Talking with dogs, decoding whale sounds and interpreting bird calls could all be possible in the coming years as artificial intelligence applications learn to translate different creatures' communications, animal researchers said. Scientists have started using AI tools to analyze vast quantities of data on various species' communications, ranging from sounds, postures, expressions and more, to determine if they can understand and talk to animals in human terms. "The door has been opened to using machine learning to decode languages that we don't already know how to decode," said Aza Raskin, who co-founded the Earth Species Project, a nonprofit aiming to develop AI models that let humans have "conversations" with animals. He predicts this will be possible within the next two years. "The plot twist is that we will be able to communicate [with animals] before we understand" them, Raskin told Scientific American.

Captive chimpanzees understand English as well as a human 2 year old¹¹ and use signs from Human sign languages⁵. Dolphins jointly coordinate their actions to open containers¹⁴ and perform novel tricks⁹. A parrot can reliably report the number or color of an item¹⁰. And prairie dogs sound the alarm that a tall human wearing white is approaching fast¹²! And if so, can we use A.I. to talk with them?

Disney's 2019 remake of its 1994 classic "The Lion King" was a box-office success, grossing more than one and a half billion dollars. But it was also, in some ways, a failed experiment. The film's photo-realistic, computer-generated animals spoke with the rich, complex voices of actors such as Donald Glover and Chiwetel Ejiofor--and many viewers found it hard to reconcile the complex intonations of those voices with the feline gazes on the screen. In giving such persuasively nonhuman animals human personalities and thoughts, the film created a kind of cognitive dissonance. It had been easier to imagine the interiority of the stylized beasts in the original film.

As a rambunctious five-year-old pit bull, he usually makes whatever he wants you to know fairly apparent. When Scooby first sees you, he tells you he's happy by wagging his tail and, when he's feeling particularly naughty, jumping up to lick your face. When he wants to play tug-of-war, he grabs a toy and presents it, his intent clear. When he's concerned, he barks, but only once or twice. Still, one can't help but wonder if there's more going on behind those goldenrod eyes than humans can understand. What unknown depths might Scoob be hiding, invisible to all but him thanks to the vagaries of vocal-cord evolution?

Humans may soon be able to understand the meaning behind a dog's bark through a new device in the works that will incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Con Slobodchikoff, an animal language expert, is working towards enhancing how humans communicate with dogs. Through his company Zoolingua, Slobodchikoff intends to use AI technology to create the first-ever dog translation device. The device, which is expected to surface in the next 10 years, would help humans to decipher the sounds and movements of animals. "AI technology has now advanced to the point where we can apply it to learn what our pets are trying to say to us," Slobodchikoff told International Business Times.

In just ten years time your dog could talk to you instead of barking, according to leading experts. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning mean the Dr Dolittle dream of communicating with animals could soon be a reality. One researcher is currently collecting thousands of videos of dogs barking, growling and moving around, and is using them to teach an algorithm to understand canine communication. Professor Con Slobodchikoff from Northern Arizona University is developing new technology that interprets the calls of the prairie dog and says it could eventually be used to interpret other animals. North American rodents prairie dogs have a sophisticated ways of calling group members and alerting them to danger.

Imagine talking to a tiger, chatting to a cheetah, as Dr Doolittle once sang – what a neat achievement that would be. Well, Amazon has revealed that the animal-loving doctor's ambition might not be entirely fantasy. Pet translators that can turn woofs into words and make sense of miaows, might really be on the horizon, according to a report backed by the internet retailer. Futurologist William Higham of Next Big Thing, who co-authored the report for Amazon, says he believes devices that can talk dog could be less than 10 years away. "Innovative products that succeed are based around a genuine and major consumer needs. The amount of money now spent on pets – they are becoming fur babies to so many people – means there is huge consumer demand for this. Somebody is going to put this together," he says.

Did that prairie dog just call you fat? Quite possibly. On The Current Friday, biologist Con Slobodchikoff described how he learned to understand what prairie dogs are saying to one another and discovered how eloquent they can be. Slobodchikoff, a professor emeritus at North Arizona University, told Erica Johnson, guest host of The Current, that he started studying prairie dog language 30 years ago after scientists reported that other ground squirrels had different alarm calls to warn each other of flying predators such as hawks and eagles, versus predators on the ground, such as coyotes or badgers. Prairie dogs, he said, were ideal animals to study because they are social animals that live in small co-operative groups within a larger colony, or "town" and they never leave their colony or territory, where they have built an elaborate underground complex of tunnels and burrows. In order to figure out what the prairie dogs were saying, Slobodchikoff and his colleagues trapped them and painted them with fur dye to identify each one.