The idea for this article came from a casual conversation in a café back in 2005, with a deaf professor who had a PhD in linguistics.
But the research only truly took shape years later, in 2024, when I shared that story with a colleague who had just completed her doctorate in animal science.
She laughed at the idea and thought it was absurd. After all, she had spent 15 years studying animals and had never come across anything like it. That’s exactly why I decided to begin the research.
In her words: a degree doesn’t guarantee knowledge, and it certainly doesn’t limit curiosity. I was so focused on the productive side of things that I couldn’t even imagine someone researching something like that.
In the end, she became so engaged with the topic that she ended up becoming my co-author.
Back at that café with the PhD in linguistics, we were sitting together, sipping our drinks in a comfortable silence, when she said:
— “Daniel, I’ve been deaf since birth. Sound, to me, is just a concept… ghostly.”
She paused, in a silence full of meaning. Then she added,
— “I have some questions about that. One in particular. But I’ve never had the courage to ask it.”
I looked at her with that face people make when they want to say “just spit it out,” but without using words. Just a raised eyebrow and a half-smile of encouragement.
She blushed. Deeply.
And honestly, at that moment I thought, “This is it. She’s going to say she’s in love with me.” I confess, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. (Don’t judge my logic here! Even though the conversation was great, my teenage self was heading in a completely different direction).
But instead, she took a deep breath, looked at her cup, then at me, and said,
— “Promise you won’t laugh?”
I set my cup down with all the solemnity the moment deserved. I got serious. Very serious. Then she asked, whispering in sign language, almost like she was committing a crime against her own doctoral thesis:
— “Do Brazilian cows have the same accent as Spanish cows?”
And that’s how this article was born...
Most people know animals communicate. What few realize is that even trees have a kind of language – but that’s a topic for another article.
In many non-human animal species, young ones learn to “speak” by imitating the adults around them. Just like human babies, who repeat everything they hear, even the nonsense.
Accents aren’t just a human thing. Different colonies of the same species develop distinct ways of vocalizing, like each group has its own way of “speaking.”
Some animals go even further, creating unique ways to communicate within their group, almost like local slang. And some exchange visual signs, using specific gestures, almost as if they had their own version of sign language.
Take bats, for example. Young bats raised in different places emit sounds with regional accents. In cows and pigs, vocalizations change depending on emotional state, group hierarchy, or the environment.
Birds like sparrows sing different melodies depending on the region. Humpback whales change their songs over time, as if following musical trends.
We can even talk about slang. Some dolphins create exclusive whistles for each individual, like nicknames. They also mix and adapt these sounds during social interactions.
And it doesn’t stop there. Monkeys, fish, bees, lizards, and even insects communicate using gestures, dances, vibrations, and electric signals – each adapted to their bodies, environments, and needs.
Bees dance to show where nectar is. Fish flash electrical pulses. Lizards make quick body movements to stand out in windy areas.
Trained gorillas and chimpanzees have learned hundreds of signs from American Sign Language. One gorilla, named Koko, even created new signs to express feelings like sadness and joy.
It might seem like an exaggeration to call all this “language,” but it isn’t.
When we realize these behaviors are learned, shared, and used to maintain social relationships, it becomes clear that there’s an active and interactive linguistic culture throughout the ecosystem – one that goes far beyond our tech-focused urban world.
On farms, we still know little. But it’s already clear that cows, pigs, chickens, and goats use different sounds to communicate with others, ask for help, or express discomfort.
By learning to understand these signals better, we could improve their well-being – and even increase productivity.
In the end, it makes us wonder: are we really that different?
When we discover that animals also have accents, slang, and their own ways of speaking with their bodies, our view of them changes.
They stop being just instinct-driven creatures and become beings with history, personality, and culture.
And maybe it’s time we started listening more closely.
Oh, and if you’re curious whether anything happened between me and the professor…
Let’s just say we celebrated those glorious moments when linguistic playfulness broke free from the cages of academic theory. Drunk on curiosity, we dove into field studies driven by pure instinct…
Download or Read more here:
BATISTA, D. J., & SANTOS, A. C. F. dos . (2025). Accents, Dialects, Slang, and Sign Communication Among Animals: Including Livestock. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16160101