How We Speak to Animals Matters

THINK

Jul 8

A new study shows that wild and domestic horses, as well as pigs, can differentiate between positive and negative human vocalization.

Wild horses, pigs, and domesticated horses can discern between negative and positive sounds from their fellow species and near relatives, as well as from human voices, according to a new study published in BMC Biology.

As part of a larger project looking into the evolution of emotional vocalization in animals, researchers at the University of Copenhagen studied pigs and boars, their counterparts, as well as domesticated horses and wild Przewalski horses. They found that the species all reacted accordingly when exposed to positive or negative sounds of their wild relatives.

The animals were also played human voices mimicking positive and negative emotions. To prevent domesticated animals from reacting to specific words with which they may have already been familiar, the human speech was performed in gibberish. While their reactions were not as strong as when presented with their own species, all of the animals - except the wild boars - displayed evidence that they could still distinguish between positively or negatively charged human voices.

“The results showed that domesticated pigs and horses, as well as Asian wild horses, can tell the difference, both when the sounds come from their own species and near relatives, as well as from human voices,” explained behavioral biologist Elodie Briefer of the University of Copenhagen.

Researchers recorded the animals’ reactions, which included everything from their ear positioning to their movement or lack thereof, on video. In other cases, they appeared to mirror the emotion to which they were subjected, which is considered the initial stage in the empathy category in behavioral biology.

“Our results show that these animals are affected by the emotions we charge our voices with when we speak to or are around them. They react more strongly – generally faster – when they are met with a negatively charged voice, compared to having a positively charged voice played to them first. In certain situations, they even seem to mirror the emotion to which they are exposed,” said Briefer.

“Should future research projects clearly demonstrate that these animals mirror emotions, as this study suggests, it will be very interesting in relation to the history of the development of emotions and the extent to which animals have an emotional life and level of consciousness.”

Briefer also argues that because animals have larger sensitivities to negative speech, the way humans speak around them may have an impact on their well-being.

"It means that our voices have a direct impact on the emotional state of animals, which is very interesting from an animal welfare perspective," she explains. "When the animals reacted strongly to hearing negatively charged speech first, the same is also true in the reverse. That is, if animals are initially spoken to in a more positive, friendly voice, when met by people, they should react less. They may become calmer and more relaxed."

What we think matters

“Many of us who have animals in our lives know that they experience emotion, we know because we’ve seen it. We’ve witnessed our dogs express joy when we walk through the door, watched them display jealousy toward another animal, or we’ve seen them mourn the loss of a companion. When someone asks, ‘how do we know?’ usually, most of us say something along the lines of, ‘we just know... it’s obvious.’ But, that’s not how it works in science,” said Elizabeth Novogratz, Species Unite founder and executive director.

“Science needs proof and for too many years proof wasn’t an option, as a large majority of the scientific community avoided any research or any studying of the inner lives of animals, classifying the entire idea that they even have inner lives as anthropomorphic. Fortunately, for many species, science has started to come around.

“Research and studies are expanding every year and scientific circles have become increasingly accepting and supportive of the idea that many species do indeed have emotions.”

Elizabeth sat down with Barbara King, a biological anthropologist who has studied the complex emotions throughout the animal kingdom for the Species Unite podcast. King’s work is centered on how the science of animal thinking and feeling can help us better understand and advocate for the rights of animals. You can listen to the full podcast episode here.

“The more that humans know about animal’s intelligence and emotional lives, the harder it becomes to harm them,” added Novogratz.

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