• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Learn How To Talk To Animals

Learn How To Talk To Animals

Animal Communication Training with Val Heart

  • About Val
          • Founder, Val Heart
          • Everything You Need to Know About Animal Communication
          • Consultations with Val
          • 27 Brilliant Reasons to Learn Animal Communication
          • Media
  • Start Training Here
          • Animal Communication Online Courses and Classes
          • Animal Talk Coaching & Mastery Club® Membership
          • Heart Wisdom Masterclasses for Advanced Training
          • Animal Talk Student Coaching
          • Do you have what it takes to be an animal communicator?
  • Start Training Here
        • Courses

          • All Animal Communication Online Courses
          • Animal Communication E-book (free)
          • Beginning Core Foundations Course
          • Advanced Animal Talk Mastery Course
          • Professional Animal Communicator Business Building Course
          • Special Topic Courses
          • Do you have what it takes to be an Animal Communicator?
        • Memberships

          • Elite Platinum AnimalTalk Coaching & Mastery Club Heart Wisdom Masterclasses PLUS Membership
          • Gold AnimalTalk Coaching & Mastery Club Live Q&A PLUS Membership
          • Silver AnimalTalk Coaching & Mastery Club Membership
        • Coaching

          • Animal Talk Student Coaching
          • Animal Problem Solving Session
          • Healing for You and Your Pet Session
          • Professional Animal Communication Business Mentoring
        • Masterclasses

          • Advanced Animal Talk Heart Wisdom Masterclasses
  • Animal Talk Blog
  • Student Login

Chimp Communication

*Learn How to Talk to Animals with Professional Animal Communicator, Val Heart › Forums › Animal Talk Coaching & Mastery Club Forum › Chimp Communication

Tagged: Chimp Communication

  • This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 9 months ago by Ipek.
Viewing 2 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • 09/13/2021 at 6:30 pm #85228
      Sukey Williams
      Gold Member

      I was reading Val’s Hidden Secrets to Communication, and I stopped on page 9 when I read about dolphin and gorilla communication and Val’s statement: “Gorillas taught sign language can make up new words to say what they need to express if they haven’t been taught the word or phrase for it.”

      I decided to share a personal story about five sign language chimps I worked with at the Chimpanzee Human Communication Institute (CHCI) at Central Washington University.

      In 1999, I was accepted by Dr. Roger Fouts into his Psychology Master’s program at CHCI. I arrived five months early to get settled into the town of Ellensburg and join their internship program. Although I have many stories, this one is my favorite and it supports Val’s statement. (Keep in mind that I don’t know whether this story can legally be shared beyond this forum.)

      If Dr. Fouts’ name doesn’t ring a bell, he was the graduate student that saved Washoe from horrible conditions and he was the first to teach a chimpanzee sign language. Later, he built CHCI and saved four more chimps, all of whom learned sign language from Washoe.

      At CHCI, each night a graduate student is required to sleep on-site to ensure the chimps are safe. On one morning during my time there, the graduate student on duty shared what happened the previous night in a CHCI meeting.

      First of all, the facility has multiple indoor rooms and a giant “exclosure” with strong “netting” to keep humans out and the chimps in. Additionally, there is a thick steel door that separates the indoor facility from the “exclosure” that is open during the day and closed by a graduate student when all the chimps are in for the night. The chimps can swing from tree to tree and jump on and off structures etc.

      Secondly, there is a CHCI rule that all the chimps were well aware of, which was that when they were called inside for dinner, all the chimps must come inside. If one or more chimps stayed outside, they were all given dinner but none of them get their dessert, which was a cookie that night. The grad student said that Tatu, who had been using sticks and other tools all day long and late into the night trying to snag one lone apple off a small Charlie Brown tree located just outside the chain link fencing at the base where the “exclosure” met the ground. Tatu refused to come inside. So, the grad student fed the other four chimps their dinners and when Tatu finally gave up her pursuit and came inside, he fed her dinner as well.

      Tatu then looked at the grad student and did something extraordinary. She simultaneously signed “cookie” and “Shhhh,” placing her first finger on her pierced lips. She had not only combined two signs that had never been combined before but she was also sending a message of deception: Give me a cookie and we won’t tell anyone else. Deception is one of the highest forms of intelligence.

      So, what did the grad student do? He gave them all cookies to reward and encourage them to combine more signs and concepts!

      Sukey

    • 09/14/2021 at 5:34 pm #85229
      Ipek
      Silver Member

      Hello Sukey,

      Wow, thanks for sharing this. As a scientist who works on animal behavior, I found the story quite exciting. I suspect many researchers experience incredible events such as these that leave them in awe, but just don’t get an opportunity to follow up on them. I’d love to know if the grad student (or others in the lab) saw this behavior again? Also, it is so awesome that you had the opportunity work with the chimps!

      Thank you!
      Ipek

      • 09/15/2021 at 11:15 am #85230
        Sukey Williams
        Gold Member

        Good morning Ipek!

        I’m so glad you liked this story as it is near and dear to my heart. I also worked with four Bottlenose dolphins doing very kind, respectable cognitive research in Hawaii at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab, which was associated with the University of Hawaii. This was also an amazing experience! And, after two interesting incidences at the lab, I proposed devising a keyboard for the dolphins to create their own music but, unfortunately, the Director didn’t find this interesting enough. As a result, I moved on to work with the chimps. In retrospect, I wished I pushed harder for this.

        Although I don’t have an answer as to whether they saw this behavior again because, due to circumstances beyond my control, I needed to leave one of the biggest opportunities of my life, but I do know that all the staff and grad students would have kept rewarding the chimps for combining signs and concepts so I strongly suspect this behavior grew. I certainly hope so!

        Note: I also suggested devising a keyboard for the chimps to create their own music but it was met by the Director with the same lackluster response. They sell the chimps’ paintings so why not let them create music they enjoy and sell their recordings?

        Although neither was meant to be, I strongly believe that I’m where I’m supposed to be … communicating with animals. After all, so much of my life has been directly related to communicating with animals.

        Back to working through Val’s training courses and practicing her meditations!
        Stay tuned … I’ll share a few more stories about the dolphins and chimps and their depth of emotions and intelligence. 🙂

        Sukey

    • 09/16/2021 at 6:26 pm #85252
      Ipek
      Silver Member

      Hello Sukey!

      Thanks so much for your reply to my post! I can’t believe the directors did not like the idea of chimps/dolphins making their own music. As you said, paintings by animals are a huge hit in many places, and I know many people who would have loved to hear music made by animals. I am glad to learn you are enjoying your animal communication journey; I am quite a beginner in this area, so I feel I have quite a long way to go. Looking forward to reading more of your stories on dolphins and chimps!

      Ipek

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 2 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Log In

Primary Sidebar

This Month's Featured Animal Teacher

Parent

Alana B's

Animal

Coco

Join the Conversation and share your insights

Visit the Forum Now

Search Forum

What’s new in the Forum?

  • Accountability July 10th– July 16th, 2025! Post & earn free session with Val
  • Accountability July 3rd– July 9th, 2025! Post & earn free session with Val
  • Coco is our Featured Animal Teacher (FAT) for July 2025
  • Accountability June 26th– July 2nd, 2025! Post & earn free session with Val
  • Accountability June 19th– June 25th, 2025! Post & earn free session with Val

Newest Blog Posts

Heart Wisdom Methods

Heart Wisdom Methods: 3 Steps to Identify, Heal and Relieve Your Animal’s Pain

#1 Predictor of Your Success as an Animal Communicator

communicate with animals

I’m Trying To Communicate with Animals But My ‘Clairs’ Aren’t Working

Reincarnation – Can You Reconnect With Pets Who Have Passed?

animal communication dog 20240822

Mastering the Heart Wisdom Method of Animal Communication

Remove Your Self Limiter And Be a Better Animal Communicator

  • Disclaimer

  • Terms and Conditions

  • Privacy Policy

  • Cookie Policy

  • Private Consulting

  • Become An Affiliate

  • Contact Us

  • [email protected]

  • 1-805-PET-TALK

  • www.LearnHowToTalkToAnimals.com

© 2025 - Heart Communications Enterprises Inc.

Val Heart, Animal Talk

© 2025 - Heart Communications Enterprises Inc.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
__cf_bm30 minutesThis cookie is set by CloudFlare. The cookie is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
bcookie2 yearsThis cookie is set by linkedIn. The purpose of the cookie is to enable LinkedIn functionalities on the page.
langsessionThis cookie is used to store the language preferences of a user to serve up content in that stored language the next time user visit the website.
lidc1 dayThis cookie is set by LinkedIn and used for routing.
sssessionThis cookie is set by the provider Eventbrite. This cookie is used for the functionality of website chat-box function.
TawkConnectionTimesessionThis cookie is set by Tawk.to which is a live chat functionality. The cookie is used to remember users so that previous chats can be linked together to provide better and improved service.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
CookieDurationDescription
GCLB12 hoursThis cookie is known as Google Cloud Load Balancer set by the provider Google. This cookie is used for external HTTPS load balancing of the cloud infrastructure with Google.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_79299727_11 minuteThis cookie is set by Google and is used to distinguish users.
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.
_hjFirstSeen30 minutesThis is set by Hotjar to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions.
vuid2 yearsThis domain of this cookie is owned by Vimeo. This cookie is used by vimeo to collect tracking information. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
bscookie2 yearsThis cookie is a browser ID cookie set by Linked share Buttons and ad tags.
centerVisitorId7978 years 7 months 21 days 8 hours 22 minutesThis is a HTTP cookie used to track the individual sessions on the website. It helps the website to compile statistical data from multiple visits. This data is used for lead generation as a part of marketing purpose.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
_gat_gtag_UA_125844239_21 minuteNo description
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
_hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
AnalyticsSyncHistory1 monthNo description
AWSALB7 daysAWSALB is a cookie generated by the Application load balancer in the Amazon Web Services. It works slightly different from AWSELB.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
InfusionsoftTrackingCookie1 yearNo description
loom_anon_commentsessionNo description
loom_referral_videosessionNo description
session7 daysNo description
UserMatchHistory1 monthLinkedin - Used to track visitors on multiple websites, in order to present relevant advertisement based on the visitor's preferences.
view.bf4zyACmsMvefQTiwtGXwE-default-prop.sj8geLicj843pgSuZjc7S41 dayNo description
ZDEDebuggerPresentNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo