Talking with animals remains in the realms of fiction. But chimpanzees, with whom we share 99 per cent of our genes, can be taught to communicate in sign language developed for the deaf.
Professors Beatrix and Allen Gardner , of the University of Reno, have lived, worked and conversed with several chimps. In the second of three conversations about thought and language,
Professor Colin Blakemore discusses with them what their cross-fostering experiments suggest about the development of communication and reasoning.
Producer DEBORAH COHEN