Gabra Zachman

He was looking forward to going dark for three weeks in Kenya, where he would follow a troop of about 150 baboons on foot across the savannah to observe their collective decision-making. Rossano reminded me that he had started at a place of skepticism. I definitely have a lot of issues with the social media part of this thing, he said.

He was looking forward to going dark for three weeks in Kenya, where he would follow a troop of about 150 baboons on foot across the savannah to observe their collective decision-making. Rossano reminded me that he had started at a place of skepticism. I definitely have a lot of issues with the social media part of this thing, he said.

But there are right now several thousand people who are doing this to their pets, and I think we should try to take it seriously. Is this good? Is it bad? What would it tell us about these animals' minds? The data that Rossano collects is entirely independent of any social media posts. I don't even have TikTok, he told me.

But there are right now several thousand people who are doing this to their pets, and I think we should try to take it seriously. Is this good? Is it bad? What would it tell us about these animals' minds? The data that Rossano collects is entirely independent of any social media posts. I don't even have TikTok, he told me.

He screens for the clever Hans effect by using double-blind testing and controls for unintentional cherry-picking on the part of pet owners by setting up cameras running 24-7 in some homes and sending in his own researchers into other homes a few times a year.

He screens for the clever Hans effect by using double-blind testing and controls for unintentional cherry-picking on the part of pet owners by setting up cameras running 24-7 in some homes and sending in his own researchers into other homes a few times a year.

He has found that the dogs, on average, recognize certain common words and press certain two-word phrases non-randomly without only mimicking their owner's presses. This indicates that the dogs aren't just mindlessly slamming buttons. But the tests do not yet show that dogs are doing anything scientists didn't already know they could do.

He has found that the dogs, on average, recognize certain common words and press certain two-word phrases non-randomly without only mimicking their owner's presses. This indicates that the dogs aren't just mindlessly slamming buttons. But the tests do not yet show that dogs are doing anything scientists didn't already know they could do.

More than a decade ago, studies with two border collies named Rico and Chaser demonstrated that some dogs can learn a remarkable number of words, more than 1,000 in the case of Chaser, who also understood semantic instructions like, to ball, take frisbee.

More than a decade ago, studies with two border collies named Rico and Chaser demonstrated that some dogs can learn a remarkable number of words, more than 1,000 in the case of Chaser, who also understood semantic instructions like, to ball, take frisbee.

Hungarian studies involving so-called gifted word-learner dogs have found a few dozen dogs from around the world who can learn the names of hundreds of objects even without training and can remember these words years later.

Hungarian studies involving so-called gifted word-learner dogs have found a few dozen dogs from around the world who can learn the names of hundreds of objects even without training and can remember these words years later.

These are remarkable feats of cognition, but they mostly rely on the familiar mechanisms of associative learning first established a century ago by scientists like Ivan Pavlov. Press a button, get a reward.

These are remarkable feats of cognition, but they mostly rely on the familiar mechanisms of associative learning first established a century ago by scientists like Ivan Pavlov. Press a button, get a reward.

The primary claim of the button users, that dogs are producing original combinations of buttons they haven't been trained to press to communicate something they couldn't otherwise say, is entirely different. When a dog named Parker on TikTok sees an ambulance and presses squeaker, then car, she appears to be using words in a way that's closer to how humans do.

The primary claim of the button users, that dogs are producing original combinations of buttons they haven't been trained to press to communicate something they couldn't otherwise say, is entirely different. When a dog named Parker on TikTok sees an ambulance and presses squeaker, then car, she appears to be using words in a way that's closer to how humans do.

Multi-word phrases like Parker's are creative, spontaneous, and flexible expressions of language, a quality that the linguist Charles Hockett called productivity. Productivity is thought to be unique to human language. It's what the most famous animal language studies appeared to show non-human minds were capable of.

Multi-word phrases like Parker's are creative, spontaneous, and flexible expressions of language, a quality that the linguist Charles Hockett called productivity. Productivity is thought to be unique to human language. It's what the most famous animal language studies appeared to show non-human minds were capable of.

Anecdotally documenting, for example, that Washoe, a chimp, signed water bird to refer to a swan, that Coco, the gorilla, signed finger bracelet to mean a ring, and that the orangutan Chantec called himself orangutan person to differentiate himself from ordinary, non-signing orangutans. Herbert Terrace, who led the NIMS study, is now a critic of such anecdotes.

Anecdotally documenting, for example, that Washoe, a chimp, signed water bird to refer to a swan, that Coco, the gorilla, signed finger bracelet to mean a ring, and that the orangutan Chantec called himself orangutan person to differentiate himself from ordinary, non-signing orangutans. Herbert Terrace, who led the NIMS study, is now a critic of such anecdotes.