Question: Do you think baboon will ever become a language that people can learn- like french or spanish?

Suzanne Harvey answered on 17 Jun 2013:

That’s a great question! I actually had a similar question in an exam once – and the answer is, theoretically, yes! With enough time to study baboons, we should be able to work out what their vocalisations mean, but learning how to make the sounds would be quite tough… Also, they don’t have very many sounds, so you could tell them something like “I’ve found food”, but you couldn’t chat like humans do.

I work with a field assistant who can call the baboons when we’re looking for them, and they answer him!