Do animals have different "languages" like humans do today?

Question

For example,

a human living in Hawaii and a human living in Iraq would most definitely speak a different language. One would speak English, the other Arabic.

Is the same true for animals, such as birds? If I have a bird in Hawaii, and a bird in Iraq, would they chirp and understand each other in the same way? Of course, they would be the same exact type of bird.

Thank you for all of your responses, and G-d bless you!

Answer 1

I thinks they have different languages too.

Answer 2

oh my gosh good question!

HOWEVER - whether they do or do not have different languages how would we know??

Answer 3

Resident killer whales of the pacific northwest all have their own unique dialect. Transient killer whales are very silent. Also, humpback whales have a specific song and that song repeats perfectly an is unique to that animal. Presumably it is understood by any females.

Answer 4

I dont think they do, unless they arent from the same species.

Answer 5

I know that animals that live in different areas have accents. But whole different languages I don't think so

Answer 6

animals of the same species will understand each other

Answer 7

well i think it would be different.. even if they are the same species... cuz i have a house cat, but i dont think he'll understand if he hears a lion roar... i think he would just mess himself lol

Answer 8

Animals do not have language.  Only humans have language.  

Does not matter where the species comes from the general sounds they make are the same.  A starling from England makes the same sounds as one from America.  

There have been documented minor differences in male songbirds territorial songs.  If a population is isolated for a long time there are minor differences.  But that isolated population does not have to be in another country.  Could just be on different sides of a mountain range.

Answer 9

Definition can be tricky but I think that you would have to consider chimps as having a language of sorts. Even before people taught them sign language, they were trying to communicate orally. A few researchers could imitate the oooh, oooh, oooh! sound well enough to have it recognized as a friendly greeting, for example. With sign language, communication took a quantum leap forward, albeit an unnatural one. Chimps have put together signs to form original sentences. One taught ASL to her baby.

As far as different languages within a species goes, I think that it would be more akin to dialects in human speech. They can be understood with a greater or lesser degree of difficulty, like someone from the Deep South (U.S.) talking to a Yorkshireman (UK).