The Beluga Cafe

Five things you didn't know about inter-species communication

1- Whether or not animals have their own "languages," some species can certainly learn them. Koko the gorilla had a working vocabulary of over 2,000 words in American Sign Language, and often signed complex but comprehensible sentences. Captive bottlenose dolphins in Hawaii can understand (and respond to) basic sentences, including a direction to "be creative" and come up with something on their own. 

2- On April 26, 1998, Koko the Gorilla participated in a live online chat. 

3- When I typed "interspecies" into my Google search bar, the first suggested phrase was "interspecies mating."  I don't know what that says about us, but it says something. 

4- The Department of Fisheries and Oceans estimates the eastern Hudson Bay population of beluga whales dropped from 4,300 in 1985 to 3,000 in 2008.  The beluga whale is officially endangered, but in 2010 most hunting quotas actually increased. 

5- Finnish cultural anthropologist Jöns Carlson speculates that belugas may not be talking to one another in a "language" (as humans define that term). They may use sound instead, to externalize and communalize their own emotional state as it relates to the group’s stability.  (Quoted directly from Interspecies' website)

"I wish they all could be California..."

Do animals talk? Not in words, obviously. But do they communicate?  And if so, can we communicate with them?

Well, of course they communicate.

"Hey, I'm hungry."
"Hey, I'm horny."
"Hey, I know I'm not ordinarily supposed to get into the garbage, but surely that doesn't apply this one time."

But people like The Beluga Cafe author Jim Nollman aren't talking about grunts, groans and tweets here. Sure, your dog barks one way when he wants out, another way when he's hungry, and makes that adorable noise when he's scared. We're not talking about that. 

So what are we talking about? Actual, linguistic communication? Is that possible? Jim Nollman thinks so. Interestingly, he thinks music - not words - are the key. 

He's got a point. Ever hear humpback whales sing? Surely, that's not all random squawking. And as we've seen above, it's not a huge mental leap. But if animals are smart enough to learn our languages, does that mean we're smart enough to learn theirs?

Apparently a documentary

I'd like to believe so. But probably not in my lifetime.  

But if you're looking for an account of Nollman's successes or failures communicating with belugas, The Beluga Cafe will disappoint. They didn't actually see any; the kind of thing that happens in real life, but not conducive for books ostensibly about communicating to animals. 

What emerges instead is a book about conflict. Nollman and his two companions, Jonathan and Daniel - in the Canadian Arctic to "talk to the whales" - are not well-received by the locals.

It's not hard to see why. Three white dudes - two of them insufferable and self-important douchebags - who fashionably claim to respect Native culture and traditions, but don't actually know any, and tend not to like the ones they meet. They come, basically, to preach. The message is different ("stop hunting whales," instead of "Jesus is your saviour") but they never grasp that it amounts to the same thing: we object to your way of life, so change it. 

Of his three companions, Nollman comes closest to grasping the irony, but doesn't quite get there.

The author's reception in Inuvik