fiction

Talking animals are a common theme in fiction, especially in mythology and folk tales. Fictional talking animals often are anthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities but appearing as an animal. The usage of talking animals enable storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the animal with human behaviour: for example in the Three Little Pigs, the supposed animal rapacity of the wolf is shown through its repeated tricking of the three pigs. Other examples include Little Red Riding Hood and the Bremen Town Musicians. The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μυθος mythos, a story or legend, and λογος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ... Folklore is the ethnographic concept of the tales, legends, or superstitions current among a particular ethnic population, a part of the oral history of a particular culture. ... The wolf lands in the cooking pot The third pig builds a house of brick Three little pigs and their mother sow Three Little Pigs is a fairy tale featuring talking animals. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... A depiction by Gustave Dore Little Red Riding Hood has been seen in Farringdon and apparently is answering to the name of Gemma Cook. ... The Town Musicians of Bremen, erected in 1951. ...

The storyteller may use talking animals for various reasons. It could be intended for a younger audience (such as Richard Scarry's illustrated books), or as a metaphor to show the personality of certain men or groups (Art Spiegelman's Maus depicts Jews as mice, the Germans as cats and the Poles as pigs, among others). There may also be other reasons, such as for the sake of satire in Animal Farm, or artistic purposes. Richard McClure Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was a enormously popular childrens author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of 300 million worldwide, more than any other author. ... Art Spiegelman (born February 15, 1948) is a comics artist, editor and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning comic memoir, Maus. ... Cover Maus: A Survivors Tale is a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman that recounts his fathers struggle to survive the Holocaust as a Polish Jew. ... Animal Farm book cover Animal Farm is a satirical novel (which can also be understood as a modern fable or allegory) by George Orwell, ostensibly about a group of animals who oust the humans from the farm they live on and run it themselves, only to have it corrupted into...

Fictional talking animals may be roughly classified into the following categories, depending on the degree how talk influences their behavior. Of course, many cases may be something in between; the classification below is only a frame of reference.

Talking animals which are still animals

The animal retains its original form without much change, other than being able to speak. It may only speak as a narration for the reader's convenience. An example is the donkey of Balaam in the Book of Numbers. The characters of the webcomic Faux Pas are another example of talking animals. The rabbits in Watership Down who behave exactly as normal rabbits, except for the ability to discuss their actions, also come under this category. Balaam (Hebrew בִּלְעָם, Standard Hebrew Bilʻam, Tiberian Hebrew Bilʻām; could mean glutton or foreigner, but this etymology is uncertain), is a prophet in the Bible, his story occurring in the Book of Numbers. ... The Book of Numbers is the fourth of the books of the Pentateuch, called in the Hebrew ba-midbar במדבר, i. ... Faux Pas (pronounced fox paws) is a comic strip created by Robert and Margaret Carspecken of R&M Creative Endeavors. ... Watership Down For the hill named Watership Down, see Watership Down, Hampshire. ...

Animals interacting with men

A good number of old literature involves animals which come to speak with humans, such as in Aesop's Fables and several mythologies, including Greek and Chinese. Aesops Fables or Aesopica refers to a collection of fables credited to Aesop (circa 620 BC – 560 BC), a slave and story-teller living in Ancient Greece. ...

Numerous modern science fiction and fantasy stories intermix human and animal characters. In C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, the world of Narnia is ruled by a talking lion by the name of Aslan, and many small characters are talking woodland animals, both of which who interact with both the humans riddled around Narnia, and the children who act as the protagonists of the books. In one of the worlds depicted in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials novels, each human character is accompanied by a daemon in the form of a talking animal, and the race of armored talking bears plays a major part in the stories. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... For other meanings see Fantasy (disambiguation) Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three. ... Clive Staples Lewis (November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an author and scholar. ... The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... Aslan in promotional artwork from the film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Aslan, the Great Lion, is the main character in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. ... Philip Pullman Philip Pullman CBE (born October 19, 1946), is a British writer, educated at Exeter College, Oxford, who is the best-selling author of the His Dark Materials trilogy of fantasy novels and a number of other books, purportedly for children, but attracting increasing attention by adult readers. ... The neutrality of this article or section may be compromised by weasel words. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. ...

Animals that portray humans

Most people in the industries of professional illustration, cartooning, and animation refer to these types of animal characters as talking animals or funny animals. However, members of furry fandom sometimes refer to this variety of talking animals as furries. A professional does an activity to receive payment for an act (as a profession), which usually requires expertise and carries with it socially significant mores and folkways. ... An illustration of a character from a story; also, an illustration of illustrations An Illustration is a visualisation such as drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses subject more than form. ... A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another. ... 12 frames per second is the typical rate for an animated cartoon. ... Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals. ... Shanda the Panda #12, an example of a furry comic Furry fandom is a subculture that originated from the science fiction and fantasy fandoms. ...

Simulated humans

There are numerous series of children's books, such as the Berenstain Bears series, where the characters are written and drawn as animals in order to attract a younger audience. In this scenario the stories may be told with the characters changed to normal humans, and quite possibly the plot will suffer no major alteration. Most of such characters act no different as compared to humans. A good example of this would be Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows, who lives in Toad Hall, and drives a motor car. Other characters in The Wind in the Willows are closer to humanised animals, living in burrows, etc. The Berenstain Bears as seen in animation. ... Ratty and Mole, as interpreted by E. H. Shepard The Wind in the Willows is a classic of childrens literature by Kenneth Grahame. ...

Exaggerated humans

In many fables, each particular animal typically represents a certain human trait, traditionally associated with it. For example, in Western folktales, a fox is supposed to be cunning, a hare is supposed to be a coward (whenever it is brave or smart, this is only with the goal to create a paradox with respect to the common expectation). In these tales, the names of the animals are simply their capitalized names of species: Mr. Fox, Mr. Hare, etc. Different cultures may associate different traits with the same animals. In its strict sense a fable is a short story or folk tale embodying a moral, which may be expressed explicitly at the end as a maxim. ...

Humanized animals

Such animals fall between the previous two categories, that of an animal which possesses both human and animal characteristics. An example is Peter Rabbit, who dresses in a little English coat but engages in the very rabbit-like activity of stealing and eating carrots in the farmer's field, then being chased away by the horrid old man and having a nasty tumble which hurts badly along the way. Peter Rabbit and wife being asked for cabbages by Benjamin and Flopsy Bunny in The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies Peter Rabbit is the main character in a series of childrens books by Beatrix Potter. ...

Alleged talking animals

Gef the talking mongoose was an alleged talking animal who inhabited a small house on the Isle of Man, off the coast of mainland Great Britain. Opinion is divided on whether Gef was a poltergeist, a strange animal or cryptid, a hoax, or something else. Some doubt whether the case happened at all. Gef the talking mongoose, an alleged talking animal, a mongoose named Gef, who inhabited a small house on the Isle of Man, off the coast of mainland Great Britain, which is alleged by many to be a type of paranormal phenomenon, opinion being divided on whether Gef was a poltergeist... A (help· info) (German for rumbling ghost) is widely believed to be a spirit or ghost that interacts with others by moving and influencing inanimate objects. ... Cryptozoology is the study of animals that are presumed (at least by the researcher) to exist, but for which conclusive proof is missing; the term also includes the study of animals generally considered extinct, but which are still occasionally reported. ...

See also

• Animal cognition
• Anthropomorphism
• Funny animal
• Kemono
• Furry fandom

Animal cognition is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of animals. ... An example of an anthropomorphic animal (by Carrie J. Berman). ... Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals. ... Kemono-Taiheiki, a piece of traditional Japanese art in Muromachi period. ... Shanda the Panda #12, an example of a furry comic Furry fandom is a subculture that originated from the science fiction and fantasy fandoms. ...

External links

• New England Aquarium's Hoover page