Chimpanzee Talk

Chimpanzees can learn language up to the level of a three-year old child. They are the animals that seem to have the best capabilities for communication with humans.

They can acquire a symbol language like gesture language or by pressing / showing drawn symbols. They are even able to understand spoken human language to a certain degree. But due to anatomic difference, chimpanzees cannot form proper words like humans can.

Scientists argue whether chimpanzees have a real understanding of the sentences they build, or whether they are merely reproducing the very complex patterns they are taught.