Is Anyone Listening? - by Denise L Herzing (Hardcover)

About the Book

"If you could ask a dolphin one question, what would it be? What might a dolphin ask you? In her studies of marine mammal communication, researcher and author Denise Herzing has asked these and related questions for nearly forty years. In this wide-ranging and accessible book, Herzing connects research on dolphin communication to findings from Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Dian Fossey on mountain gorillas, Cynthia Moss on African elephants, and others driving today's exploration of animal language. Considering dolphins and other nonhuman animals as colleagues instead of research subjects, she asks us to meet animals as both speakers and listeners, learning from what others have to tell us, regardless of our agendas. Our ancestors evolved with plants, animals, and the earth itself. We breathe the same oxygen, walk in the same woods, and feel the same wind and water as other life. Understanding animal communication, Herzing reminds us, helps us start to appreciate that we are mutually curious species, carefully considering each other"--

Book Synopsis

From a leading researcher on dolphin communication, a deep dive into the many ways animal species communicate with their kin, their neighboring species, and us.

If you could pose one question to a dolphin, what would it be? And what might a dolphin ask you? For forty years, researcher and author Denise L. Herzing has investigated these and related questions of marine mammal communication. With the assistance of a friendly community of Atlantic spotted dolphins in the Bahamas, Herzing studies two-way communication between different dolphin species and between humans and dolphins using a variety of cutting-edge experiments. But the dolphins are not the only ones talking, and in this wide-ranging and accessible book, Herzing explores the astonishing realities of interspecies communication, a skill that humans currently lack.

Is Anyone Listening? connects research on dolphin communication to findings from Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Dian Fossey on mountain gorillas, Cynthia Moss on African elephants, and others driving today's exploration of possible animal languages. Although humans have long attempted to crack animal communication codes, only now do we have the advanced machine-learning tools to help. As Herzing reveals, researchers are finding fascinating hints of language in nonhuman species, including linguistic structures, vowel equivalents, and complex repeated sequences. By looking at the many ways animals use and manipulate signals, we see that we've only just begun to appreciate the diversity of animal intelligence and the complicated and subtle aspects of animal communication.

Considering dolphins and other nonhuman animals as colleagues instead of research subjects, Herzing asks us to meet animals as both speakers and listeners, as mutually curious beings, and to listen to what they are saying.

Review Quotes

"[Herzing's] engaging book is peppered with stories that give readers a peek into her life and research philosophy. . . . [Her] passion for nature and animals makes for a positive overarching message. She's emphatic 'that nature has a right to exist for itself, ' independent of how we interact with it. And she's also at ease discussing the ethics of keeping animals in captivity and the rights of animals more generally -- describing humans' history of controlling rather than co-existing with most, if not all, other species. Overall, I agree with Herzing that if humans are ever able to communicate with other animals, dolphins would be strong candidates. Is Anyone Listening? offers an appealing window into the life of a field biologist devoted to studying the much loved, charismatic dolphin."-- "Nature"

"Captivating. . . . Through vivid storytelling, paired with scientific insight, Herzing shares her journey from her initial fascination with dolphin behaviour to the development of innovative methods for studying their vocalisations. This book not only opens a window into the fascinating world of dolphins but also challenges us to rethink how we perceive animal intelligence. What ethical considerations arise when we pursue the possibility of communicating with non-human animals? Could understanding the communication of dolphins, whales, elephants or other species change our approach to conservation and human-wildlife interactions? . . . Ultimately, Is Anyone Listening? challenges readers to rethink their assumptions about animal minds and communication. It also opens intriguing possibilities for the future."-- "Current Biology"

"Nonhuman animals communicate using the means at their disposal, just as we do, whether we call it language or not, and any understanding of the natural world must take into account this communication if it is going to create a complete picture of the natural world. Herzing's book is a valuable summary of the research done on animal interaction up to the present, but it is also a clarion call for those doing scientific research or just thinking broadly about the world around us. Consistently decentering the human in environmental studies will not solve all such problems; those answers will most likely come from animal science and massive-data computing. But it will make us more attuned to the voices of nonhuman animals, whatever form these voices may take. It will allow us to be quiet, to let human supremacy fall away, and to listen."-- "H-Environment"

"Is Anyone Listening? is Herzing's exciting, well-written chronicle of a lifetime experience as a scientist studying dolphins. . . . [It] is a daring, unconventional monograph brimming with ideas and findings that resonate with many dimensions of communication--of the intra-species as well as the interspecies variety."-- "Leonardo"

"Herzing's latest book Is Anyone Listening? discusses the complex and at times controversial topic of how to understand animal communication. . . I appreciated the nuance with which Herzing engaged with this topic. She's careful to avoid mapping human motivations to non-human animals but still aptly describes how dolphins have their own complex approach to communication, which at times may be recognizable to humans. . . This book provides a deep dive into the world of animal communication, making the topic accessible to anyone fascinated by both the similarities and differences in how other species pass important information to one another. Through reading this book I gained a wider perspective on how our human perception of intelligence shapes scientific research."-- "Integrative and Comparative Biology blog"

"Is Anyone Listening? is foremost a compelling and essential story in the history of Western science, a book for marine biologists and lay readers interested in how far we've come in our understanding of animal communication, especially with respect to dolphin research. Herzing outlines the lessons of past and ongoing studies and offers a perspective on his­torical, present, and future research methods, technologies, and challenges at this crucial moment."--Richard J. King "Sea History Magazine"

"Herzing, founder and research director of the Wild Dolphin Project, presents many innovations toward understanding the behavior and signals of wild dolphins. She details the ongoing development and deployment of technologies to better record, analyze, and discern meaning in the complex array of acoustic (often ultrasonic) signals and body movements of dolphins. From customized underwater audiovisual arrays that triangulate the positions of individual dolphins to better capture their difficult-to-localize directional signals to the use of adaptive learning tools, Herzing discusses the advances and setbacks of studying dolphins in the wild. She also informs us of her philosophical approach to studying these intelligent animals with rich social lives and a deep connection to their changing underwater world. Hers is an approach which, through respect and careful observance of dolphin etiquette, forms a mutual partnership with the dolphins and in doing so, listens to what they are saying. This beautiful and engaging work will be enjoyable for both scientific and general readers. Highly recommended."-- "Choice"

"Herzing does a fantastic job looking at communication among an array of nonhuman animals, and how quite a few of those nonhuman animals extend those techniques to humans, or try to. Virtually every chapter is eye-opening."--Steve Donoghue "Stevereads (The Best Books of 2024: Science and Nature)"

"Herzing tackles the broad topic of nonhuman animal communication in all its fascinating and challenging scope. . . . Drawing on her four decades of dolphin research, Herzing unravels the workings behind interspecies communication--the many ways it is achieved amongst social species, the actual mechanics related with the different senses uses to communicate, and developments in the way humans have studied the phenomenon through the ages. . . . [There is] intense curiosity inherent in this book, and the author's laudable intentions of considering animal individuality over the conception of animal societies as just a numerical concatenation. . . . This book is a passionate plea for such research to be prioritised and funded, but always undertaken with a conception of the animals as mutually curious colleagues rather than as research subjects."-- "Open Letters Review"

"In this entrancing report, marine biologist Herzing details her work for the Wild Dolphin Project researching how the animals communicate with humans and one another. . . . The firsthand accounts of studying dolphins in the wild position Herzing as a kind of aquatic Jane Goodall, and her recollections are elevated by philosophical musings on how scientists should think about the minds of other animals ('We should be looking to develop species-specific definitions for "types" of intelligence, rather than resorting to human comparisons'). Animal lovers will be eager to dive in."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"By merging personal stories with scientific depictions, Herzing offers a compelling argument that captivates."--Con Slobodchikoff, author of "Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals"

"Dr. Dolittle famously desired to talk to the animals. Herzing has a better idea: stop talking long enough to listen to what the animals themselves are saying. Herzing has spent more than forty years doing just that, mostly while underwater with free-living dolphins. It might surprise us to learn that animals sometimes lie and that some animals talk by changing colors. Listen to what Herzing has to say here. You'll be amazed."--Carl Safina, author of "Beyond Words" and "Alfie and Me"

"A detailed, fascinating survey of the ongoing pursuit to understand the linguistic dimensions of nonhuman animals, told through the lens of Herzing's decades of studying a community of dolphins in their native habitat. Particularly interesting is Herzing's chronicle of her imaginative and pioneering use of technology to attempt to understand the many facets of dolphin communication. Required reading for anyone interested in building a bridge between humans and nonhumans."--Thomas I. White, author of "In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier"

"It's high time someone pulled together our current knowledge of interspecies communication, and no one is better placed to do that than Herzing."--Arik Kershenbaum, author of "Why Animals Talk: The New Science of Animal Communication"

About the Author

As research director of the Wild Dolphin Project, Denise L. Herzing has completed forty years of a long-term study on the Atlantic spotted dolphins of the Bahamas. She is also affiliate assistant professor in biology at Florida Atlantic University, coeditor of Dolphin Communication and Cognition, and the author of Dolphin Diaries: My 25 Years with Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas and The Wild Dolphin Project.