- megopie@beehaw.orgEnglish3 hours
Raccoons, possums or corvids.
Raccoons are just great, little treasure pandas. I would to live to know what they see, what their internal worlds are like.
Possums because they’re an ancient linage of marsupial, an isolate and they would sure have some ancient lore and deep oral tradional.
Corvids because I wish to understand the inner machinations of their devious bird brains.
- 1 day
They are known to hold inter-generational grudges.
Mess with one crow and it will warn the whole family about you.
Especially its children.
No joke.
So… good luck.- 19 hours
Last spring (not this past spring, but last year) I came across a fledgling crow on the ground when I was walking my dog. It was on our normal dog walk route and I checked in on it daily, giving it space. After 3 days or so I gave it some water and did some reading about fledgling birds and all that. After it had been on the ground for a week I called an animal rescue and they came and checked on it and sure enough, it was injured so they took it.
Just about every day the crows caw and click at me when we walk. I don’t know if they recognize us and are scolding us or if they’re just doing crow things. I hope they dont think too poorly of me, I was trying to help.
- 17 hours
That’s why I always tell my dog on walks “Crows are Bros” and never let him bother them.
- 9 hours
We’ve got a few crow friends, they follow us on our dog walk and will now come within 2 feet of our dog to ask for dog treats or peanuts. Another dog came near the crows and our dog went into guarding mode… So I think she figured out they are bros
Hopefully they’re nothing like this:
- 24 hours
Cats, being a spell casting witch with a magical talking cat familiar would be amazing, we’d ride together on a flying broom at night beneath an unrealistically large full moon while clouds drift by. It would be truly meowgical. 🐱 🧹 🌕 ✨
ohh I have so many questions for octopus. let me know if you develop this skill
Ants in Gaelic.
- They’re ubiquitous
- They have a very different lifestyle, so would be super interesting to talk to
- They eat all sorts of things, can get anywhere, and can fuck up electronics. Seems like a nice friend to have…
- They are warlike and territorial, so I’m hoping for some leeway in terms of judgment for what humans have done to the planet.
Gaelic because whimsy
- 24 hours
Hmm seems smart but I mean I’d rather I only run the risk of saying the wrong thing to a species that’s largely solitary or at least doesn’t live in really big groups that engage in organised warfare. If I piss off one cat that’s hopefully not as big a deal as pissing off a whole super colony of ants.
- 1 day
cats. they are either the dumbest creatures on the planet or the most cunning smartasses.
- proudblond@lemmy.worldEnglish1 day
Agreed. I have one of each. Or at least that’s how it seems. Maybe all cats are both at the same time?
- 1 day
Most communication is based on the context of our society. I bet we wouldn’t understand the context of Dolphins for example.
Better communicate with intention. When you make good intentions clear, have patients, move slow, etc, then you can attempt communication with many animals already.
I can communicate with my cat, and I understand perfectly when she wants dinner. I can signal her that she needs to wait for a little while. I can understand her frustration when the neighbor cat visits our garden. I can see in the neighbor’s cat’s eyes he just want to chill here because of his enthusiastic dog housemate. I still have to figure out what that blue-tit wants from me. I left him some fresh water, see where that goes. It could be it just tries to tell me it’s a bit busy in the backyard…
Snarky reply: humans.
Actual reply: dogs. I already talk to my dog in English
Personally, I choose the Mourning Doves. I’d like to be able to let some of them know that it’s ok to move if their significant other passes.
Also to use them to gather information, or send them on little flight retrieval missions for coins and trinkets and what not.
Well, I have chickens, so that’s the obvious answer. But I already know what they’d say and it amounts to “feed me” 24/7
So, the next obvious answer is dogs because I love them so much. But, beyond the fantasy of it, I suspect that would end up depressing as fuck because not every dog has a good life, so what they say might drive me to homicide.
Which leaves rats. I’d go with “rodents” given the choice, but if I can only pick one, rats are the most problematic overall. The chance to talk to them and maybe negotiate them buggering off instead of getting killed would be both awesome, and possibly profitable when successful.
