A human in a blue shirt is announced differently from a human in a yellow shirt.

In and of itself, it’s not surprising that the sounds animals make are not just noise, or a reflection of the state an animal’s in (scared, happy and so on). But the subtlety of the calls — the full amount of meaning they contain — is only now being appreciated.

Animals of one species often respond to the alarms of another. In a small way, it’s like those childrens’ stories that have rats talking to toads, or elephants arguing with ostriches.

Predators sometimes respond too. After all, alarm calls don’t just let other animals know there’s danger in the area. They can also let a predator know that it’s been seen. Ambush predators, like leopards, often give up and go away once an alarm has been sounded. <<

Animals are much more complex, and intelligent, than humans give them credit for, just because we don't understand. Maybe that's our lack of intelligence, not theirs.

"Animals are much more complex, and intelligent, than humans give them credit for, just because we don't understand. Maybe that's our lack of intelligence, not theirs."

Precisely!