Animal communication - Understanding how animals think and feel

[Music] our links to Anna's go back a long long way and the way we perceive animals is constantly evolving today some claim it is possible to communicate with them this form of so-called intuitive communication born about 20 years ago in United States is now starting to be recognized and practiced in Europe later their multi is an animal communicator she has come to Mountain Enya a small remote Tuscan village in Italy because she has heard about an extraordinary cat whose story has travelled the world [Music] the cat is called Toldo and his story began two years ago when his master passed away since then he has gone to the cemetery to visit his master's grave every day even several times a day come wind rain or snow he never misses a visit sometimes he brings presents such as small pieces of wood or twigs other times he stays sitting or lying on the grave could this extraordinary story illustrate something we have yet to discover good animals became a bull feeling emotions could they possess a form of intelligence and like Toldo might the experience empathy by following later we discover a world that is still little known in France [Music] an increasing number of pet owners animal breeders and vets are seeking out animal communications today Laila has an appointment with dr. Thierry Medusa a veterinary behaviorist who also practices at his clinic in the Persians aware of nyeeehhh since 2004 he has also run this animal sanctuary it is home to animals at the end of their lives and also takes in dogs that are judged to have behavioral difficulties this Noah's farm provides CELTA for nearly a hundred eighty dogs 200 cats about 60 horses and ten cows hello Lila hello Julie pleased to meet you I've heard a lot about you can I show you around okay see you later Cara we're gonna go and see a dog that I'm keen to show you as I'm extremely fond of him Cook has been on the farm for about three years after a year and a half of working with him I was rather overconfident and brought him to the clinic I thought he could live in Paris I like him very much he'd only been in Paris a couple of hours when he attacked another dog that belonged to an old lady I had to intervene to protect the old lady the silly dog bit part of my finger off then he stopped immediately heal myself I'd like to know if he's aware of what he did to me because no dog has ever hurt me that much of all the tens of thousands of dogs I've ever known he's the one that has hurt me most I'd really like an answer to that question so I'm going to take some time to do the communication [Music] as though by telepathy Leyla makes mental contact with cook carefully jotting down the information she receives from the animal in order to interpret it correctly [Music] Gaja communicable animal when I communicate with an animal I'm with him in my mind it's like an inner journey it's as if you were in front of me I can feel him I can touch him I can stroke him I have a smell everything it's really present really real and in that moment I receive information it can come in the form of thoughts images of feelings this information is the Animas language and it's not the same as all language it's conveyed through emotions feelings and images after about 20 minutes Laila is ready to relay the information she received to Thierry when the accident happened the other dog entered his territory his territory is not necessary Geographic you are his territory in other words you represent his security and his well-being so he immediately defended his territory and that's why he attacked the other dog when you intervened he didn't really realize so it wasn't a deliberate action but he realized when he felt I had a clear sensation of flash in his mouth by crunching and blood that's when he realized she bossy custody Buster's at first I thought he stopped because I yelled but in fact I realized after the event which matches exactly what you're saying that he stopped because he had my finger in his mouth yes the feeling yes exactly he sat down open his mouth and the thing fell to the ground I looked and recognized a piece of finger I think one of kooks issues arises precisely from being repeatedly abandoned and famous appear each time of being abandoned once again and of losing a security which you represent and if you don't mind me saying I feel there's something to do with abandonment in your life I think there's a link between cooks past and your own past and the reason is in your life and the accident happened on the return to the pharmacy I think all that is linked to the notion of being abandoned it's not something that's uppermost in my everyday thoughts and musings it'll be a fix on two visual I never knew my father it affects it valuable and I have lost a lot of people who were dear to me now is there a link if that's what you feel you feel all that in relation to cook is that right yes I can feel it in cook and it's related to you on your life well that's quite incredible because I've never had any analysis and now I'm being analyzed thanks to some stupid dogs a bit part of my finger off in your profession have you noticed that the behavioral problems of certain animals reflect things about their human companions to me what I do notice as a practitioner is that pets are extremely sensitive to the physical and the mental states of the humans they're linked to that's why I always consider that animals are our best sentinels I hope one day that scientists will look into the matter seriously yes me too that would be wonderful [Music] [Applause] taking advantage of Leila's visit Terry wants to share with her his doubts about one of his very sick feline residents here we've set up a small room for certain cats because there are some particularly vulnerable ones that we can't house with all the other cats taking you to see a cat called minimum bending for him for about four or five months now I've carried out numerous tests on him and I just can't cure him a failure he's got an infection of the nervous system but I don't dare anesthetize him to carry out further tests because I think it would harm him so I'd love to get your opinion I don't know if he wants to live any longer or not I just take some time to focus of course logic I checked in with me no he definitely wants to say the notion that he doesn't want to leave was really clear that's good news already yes he really wants to stay I have images of him in the street he's really thin and this feeling of parasites inside hello's like his first really cause he's hungry and there's also struggled for his position in a hierarchy to have food and safety so I think that's why he's better being a bit confined it provides him with that notion of safety which corresponds exactly to the last five months of treatment he's been having independently of the medicines he's always improved by being on his own with no other cats around him so that corresponds exactly to his medical history yes not now he's doing good [Music] despite radically different approaches Terry and Leila feel the same thing as a vet theory often has to face the end of animals lives and he wants to discuss with Lila the very difficult question of euthanasia ceremony according to my experience Layla and my own personal feelings unconvinced that animals are aware of the end of their life they're totally aware of it they know when they're coming to the end of their life it's no point hiding it from them they really know they often hang on in this and it's often saw the person I always wonder what moment the animal is ready and what moment I should guide my decisions and accompany the owners to give them the right advice a woman called me once from Switzerland and said to me my dog is dying I have to put her down and she asked me to communicate with her so I told her no she's really not totally ready something's missing even though it would be an act of compassion to let her leave and Houston eyes her but she doesn't want to stay a bit longer about three days few months later she called me and she said you know that day when you communicate with my dog well we finally decided to wait those three days and my son came back home actually he wasn't the army and he wasn't supposed to come back but he did so he came back and he went in the house and my dog went straight over to him so my son crouched down and took the dog in his arms and she died in his arms that's the sort of experience I come across every year animals that are waiting for something of course I don't understand what they're waiting for I like both your tools and your talents but intuitively I feel they're not ready to leave what I think is that there has to be peace and everything has to be in harmony so that it can leave in peace it's like putting your affairs in order [Music] we do kakuzu a lot of cases I've come across of animals having behavioral problems or really linked to their human companions and they have such great empathy they absorb all our problems there's really no great difference between them and us they take on our emotions they feel them really deeply they take them on and they express them could it be animals capacity to feel emotions that enables later to enter into communication with them her approach is so far from being verifiable because the scientific community has not yet examined this developing phenomenon Leila sets out for the Swiss juror to meet anthropologist in north aegean Arby he examines a placed man occupies in nature and man's relationship to the animal world in particular among the Amazonian shamans I came to see you because I wanted to know what you think as an anthropologist what is the difference between a human being and an animal well for a long time in Western societies thinkers have been obsessed by what has separated us from animals sukhino cities anymore there's a long list of qualities that are supposedly specific to manatee to produce abstract thought produce tools so on that list has melted away like snow in the Sun one of my colleagues Pascal peak recently said man is not the only animal that thinks but he is the only one that thinks he's not an animal it's very hard to find something that actually separates humans and animals the closer we look at animals the more we discover that they can do more or less everything that we do for example one of the qualities that were supposedly specific to humans was empathy it was thought that no animals could have empathy but in fact the scientific research has just shown that even rats demonstrate empathy among themselves they are social animals in one experiment rats preferred to free one of their own that had been caught in a sort of trap rather than pursuing rewards when people say he's a rat they're referring to somebody who only thinks for himself but in fact rats stick together like us jeremy is curious to witnessed an animal communication he introduces later to Julian a neighboring livestock breeder he knows well hello Julian how are you fine hello Jeremy this is Lila del Monte hello hello Julia Lila communicates with animals in fact I was wondering what exactly is telepathy yes is it surreal what is it oh it's just the ability to melt my mind with their minds and to feel how they are feeling I've never heard of that before I'd like to know if my two cows are happy here they've been here for a year and a half and I see a definite improvement in them and I'd like to know what do you think Mahe see so Mary is the leader of both of them and she helps the other cow because Ellen is more emotional than Mary Mary is really better at perceiving what's going on around her and you know she's really attentive to you she perceives everything that's going on with you that's right I've noticed that you know sometimes you get there and you're really worried something related to someone's health I got an image of a younger person with health problems IV problem too salty it's okay now but it was a person who how can I put it sits ooh so his mother is a friend of mine a very good friend and her child was very ill when I visited her not very long ago she confided in me and I was a little shaken you know when you come here they know exactly how you're feeling so that's how I can perceive from them the image of a sick child or something else I'd never have thought they could go that far really yes I thought that an animal was just an animal no animals are the same as us I didn't know they could feel things as deeply as that you know they pick up they feel and they understand everything well you've certainly taught me things I didn't know cool vehicles I had no idea what to be close to animals like that I'm gonna try and feel more for each animal do salty yes absolutely I'm gonna try and get a little closer to them I think there's work to be done there this form of totally surprising intuitive language is not very developed in our societies in which rational thought dominates but what about in other traditions secundus Lily shaman and Amazonian shaman say that normal language separates us from other species because they do not speak human language but when we use certain plants to modify consciousness we can jump through this communication barrier and enter into the same wavelength as plants and animals and have exchanges education with these other entities if we pay attention we can see that this essence emits a melody a vibration the work of a shaman starts by leading this melody and humans are capable of emitting a melody in return Demitri melody or torski this makes an interface or communication possible between a human and the essence of a plant or an animal that passes through the song the ability to communicate with nature the shamans possess is recognized today Leila's practice is different she County communicates essentially with domestic animals but is it possible to communicate with wild animals living in semi captivity [Music] numerous experiments have shown that great apes are capable of communicating with man that we Homo sapiens share over 90% of our genetic heritage with chimpanzees this is monkey Valley near Poitier in central eastern France magalie has been a carer here for 15 years and knows his residents very well I'm interested in your approach so I can know a little bit about what the animals I work with are thinking in particular the chimpanzees I'd like to know what they think of what's going on around them of their life as a group their life here hey best in not a good idea no yes we're gonna get fired up yeah that's really where I thought he's just letting us know it's his home so this is the group there are nine chimpanzees on the island brothers and half-brothers I have a question about this group and about one chimp in particular wonder whom I often wonder about myself I'd like to know what's going on in his head what went on in his head when he was younger and how he's doing now okay I'm going to do a communication how does it work is that I'm going to connect myself to the spirit of the animal so it's an additional form of communication because we know that chimpanzees communicate a great deal already whether through facial expressions noises they make a wide range of vocal sounds yes because you do it by physical observation yeah so you make a physical observation followed by a deduction but communication is a bit different you connect yourself to the animals mind okay chuckles hola communication what's up so what I noticed when I was communicating that was really a first for me really strange is that social position is very important for them and it affects them emotionally big deal they have really strong emotions that last a long long time and affect them a lot that's what I felt and you don't get that with other species no it's completely different they have highly amplified emotions they're the same emotions as ours but on a huge scale it's like experiencing an opera for example on magnitude of like Verdi opera so I love Wanda's personality I found him so gentle and really refined first thing he started to show me is something linked to his past like there was a breakup there's a sense of separation I could see boss he was behind the boss and he was really hysterical because he felt trapped he was trying to get out he was in a state of extreme panic I could feel his panic inside of me he can't get over that and the result is that now he's in this group and he's not quite and faced you know something's just not quite there and that's why he behaves really differently from the others but I feel it's true that in the group wonder really is separate from the others he doesn't behave the same way as them we can tell he doesn't think the same way as the others and it's exactly what you've just said it's rather incredible that you've felt that separation we've been observing this group for a few years now but for somebody who doesn't know them for somebody's only just seen them for about 10 seconds well done thank you what motivates me to communicate with animals well first of all it has to do with feelings I want to know who the animal is I want to be able to feel completely inside of me in all my sense who he is because I love animals I love being able to feel who they are and also feeling the difference between all the different minds but above all it's really to further the cause of animals is to be able to show people that perhaps don't have the same sensitivity but they have consciousness that they have thoughts and that they have emotions can you come here a minute please Leila has communicated with the chimpanzees have you got a question to ask I'd like to know what's going on in Vincent's head to us he sometimes seems to behave rather strangely or exhibit behavior we just can't understand poor mother swinging but me Vincent feels lonely as if he's separate from the group and sad to see if you were to be human beings he would be the individualist okay the one who doesn't act like the others you know but I find a Melissa strange not quite sure there's like something off that's exactly what we think he's off-topic like a potato Vincent has the ability to feel human beings deeply he understands his caretakers so I'd like to know how he feels about my colleagues okay so I need a bit of time tommye Lee so there's no messing around with Thomas you know he's strict so it's okay can I say this yes there's no messing around you know with Thomas you have to be on your toes it's not that they afraid of him but they have to tread carefully with him they're always looking at what he's going to do like they're observing him you know before he shows up so they already connected to Thomas's minds even before he arrives because there's no messing around with him does that make sense absolutely exactly so Stevens okay Steven his approach is cooler it's more relaxed he's calmer but he's less stable emotionally you know he tends to have you know more changes yes what's interesting here is that even before you arrive they already know what emotional state you're in and they get it from Vincent that's really interesting you guys don't realize but they've already picked up on everything I think we're all aware that in the mornings they're highly sensitive to the mood we're in they're really sensitive our animals are really irritated if we are they're super sensitive to that you know under the worst emotion for them is irritation that's what I'm getting right now irritation and frustration it's like a really high-pitched sound that hurts the ears and it has the same effect on them okay strange isn't it yes very strange yeah it's strange to hear it yes to hear all that because we suspect it but to actually hear it no yes and I'm usually rather wary of all that sort of stuff so to hear it is very strange it may seem strange today yet certain scientific experiments have led us to reevaluate animal behavior and intelligence [Music] etiquette I've always felt that animals have emotions and very strong thoughts that are highly developed the same as ours I've also always known that they have consciousness that they know what's around them and that they understand what's going on but specifically among the great apes they have a great degree of consciousness really developed in other words they can project themselves into the future and calculate the actions to obtain something for example the social position they can also pick up on each other's emotions within a group in addition to empathy there's also an awareness of the other's emotions an awareness of who the caretakers are and self-awareness a very high developed sense of self of who I am me and who the other is and how I place myself in relation to who is opposite me that is usually defined as consciousness [Music] it is therefore not inconceivable that animals that share their lives with humans should be able to perceive their emotional state but to what extent are they affected by our emotions and thoughts what better way to examine the question then through a horseman and his mount Maurice lives a life among horses he is a farrier and has been riding horses ever since he was a child he regularly takes part in show jumping competitions he's asked Leila to come to see his stallion Balder who is displaying a few behavioral problems that he just can't get to the bottom off hello Leila hello you must be Maurice I am Maurice indeed yes I'm Elise pleased to meet you very nice of you to come let me introduce border to you been riding him for the last four years in competitions well I have a problem with this horse he's rather anxious and fearful mainly in places he doesn't know so I'd like you to help me solve the problem if it's possible yes I'll have to focus for a bit okay and we can talk about it after that that sounds great I'll leave you to it [Music] so here there's a situation in the past where I can see him with a lot of other horses and I can smell those horses I can really feel how nervous they are you know there's a sense of panic and many of those horses are taken away and they're put into a van there's a lot of anxiety a lot of worry and this anxiety is passed on to everyone else of course and this specific event is stuck in his memory some way and therefore whenever he finds himself in a place where there's a lot of horses we have the same situation yes he remembers it as if it's the same thing what's going to happen to me now will the same thing happen to me again he's really afraid of losing what he already has because if he is good with you you know he's fond of you well I've never ridden a horse that's produce such strong sensations never it's the first horse I've had such strong feelings with there's a really strong bond and he's afraid of losing his safety and that bond and because of that he really wants to please you he doesn't know how to do that so he doesn't understand how that's what's causing him so much stress and brings on more panic course there are issues that have to do with his own past but then there's also issues that have to do with you if you don't mind me saying so so there's a link with you with your past and with the need to do things properly this need is directly reproduced in your relationship with Balder this is related to your childhood because you were made to feel that you are never good enough so you always have to prove yourself now they are doing more and more yes exactly you're right with my parents mainly my father your father yes well he was very very harsh that's correct he never managed to see who you really were he always us more from you exactly and you never felt understood you always tried to do more to please him and it was just never enough yes and this need to I have to do things well to prove to him has stayed with you and has caused so much anxiety yes exactly and you see it's the same thing for the horse that's right he wants to do things right he loves you and he wants to stay with you and he also feels is never good enough and he just doesn't understand why I think there's things that can be sorted out in relationship to his past I'll try to help you there but there's also things with you oh yes I suppose so I do have a tendency to want the same thing as my father wanted for me at the time in any case thank you very much for the precise advice I'm certain I'm deeply touched [Music] so handsome amazingly Leila can also contribute to the well-being of animals by working on perceived traumas usually when I'm communicating with an animal I'm in a receptive mode I perceive information but I can also do the opposite I can sense I can emit a sense of safety peace or well-being to do so I use their own language i emit images physical or emotional sensations and even sense [Music] receiving but also emitting information beyond all rational thought is an interspecies communication actually possible as the Strasburg University primate Center scientists are busy studying it Leila has come to see Ellen and Charlotte in order to discover the research underway so let me show you where we work with tonking macaques this is their Park they have half a hectare where they live in semi captivity and then we work in this small rather enclosed area which they can enter freely whenever they want the aim of the experiment is to find out whether macaques are sensitive to our attentions and whether they will communicate intentionally with us one researcher will hide a food reward a second researcher is unaware where the reward has been placed and we're going to see what signals what gestures the macaques will use to indicate to the second researcher where the food reward is located when you say attention do you mean physical or mental emotional attention we can't quantify emotional attention with our research so we're going to use physical clues for example are the eyes open or closed is the head pointing towards the subject or to one side and with the results we'll know to what extent the animals are sensitive to each of the clues the body the face or the expression okay Shauna you can turn round only during the experiments he understood that here to indicate the location at the same time he made the visual connection and the gesture he sent an image of the place where the food was like he was saying it's there say I get it there he finds it fun actually for me that's how animals communicate among each other when I mentioned in the experiments that they send images or that they understand what's happening with humans that's how they do it they perceive things Savas keep X Y the way it works why would they need other signals why would they need to make noises and movements it's the same as for us we have thoughts and emotions but we also use words to connect with others when we speak we to send mental images at the same time it's just that we don't realize that we're doing it but if we're thinking I went for a walk in a park at 5 p.m. and we say that to someone then the other person will receive images of that Park at 5 p.m. so for my scientific point of view you create images when you speak the receiver creates images on reception but in relation to their own set of references so for me the image perceived will not be the same image as that sent by the sender do you see what I mean and the images can be mixed at least that's how it is with human beings in other words people have images that are linked to their own memories that's the reference but at the same time is possible that they might have picked them up from the sender Sankyo meaning but it would have to be analyzed in the way we do it in order to persuade the scientific community a little more absolutely what strikes me is that when we speak about animal intelligence we are always using our own human criteria in other words the animals should be as we want and do as we want the way we want when we think he should do it but animals have their own intelligence a very specific one that is linked to their senses and the instincts animals live entirely in the present and because of this all the senses are greatly heightened they receive a flow of information that enables them to manage their world humans cannot begin to imagine too degree of intelligence that animals have and the nature of the intelligence [Music] great apes experience emotions and possess consciousness themselves pets liked although the cat who visit his master's grave everyday feel empathy for the humans they live with but what about the consciousness of birds biologist and crow expert August von Bayern carries out research into them and Leila has another surprise in store we have been studying intelligence of Corbett's for the last 15 years at the University of Oxford and it's been particularly interested in New Caledonian crows why are they so special and because they're the only two naturally to users in the entire crow family wow that's that's amazing may I present of my students my PhD student body can reject that no no no you go Mel from France and and there they have prepared to set up for the experiment an experience with a short tube you know they can push the mechanism with they can push the platform down with their beak yes I learn indirectly about to make its mechanism yes I have to push and this is the rewards the first really like in this experiment the Grove is presented with a box equipped with a short tube [Music] [Music] the crew is familiar with the mechanism already but apparently prefers to use a tool other than his beak to retrieve the treat he's then introduced to another box equipped with a long tube and the twigs all around had been removed world The Crow find a new way to activate the hatch [Music] we've seen in in the experiments that the crows can really if once they have understand understood the mechanism they find ways to solve the problem but as they use stones and drop them in the tube yes I connected my my mind to his mind so I feel a bit like how he feels ok so what was amazing to me is how the mind is incredibly sharp and focused and the most incredible thing for me is that there is like a thought process which means there's a sequence of thoughts that are similar to words but it's like thought sequence and it's very very coherent which means that it goes in a certain order and without destruction of something else and I haven't seen that very often it is true that they seem to be able to focus yes very well another experiment designed by Auguste shows that the crows not only used the tools because also make tools that are better adapted to their needs a worm is introduced into a peanut kernel which is then placed at the bottom of a trunk a straight rod with flexible ends is offered to him as a tool [Applause] the grow quickly understands that the task is difficult but he was removed to be incredibly ingenious incredible because it shows that they have an understanding of functionality so they know what they need to solve a problem yourself another problem and they can come up with another solution they have not seen before yes it's even hard for little children absolutely it was amazing when I found interesting is that the mind is very fast and there's the capacity to separate things which means he can separate objects that are going to be useful or not used for all things around him there's a form of analysis to do that satirising things that's into functional and non-ferrous actly exactly what was amazing for me really I mean that was amazing is that he was able to project into the future so when they want to get to something he can project into the future and he can calculate like if I do this I'm going to get that and if I get that I'm going to give that and if I get that I'm going to get that but he keeps in mind the final thing very interesting that you say that because that's a topic we are investigating in several experiments how far they can plan into the future yes when with the hook when he changed the feeling the shape from straight to the hook and he was inside the box there was a the feeling of what was going on which means that it's not just observation there's a sensory perception of what's going on with the hook taking the treat and the mind is analyzing all the way through we know from the wild New Caledonian quotes they have a very subtle sensory perception they have feathers at the beak yes and they feel exactly what is happening in nature they're foraging for fat la vie is in decaying wood yes and they can't always see them they can see them quite well but not always and then they can figure what is going on inside so they're very easy to have a very tactile yes sensory perception and all that that was so amazing for me because you could feel at the end of the stick do you think that they might be doing all these things and and you are interpreting you're feeling these thoughts who would have thought a few years ago the science would reveal the astonishing intelligence of these birds and who knows if scientists by not one day validate this form of intuitive communication but did a time ever exists when we can first freely with nature and if so when was the dialogue interrupted yeah come in radical break occurred about 3000 years ago we can date it rather precisely in the first chapter of Genesis Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 when God said to humans that all other species existed to be used from that point on judeo-christianity developed rationalism developed in the 16th to 17th century with de Scotties we set up the conditions for implementing this vision in which we totally dominate nature I dream of a world in which all humans could communicate with animals for me the ideal planet would be one in which there would be constant communication between us and animals between us and nature we would be aware of who animals really are and we would understand them harmony between man and animal depends on greater mutual understanding as revealed by the story of maurice and his horse it's the big day the first showjumping competition of the season since they first met Leila has spent time with Balder working on reducing his restlessness will Balder overcome his anxiety in relation to the obstacles uncle Maurice be less stressed [Music] hello Maurice so how is Baltar doing oh he's a lot calmer a few weeks ago he'd already have done several droppings by now out of fear out of nervousness where are so far today he hasn't even done one yet I can sense that he's much more cooperative when I ask something of him you see okay good luck in marina we now have forestry dipped with his horse order [Music] we so Maurice well he's demonstrated what he can do yes and his refusal when he's in the arena I really feel his , than what used to be but he picked up on your anxiety of the moment I think he's so sensitive to your emotions that you maybe you need to do more work on this trust that has just been established between you and him and maybe you need to work on your apprehension yes I really want to get results so I'll work on it non-stop [Music] if it were true the taller continues to visit his human companions grave out of a sense of gratitude and love if it were true that we could recover this universal language dis forgotten communication if it were true then we might learn to live in harmony with animals once again to justly share the benefits for our planet amongst all and in all probability leave more at ease with ourselves [Music] [Music]

Channel: wocomoWILDLIFE

Views: 439,926

Rating: 4.8637848 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, Understanding Animals, Animal communication, Emotion in animals, animals’ emotions, animals’ feelings, talking with animals, PLAY_EN, intuitive communication, nature, CPB Films, Toldo, Italy, Iozelli Renzo, Toldo the cat

Id: TgccOPOfB1M

Length: 50min 10sec (3010 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 09 2020