Hi, my name is Camille Bromley and I'm a contributor to the New York Times Magazine.

Back in the summer of 2020, like many people, I had a lot of time on my hands.

So I decided to adopt a pandemic puppy, a German shepherd I named Ellie.

I'd fostered cats for many years, so I'd always thought of myself as a cat person.

But as soon as I got Ellie, I thought, this is way, way better.

Ellie is a smart dog.

I could teach her a new command or a new trick in about 15 seconds.

But even though she was really good at training,

all of our communication was always one way.

It was me to her, right?

So I started thinking, well, what does she want to tell me?

Scientists generally believe that only humans have language.

There are a few exceptions, like dolphins and whales, for example.

There were some famous studies back in the 70s that involved humans talking with animals.

You might remember Coco, a gorilla who has taught sign language.

Many scientists were critical of the

work done with Coco because they said that having one animal being trained extensively in a lab

setting didn't prove much. While it may have looked like Coco was signing some remarkable things,

it's also possible her signs were random, or that it was all wishful thinking on the part of her human trainers.

After the 70s, animal language experiments, like the one with Coco, were mostly abandoned.

But now scientists know that when it comes to communicating with humans, dogs actually have a significant edge on gorillas.

Dogs have always needed us for food and safety.

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