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10->''"You're the one who can hear us, aren't you?"''
11-->-- '''An owl''', ''Film/DrDolittle''
12
13A character can talk to animals, and they (mostly) answer as if they, too, were human.
14
15In the prototypical version, which usually ends up being the main character and the focus of the show, this means having full-on conversations with them, rendered in the work's language via the TranslationConvention. Most of the time we will, at some point, be shown the TranslationConvention explicitly by showing the character making, say, squirrel sounds back and forth with a squirrel. Oddly, they can also converse verbally with animals that don't use vocal communication at all.
16
17Note that this makes every animal in the world qualify as a SpeechImpairedAnimal of sorts, since they're all at least intelligent enough to use a language. This makes carnivorousness [[CarnivoreConfusion morally sketchy]] for both animals and humans, but [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom don't expect this to be addressed one bit]]. (Imagine what would happen if one of these characters ended up in a slaughterhouse!) Not only can someone who speaks Animal talk to every kind of animal, but every kind of animal usually seems to speak the same AnimalTalk too.
18
19It seems as if the presence of someone who speaks Animal heightens an animal's intelligence. They will verbally express an understanding of human actions that the animal's own actions up to then gave no indication of.
20
21The ability to talk to animals is also a common superpower. In the early days, it was fairly common, but due to the perceived lameness of Aquaman-style "talking to fish", it's now most often given to the SuperTeam's wacky guy or PluckyComicRelief as a sort of [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway joke power]]. It's more useful when you can [[TheBeastmaster command the animals you communicate with]]; sometimes, the communication part is left out, and they can only really ''control'' animals, rather than actually converse with them. This tends to avoid the problems mentioned above, in that you might be able to assume the animals are simply being compelled to carry out the commands by whatever magic or AppliedPhlebotinum gave the character the powers in the first place. [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower Sometimes a character can make both work for them.]]
22
23Speaking of which, unrelated shows with lots of magic or AppliedPhlebotinum running around can sometimes result in a device that can replicate these kinds of effects for a one episode story.
24
25Don't confuse this ability with TalkingAnimal, which is when an animal can naturally speak a human language. Also, note that if you [[{{Animorphism}} shapeshift into an animal]] or a BeastMan, you'll usually learn how to speak AnimalTalk too. See also AnimalEyeSpy, where the character can see through the eyes of an animal. Compare SuddenlyFluentInGibberish which is an ability to speak gibberish or some other made up language. If the animals they communicate with and control are "unpleasant" ones like rats or cockroaches, then they'll be a PestController. A character with this ability is often a FriendToAllLivingThings or an AnimalLover.[[labelnote:Don't know the difference?]]An Animal Lover likes animals. A Friend to All Living Things is liked ''by'' animals.[[/labelnote]] May overlap with InexplicableLanguageFluency if the character is understanding wild animals they've never encountered before or if the character is a baby, since babies shouldn't be able to understand ''anything'', let alone animal noises. Common in characters who NeverLearnedToTalk.
26----
27!!Examples:
28[[foldercontrol]]
29
30[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
31* Belldandy in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' even makes sure to use [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics polite honorifics]] when talking to animals. Or to some [[HauntedTechnology inanimate objects]].
32* In ''Manga/AnimalLand'', it first seems humans like Tarouza can understand animals and talk to them. [[spoiler: Later this is revealed to be an extremely rare [[TheEmpath empathic-based power]], neither natural or exclusive to humans.]]
33* In one episode of the original ''Anime/AstroBoy'', a naturalist develops a machine that can control animals using ultrasonic waves to affect their brains. He uses it in an attempt to stop a land developer from destroying a forest, first by attempting to assassinate the construction company's executives & their families with things like attack dogs & raging bulls, & when that fails, using hordes of every animal imaginable to overrun the city, before he is killed by the title character ([[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope don't feel too bad, he was about to throw a bomb into a room full of hostages]]). In later versions of the series, Astro's little sister, Uran has the ability to communicate with animals, presumably based on the same technology, which she uses at one point to convince fellow Tezuka manga star Leo/Kimba the White Lion not to eat a terrified schoolboy.
34* Shiori of ''Manga/CastleTownDandelion'' has an exaggerated form of this as her RoyaltySuperpower. Specifically, she can speak to literally anything, ''inanimate objects'' included.
35* ''Manga/TheDisastrousLifeOfSaikiK'' has the titular protagonist able to read the minds of animals and humans. It makes it hard for him to love animals the same way most people do.
36* In ''WesternAnimation/DotAndTheKangaroo'' and its sequels, Dot can talk to animals when she eats a special root called "the fruit of understanding."
37* ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'' has Inori gaining the ability to talk to animals (and Chiffon, even thought she doesn't really qualify as an animal) during her power-up episode.
38* In ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'', apparently Sousuke has a great affinity to animals. Putting together numerous different canons (the LightNovels, manga, anime, etc.), it would appear that he can communicate and has some understanding when they speak. In the manga, there's the instance where he takes care of "Mousuke," a highly intelligent little mouse that [[FriendToAllLivingThings is extremely attached to him]]. He's later shown having a conversation with Mousuke, which Kaname witnesses. She's very bewildered and unnerved that Sousuke is... talking to a mouse. In the novels, Sousuke is also shown to be able to communicate with Shiro ("Whitey"), a white tiger that he grew up with. He can understand Shiro's growls and even translate them to Kaname. And in the anime, while Sousuke is disguised as Bonta-kun, he's able to communicate with the disturbing Pony man (who only says "pony pony pony" while wearing his mask) which no one else seems to be able to understand.
39* Miyabi "Professor" Oomichi of ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'' appeared to be able to communicate with the chickens on the campus.
40* In the badass commanding-animals-in-battle category, Shido Fuyuki of ''Manga/GetBackers''. The manga goes into a little more detail: apparently, any member of the Maryuudo (i.e., Amon Natsuki, who was asked to help rescue Madoka by monkeys) can talk to animals, but it is Shido's tribe, the Shiki, that has the ability to awaken the animals' ability to think and act on the level of humans. There's also the Maryuudo's mortal enemies, the Kiryuudo, who communicate with and command bugs.
41* Panda's owner, Mimi, in ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}''. In fact, she's the ''only'' human able to talk to the Ham-Hams and understand their speech. Though in some instances during Laura's diary entries, it seems almost as if Laura and Hamtaro can communicate telepathically, as sometimes Hamtaro mentally responds to what Laura is thinking as she writes her diary, and Hamtaro explicitly states that he can't read.
42* Hibiki Ganaha of ''Anime/TheIdolmaster'' can talk to her pets.
43* ''Manga/TheKeeperWantsToBuildAZooInAnotherWorldSoHeTamesMonsters'': Ikuhara quickly figures out how the Al-Miraj communicate, and is able to replicate the sounds to direct them where to go.
44* Tadayasu Sawaki, the main character of ''Manga/{{Moyashimon}}'' can communicate with bacteria, yeasts, and other microorganisms, in addition to being able to see them with the naked eye.
45* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Koji Koda has this as his Quirk; he can talk to animals to ask for information or help from them. It extends to bugs, but tough luck, [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes he's scared to death of them]].
46* Nadia, the heroine of ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater,'' can speak with animals and is also able to read their letters.
47* Since it's necessary to resolve his curse, and came about ''because'' of the curse, Junpei, the protagonist of ''Manga/NyanKoi!'', can understand cats. The cats can understand him too.
48* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
49** Not only is Chopper able to talk to just reindeer, he can talk to other animals as well. Although he is a reindeer himself, he is qualified because he had eaten a devil's fruit which allows him to become semi human.
50** The {{Filler}} character Apis has this as power from a devil fruit.
51** Mermaids can naturally talk to fish, and Jimbei also displays this ability (remarked to be unusual for a fishman).
52** There is the Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi who can talk to sea kings, which give her the ability to sink island. [[spoiler: We learned later that she's the current form of Poseidon, one of the three ancient weapons feared by the World Government]].
53* Alice/Mokuren in ''Manga/PleaseSaveMyEarth'' was a "Kiches Sarjalian," who had multiple powers, including the ability to speak telepathically with animals.
54* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'':
55** Being blessed by the Viridian Forest, both [[FriendToAllLivingThings Yellow]] and [[WellIntentionedExtremist Lance]] can read the minds and hearts of Pokémon through telepathy.
56** Also, Dr. Footprint can accurately tell what a Pokémon is thinking by simply looking at its footprints alone, like when a Staravia was about to drop him and when a Drapion wanted to be free of its JerkAss trainer.
57** Interestingly enough, ''Adventure'''s version of N may be able to ''speak'' Pokémon, but not very ''fluently''. He may like to give devastating [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]] to people about why humans can never truly have relationships with Pokémon, but it ''is'' shown that his interpretations of a Pokémon's thoughts and feelings may not necessarily be correct.
58* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'':
59** Iris can read the hearts of Dragon-types, though this ability triggers conveniently enough to be a DeusExMachina.
60** [[TheHero Ash]] is a {{Downplayed}} version of this. He can't translate PokemonSpeak word-for-word, but he's close enough to Pikachu and the others to get the gist of what they're saying.
61** Valerie, the Gym Leader of Laverre City, can speak the languages of Fairy-type Pokémon. Whether or not she can do the same with others is unknown.
62** "The Poké Spokesman" featured Simon, who seemed to have this ability, although the true extent is not really revealed.
63* Shuu from ''Manga/PokemonGettoDaZe'' can speak to Pokémon with a device.
64* Hibiki can do this in ''Manga/ReKan''. Unfortunately, Ero-Neko, the main cat we hear speaking is very perverted. She closes the window on him after hearing him mention watching the girls change in their locker room.
65* [[FriendToAllLivingThings Harima]] from ''Manga/SchoolRumble''.
66* Princess Nana Deviluke of ''Manga/ToLoveRu'' has the ability to talk to animals. This is how she finds out that Haruna has feelings for Yuuki. Haruna's pet dog Maron spilled the beans, much to Haruna's dismay.
67* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', Ichigo can converse with cats.
68* Prince Cab in ''Anime/TransformersSuperGodMasterforce''.
69* Manga/{{Yaiba}} is apparently able to speak with tigers, gorillas, vultures and owls.
70* Ao Nanami of ''Manga/YozakuraQuartet'' early on jokes about having an "intelligence network" after using her {{Telepathy}} to communicate with birds, though it doesn't come up much afterward.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Comic Books]]
74* ''ComicBook/AngelCatbird'': After becoming the titular hero, Strig finds that he can perfectly understand animals.
75* In ''ComicBook/ApamaTheUndiscoveredAnimal'', this is part of the titular superhero's power set. It doesn't help him much, as while the animals' words are translated into English, the syntax usually of the YouNoTakeCandle variety, and differs from animal to animal.
76* ''ComicBook/TheBadger'': Main character Norbert Sykes.
77* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': It's revealed in her spin-off comic that Gran'ma Ben (a.k.a. Rose) from can speak to dogs.
78* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
79** Buddy Baker, a.k.a. ComicBook/AnimalMan, can communicate with whatever animal species he's borrowing abilities from.
80** ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} telepathically commands ''all'' aquatic life. Doesn't ask, telepathically commands. (DependingOnTheWriter; during the Peter David run, it was a plot point that he ''did'' have to ask.) Aqualad had the command ability at one point, lost it, then regained it (or so he thought), only to find out he no longer commanded them; he had to ask them nicely to help out instead.
81** [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ComicBook/BlackCanary could use her sonic powers to hypnotically control birds. The modern version can still do this to an extent, but instead of controlling or communicating, she can just summon birds, similar to ComicBook/{{Batman}}'s ultrasonic bat-signal in ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne''.
82** [[NatureSpirit Plant elementals]] (including ComicBook/BlackOrchid and ComicBook/SwampThing) can communicate with animals that are a large part of the forest's ecosystem.
83** The Horsewoman in ''ComicBook/DemonKnights'' can communicate with horses through a force in the blood that binds all animals together (i.e., [[ComicBook/AnimalMan the Red]]).
84** [[DetectiveAnimal Detective Chimp]] actually gained the power to talk to all animals (along with significantly slowed aging) from the fountain of youth. He mostly communicates with humans, though.
85** ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} can talk to birds. Given the kind of stick ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'s been given though, he keeps quiet about it these days. Unlike Aquaman, he doesn't command them, but asks them to spy on anything suspicious and report back to Hawkman.
86** ComicBook/{{Starfire}} has the ability to [[TranslatorMicrobes learn any language]] through a [[MagicKiss kiss]]. In ''ComicBook/Starfire2015'', she uses this power to communicate with a dolphin at an aquarium. She literally presses her lips against its beak. Before anyone gets their undies in a bind, please note that dolphins ''are'' intelligent.
87** ''ComicBook/Supergirl2011'': [[OurBansheesAreLouder Silver Banshee]] can speak any verbal language, which she demonstrates to ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} by talking to doves.
88** Talking to animals is one of the lesser-known powers of ComicBook/WonderWoman, though this is [[DependingOnTheWriter sometimes]] just written as her being a FriendToAllLivingThings and is usually a low-level {{psychic power|s}}. This power is back as of ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'', though because animals don't really have the capacity for big concepts and mostly think about food, there's really not much conversation to be had.
89** The villain Purrsia from ''ComicBook/WonderWomanAndTheStarRiders'' can communicate with animals, mostly doing so to order her magic cat Panthera. There is no indication that Panthera is any more intelligent than a normal cat; she can just tell what her owner wants her to do in a simple sense.
90* In a blatant example of FurryConfusion, the ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' comic "Making Waves" involves Donald gaining the ability to communicate with non-anthropomorphic birds.
91* ''ComicBook/ExMachina'': Mitchell Hundred's "archenemy" Jack Pherson has this power. It's not played for laughs at all.
92* ''ComicBook/{{Femforce}}'': Tara Freemont is a {{sizeshift|er}}ing JunglePrincess who can communicate with animals.
93* ''ComicBook/{{Freshmen}}'' has Charles Levy, or the Green Thumb, who can talk to plants. The whole "eating things that can talk" thing is brought up, and since he's a vegetarian, ol' Charles is up shit creek... and his ficus thinks he's cheating on her.
94* In ''ComicBook/{{Garulfo}}'', the titular frog is still able to speak with animals after being turned into a human, while the human prince changed into a frog becomes able to speak with animals and keeps this ability after reverting back to human.
95* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
96** ComicBook/AntMan's cybernetic helmet lets him talk to ants.
97** The Falcon from ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' can talk to birds telepathically.
98** ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'':
99*** {{Parodied|Trope}} in a ComicBook/SpiderMan story in which Spider-Man forces a bank-robber to surrender by making hand gestures, announcing, "I'm [[PestController summoning the spiders]]. I'm Spider-Man and you're making me mad. I'm summoning the spiders, they will come to my call. Hundreds of them, thousands, all of them at my command. ''[{{Beat}}]'' [[LargeHam Because I'm SPIDER-MAN!]]"
100*** Sophia Sanduval, a.k.a. Chat, is a {{mutant|s}} with this as her power.
101** Danielle Moonstar from ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' had a secondary mutation before secondary mutations were cool. Apart from (originally) [[IKnowWhatYouFear manifesting people's worst fears holographically]], she could communicate on a low level with animals; basically, furry creatures automatically liked her. Sub-bonus in that she soon joins the team with Rahne, a mutant who can [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent shapeshift into a wolf]], so when Rahne transforms, they can communicate over long distances.
102** In ''ComicBook/SpiderBoy'', Bailey is able to talk to spiders, even those from other worlds like Asgard, but only while manifesting his more freaky, spider-like traits. He doesn't like doing this because it means baring his ScaryTeeth and the subsequent horrified looks he gets from onlookers, but Christina convinces him to do so when Thor is locked in battle with an alien spider to defuse the situation.
103** ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': {{Parodied|Trope}} in the classic [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManLeeAndDitko Lee-Ditko]] story "The Sinister Six"; at one point, J. Jonah Jameson starts shouting at a spider in his office, believing that Spider-Man can communicate with spiders the way ComicBook/AntMan communicates with ants. The rest of the Daily Bugle staff just think that the old man has finally lost it.
104** Squirrel Girl from ''ComicBook/TheUnbeatableSquirrelGirl'' has the ability to talk to squirrels, among other many vaguely defined talents. Oddly, the squirrels have the ability to [[FourthWallObserver talk with the reader]]. She tends to assume that other [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing animal-themed superheroes]] have this ability as well -- [[ComicBook/AllNewWolverine cue her]] trying to get ''[[ComicBook/{{X23}} Wolverine]]'' to try to talk to a wolverine, and even trying to get Tigra, Black Cat, Kitty Pryde, Hellcat etc. to talk to a cat.
105* In ''ComicBook/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', Salem couldn't talk until the [[Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch 1990s show]] popularized it enough that [[RetCanon it was added back into the comics]]. The ''ComicBook/ArchieComics2015'' reboot acts as a middle-ground: Sabrina and her aunts can understand Salem, but {{muggles}} can't. He's speaking in AnimalTalk.
106* [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Nikki Finch]] of ''ComicBook/SecretWeapons'' is a "psiot" who can communicate with birds.
107* In the "Mork Whisperer" StoryArc of ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'', one of the {{bounty hunter}}s' targets turns out to be able to communicate flawlessly with any animal, particularly morks. He doesn't get along too well with humans.
108* The main character of ''ComicBook/{{Yakari}}'' has a special gift to talk with animals.
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Comic Strips]]
112* Parodied in ''Comicstrip/TheFarSide'' with a scientist that invents a dog translator. Immediately he discovers that "woof! woof! woof!" means "hey! hey! hey!"
113* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2022/09/11 Garfield and Odie exchange "meow"s and "arf"s in front of Liz under the belief she can't understand them]]. She proves them wrong by telling them she's not gaining weight and that's her natural hair color.
114-->'''Liz:''' We vets are multilingual.
115* In ''ComicStrip/SafeHavens'' children are able to communicate with their pets. As they grow up, though, most of them start to lose that ability (as seen with Jenny). Only those who retain some aspect of their childhood, like Samantha did, manage to keep the ability to talk to animals into adulthood. It's noted that many of those that do go on to become veterinarians.
116* ''ComicStrip/OnTheFastrack'' Patina Welding is teaching herself how to speak 'cat'. Predictably, swearing was the first thing she picked up.
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
120* Shows up in tons of folk and {{Fairy Tale}}s.
121** A boy learns to talk to dogs, frogs, and birds, representing [[ElementalPowers three elements]] or states of matter (earth, water, air).
122** A man saves a snake who counsels him to ask for this power as his reward from her father. Only drawback is he can't tell anyone about it, or he'll die. His wife bugs him over a related issue that he finally decides to tell her, but then a passing rooster makes him reconsider and order her to just stop asking.
123** Talking with animals is sometimes an unremarkable power, that is, the rather simple hero saves some ants or bees and they say "We'll never forget this!" and come back to help him in the second half of the tale, but his ability to understand this and to later ask them for help is never explained. Many of them aren't even clear as to whether this is a supernatural ability of the hero or [[TalkingAnimal the animals]].
124** Often leads to treasure. E.g., the boy with the power hears birds talking about how treasure is buried beneath the tree but the humans are too stupid to look.
125* In the Creator/BrothersGrimm fairy tale "Literature/TheWhiteSnake", a king can communicate with animals because he regularly eats a bite from a white snake. When the servant who serves the king his food secretly eats a piece of the snake, he gains the same ability and uses it to rise socially.
126[[/folder]]
127
128[[folder:Fan Works]]
129* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': Some humans have the potential to learn to directly communicate with Godzilla, Ghidorah and other Titans, passed down from their ancient ancestors who knew the practice. Vivienne Graham's transformation into a half-Ghidorah Titan fully awakens her potential.
130* After developing her own internal reserve of magic, Camilla in ''Fanfic/AnOddLittleFamily'' discovers that she has a gift for communicating with animals, a magical ability so rare most think it's just a myth.
131* In ''Fanfic/AquamanMonster'', Aquaman is the only one able to understand the fish and marine life, while Garth can sense their emotions and feelings.
132* In ''Fanfic/AshesOfThePast'', Ash's Aura powers allow him to understand PokemonSpeak. He eventually teaches his various traveling companions to do the same. (And also Simon, a Pokémon interpreter whom Ash met in the anime; this time, Ash figures out he actually has a latent talent at Aura and gives him a guide book to help him improve on his skills.)
133* Harry's powers in ''Fanfic/TheAwakeningOfAMagus'' include speaking with and understanding animals. Later, Hermione turns out to be capable of talking to magical animals, and Charlie might have the potential of a Dragon Speaker.
134* ''Roleplay/DCNation'': Fauna has this as one of her powers, and was a bit surprised when she found out Beast Boy didn't. Unlike her {{Shapeshifting}} and [[TheBeastmaster Beastmaster]] abilities, she is completely comfortable using it.
135* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': Fluttershy can speak the wolves' language, and it's noted that she made a point of learning it and about their culture after meeting Well-Hidden, one of the civilized wolves, when he passed by her home at some point while on his meditation journey.
136* ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'': Tapper Smurf on a few occasions, mostly those in story adaptations from the cartoon show where the pre-Smurfling adult Nat Smurf originally appeared. In the situations where there are dangerous animals, however, Tapper invokes the name of Jesus Christ to ward them off.
137* In ''FanFic/FadedBlue'', Steven inherited this ability from his mother Blue Diamond, but does clarify that this only counts for animals that communicate verbally. Things like insects, which communicate via pheromones or through motion, he can't speak.
138* ''Literature/TheGoldenHamsterSaga'': In ''Freddy's Final Quest'', a monk named Francis turns out to be one of the very few humans who can understand [[AnimalTalk Interanimal]]. When the guinea pigs Enrico and Caruso are captured, Cavaliere Goldoni wants to eat them, but Francis instead [[ScheherezadeGambit forces them to put on skits]], which he translates for Cavaliere Goldoni.
139* ''FanFic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'' actually does address the issues surrounding the CarnivoreConfusion that may occur once communication with animals is introduced: Harry, after discovering that he can talk to snakes, becomes a vegetarian, from the fear that all animals may have the level of sapience that snakes seem to have when they are spoken to.
140* ''Fanfic/LittleHandsBigAttitude'': PlayedForLaughs. Carl, the not-so-crazy survivalist ConspiracyTheorist, keeps complaining that Kaia is telling the fish in the local lake to avoid his lines. Given she's [[spoiler:a [[PhysicalGod water goddess]]]], he's quite likely right.
141* The ''Franchise/MonsterVerse'' fanfic AU ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594504/chapters/62118490 Listen And Hear]]'' runs off this trope, as humans and {{Kaiju}} being able to telepathically communicate with each other forms the core of the AU's difference from canon.
142* ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'': It's not translated for the reader, but the Wolf is seen to speak with Jon's direwolf and Daenerys' dragons (though he does ask Daenerys why she isn't feeding her dragons man flesh).
143* Assassin/zoologist Johanna Smith-Rhodes in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fic ''Fanfic/NatureStudies''. At least, with the Great Apes. it comes of knowing the Librarian.
144* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Damian Wayne]], the fourth and current Franchise/{{Batman}}, is able to telepathically communicate with animals that have bonded with him. Because of this, he leads a legion of his pets, which includes dogs, cats, a dragon-bat, and a Japanese dragon while cleaning up the streets of Gotham.
145* ''Fanfic/ANewChanceSeries'': The fan-series diverges from the canon Pokémon universe after [[Anime/PokemonHeroes the fifth movie]]. Ash, through a soul-bounding technique, ends up saving the life of Latios, and as side effect gains the power to understand Pokémon, to his joy. [[spoiler:And according to Ho-oh, it won't be the only side effect.]]
146* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has "Bloodliners", humans born with Pokémon-related abilities. One variant particularly stands out: Type Heart Bloodliners are associated with a single specific element, and one of their abilities is being capable of talking to and understanding any Pokémon that is at least part the same type as them.
147** Ash, meanwhile, is capable of speaking telepathically to any Pokémon he is close to. [[spoiler:This is implied, although not confirmed, to be use of Aura, since he's a Lucario Species Bloodliner.]]
148* ''Fanfic/{{Symbiosis}}'', another ''Pokémon'' fanfic, Ash can speak to Pokémon due to him being [[RaisedByWolves raised by wild Pokémon]] since he was orphaned at age two.
149* ''Fanfic/TheyreNotPussywillowPixies'': Tracker Smurf.
150* ''Fanfic/TruePotential'': Fū, the Seven-Tails jinchūriki, is able to communicate with insects.
151* ''Fanfic/WeasleyGirl'' introduces a magical charm that gives you the ability to talk to any animal of your choice; the ''Animaloqui'' or AnimalTalk Charm. The charm's usefulness is limited by the fact that while under the charm you can ''only'' talk to that animal and lose the ability to talk human language. Not to mention, unless you know non-verbal magic it becomes difficult to cast any other spells since you're incapable of speaking the incantation properly.
152* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Walburt can cast ''speak with animals'' thanks to being a bear totem barbarian.
153[[/folder]]
154
155[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
156* ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheOutback'': Played with in regard to Norine. It's established at the start of the film that humans can't understand what the animals are saying, but she seems to be the only one who does; at the very least, she understands them far better than anyone else can.
157* ''Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon'':
158** Kronk from ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' can talk to little woodland creatures, thanks to his Junior Chipmunk training.
159** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', Cinderella has conversations with her mice friends, although this may be the mice speaking human.
160** All the Merfolk from ''Franchise/TheLittleMermaid'' can communicate with sea creatures. Melody, Ariel's daughter, inherits this trait in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea''. However, her powers alienate her [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer peers]] because they think that she's a freak.
161** Tarzan from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' speaks fluent animal (he even ''teaches'' it to Jane). However, for all his skill, there are some animals who just aren't interested in talking. Like Sabor.
162** Mama Odie from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Strangely, her pet snake, Juju, does not speak. The sequel books also reveal that Tiana and Naveen have retained this ability even after returning to their human forms.
163** Mowgli from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' actually gained the ability to talk to animals (such as Baloo the bear and Bagheera the leopard) because of the fact that he was raised by them and understands what they're saying.
164** Penny and Cody in ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers''. Adults don't appear to be able to understand animals, though neither character is seen interacting with other children in their respective movies.
165** Most members of the Madrigal family in ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' have magical abilities, and five-year-old Antonio is given the gift of talking to animals near the beginning of the film. The first thing he does with it is ask a group of coatis to warm up his grandmother's seat for her.
166** The animal fairies from ''Franchise/DisneyFairies''. Of these fairies, Fawn is especially gifted. Rosetta could also do this when she became an animal fairy for a while due to Zarina's Pixie Dust Alchemy swapping her talent with Fawn's and giving her talent to Iridessa.
167* Anne-Marie from ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven''. In this movie, animals can only talk to members of their own species, which is really what makes Anne-Marie's gift special outside of the traditional talking-to-animals cliche in many talking animal movies for children.
168* Ro in ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsTheIslandPrincess'', including growing up on an island with an elephant, peacock, and red panda.
169* The [[HighSchoolAU human version]] of Fluttershy gains this ability in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree''. While Fluttershy was always a FriendToAllLivingThings, her magic geode allows her to speak to animals directly, including having full conversations.
170* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': In the ShowWithinAShow, "Woody's Roundup," Woody converses with a rabbit.
171-->'''Rabbit:''' ''[high-pitched chatter]''\
172'''Woody:''' What's that? Jessie and Prospector are trapped in the old abandoned mine and Prospector just lit a stick of dynamite thinking it was a candle and now they're about to be blown to smithereens?\
173'''Rabbit:''' ''[nodding]'' Uh-huh.\
174'''Woody:''' Ride like the wind, Bullseye!
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
178* In ''Film/Aquaman2018'', Arthur first demonstrates this power as a child by talking to the animals in an aquarium. This ability becomes very important in the climax [[spoiler:since it allows him to speak with the Karathen and the Trench as well, allowing him to lead them in the final battle of the film]].
179* In ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'', Kira can talk to all the creatures on Thra.
180* ''Film/DescendantOfTheSun'': One of the many grab-bag of powers of Shue-sang is the ability to communicate with birds, which he displayed to great effect to the princess, firstly by releasing the princess' parrot pet out it's cage, and then summoning the bird back to its perch. He uses this skill in the same scene to summon a flock of other birds into the palace.
181* ''Film/DoctorDolittle'', the 1967 film musical based on the ''Literature/DoctorDolittle'' novels. As in the novels, Doctor Dolittle learns how to speak with the animals from his talking parrot. A Translation Convention is not used; conversations are shown taking place in gestures and animal noises, with Dolittle translating the important parts into English for the benefit of his human companions. The meat problem is mentioned: Dolittle explains that he is now a vegetarian because he doesn't like to make a habit of eating his friends, but he doesn't require the same discipline from his human friends.
182* ''Film/DrDolittle'', the 1998 film starring Creator/EddieMurphy distantly inspired by the Literature/DoctorDolittle books. In this version, Dolittle is a surgeon in modern-day America, and his ability to speak with animals is an innate gift, which his daughter inherits.
183 * Tia from ''Film/EscapeToWitchMountain'' can telepathically communicate with animals and get them to do her bidding. She psychically tames a wild horse and later summons the horse to help her and her brother escape from the bad guys. Turns out the two kids are aliens.
184* In ''Film/{{Frostbite}}'', Sebastian is able to understand dogs after he is transformed to a vampire.
185* In ''Film/{{Gordy}}'', it is said that anyone can understand animals if they took the time to listen. Although only the two leading kids are able to understand him, only having five seconds of silence with the pig.
186* ''Film/TheHawksAndTheSparrows'': In the story of the two friars, they actually learn the language of hawks and sparrows. They squawk noisily at the hawks, dialogue that's rendered onscreen in subtitles. Then it gets even sillier when Ciccilo figures out that sparrows communicate by hopping, followed by Ciccilo and Ninetto hopping around in a field in front of the sparrows while that is also rendered onscreen in subtitles.
187* In ''Film/JumanjiTheNextLevel'', the avatar Franklin "Mouse" Finbar gained a new skill called linguistics_the study of animal languages. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since he's a zoologist.
188* A brief scene in ''Film/KPax'' has Prot engage in a "conversation" with Dr. Powell's dog and "translate" it for everyone. Of course, like all things in the movie, it's hard to tell if he really can or if he's just crazy.
189* ''Film/{{Logan}}'': Charles Xavier gets one last heroic moment when he holds himself together long enough to focus and telepathically calm the Munsons' panicky horses.
190* Judy, who has a flair for languages, becomes fluent in Bear with ''Film/{{Paddington|2014}}'''s help. Later it becomes a ChekhovsSkill.
191* ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu'' has Tim, who's able to understand the titular character in human speech. To everyone else, it still comes out in PokemonSpeak.
192* ''Film/InLikeFlint''. Flint is compiling a dolphin dictionary. He talks to the dolphins in their own language at one point.
193* The mother of Layla from ''Film/SkyHigh2005'' can talk to animals.
194[[/folder]]
195
196[[folder:Literature]]
197* In ''Literature/BadMermaids: On the Rocks'', the mermaid Mimi finds out she's a fish talker, which means she can talk to sea creatures, even the ones who can't [[CivilizedAnimal already talk to humans]].
198* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': Lessis is capable of talking with birds in their own language. Other witches also have this ability, giving them instructions to deliver messages for instance.
199* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', people with the Sha-Dar ability can communicate telepathically with horses. The Disciples of Aldur (and it is implied anybody else who commands [[MagicAIsMagicA the Will and the Word]]) can also speak with animals, usually ones whose forms they have taken before. Polgara can speak with all birds and Belgarath and Belgarion can fluently speak Wolf. Even Belgarion's son, Geran, learns how to speak Wolf while he's still a toddler.
200* ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheRedKing'': Billy Raven can speak to animals. He inherited the ability from his ancestor Amadis.
201* The ''Literature/DoctorDolittle'' series of children's books, whose Doctor Dolittle learned how to speak with the animals from his talking parrot. It's an actual plot point that animals have ''different'' languages, and just because you can speak to dogs doesn't mean you can speak to, say, crayfish. Dolittle puts lot of effort into learning more languages. It is also established that any human who makes the effort ''could'' learn animal tongues. [[UnbuiltTrope It's worth noting]] that it is not as simple as making animal sounds -- the Doctor uses the tails of his jacket to mimic movements of the tail, he must make a lot of effort holding his breath when talking to underwater animals, etc.
202* ''Literature/Elsewhere2005'': A small proportion of people have the ability to talk to animals. Liz can talk to dogs and she gets a job counselling them.
203* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
204** Harry gained the power to talk to snakes the first time BigBad Voldemort tried to kill him. Parselmouths are people who can talk to snakes by hissing at them. When a snake talks to a Parselmouth, they hear the hissing as if it were in their native language.
205** Both Ron and Dumbledore use this ability in nice subversions. In the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows last book]], Ron manages to open the Chamber of Secrets by remembering the Parseltongue phrase that ''Harry'' had spoken previously, while in the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince sixth book]], Dumbledore is implied to have learnt to understand spoken Parseltongue, but is not capable of actually speaking it.
206* In the ''Literature/MaryPoppins'' books, all babies can talk to animals. Ms. Poppins happens never to have lost this ability (a dog informs her of her uncle's laughing fit). Just showed how she was Practically Perfect in Every Way.
207* ''Literature/Mask2020'': Mae, aka "Violet Vortex", discovers she can communicate with animals early in the book.
208* In ''Literature/TheSeaOfTrolls'', Jil is exposed to dragon blood, the magic of which allows her to understand birds. It is not clear whether she can speak back to them, however. Also, this turns out [[BlessedWithSuck to suck]] because the birds never have anything worthwhile to say and '''won't shut up.'''
209* ''Literature/{{Sorcery}}'': Wizards who have a green wig with them can use their magic to communicate with animals or non-sentient beings.
210* In the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series, wizards can communicate with animals because the Speech, the LanguageOfMagic, is sort of the proto-language which all things and creatures can understand. Plus, depending on a wizard's specialty, this can be taken further: Nita, who specializes in living things, can converse with microbes, while Kit, who specializes in inanimate objects, can commune with rocks and TV remote controls.
211* Creator/MercedesLackey:
212** In the ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'', drinking dragon's blood gives the ability to understand the speech of animals. Subverted in that many animals lack human intelligence, so they don't say much besides "Run!" or "Hey! Hey! Hey hey! Hey!"
213** In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'', Animal [[{{Telepathy}} Mindspeech]] is one of the rarer Gifts, but not unknown. Most animals do not speak in words, but Animal Mindspeakers can understand their thoughts and feelings, and sometimes see through their eyes. There are also varying degrees of {{Uplifted Animal}}s with the power of speech: some can be heard only by those with the ability to read thoughts, but others (like gryphons) can speak vocally.
214** ''{{Literature/Firebird|Lackey}}'': After encountering the Firebird for the first time and being touched by its magic, Ilya finds himself able to converse with spirits and a few animals that are also magical, such as a horse that claims descent from the Night Wind spirit-mare. Later, he sees the Firebird in a dream and awakens to find one of her stolen cherries on his windowsill; eating it grants him the ability to speak with all animals. The household dogs, cats, and horses aid him in avoiding his {{jerkass}} family by keeping him informed of goings-on, and animals he rescues on his journey [[AndroclesLion return to help him in turn]].
215* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Bard can understand the language of the thrush and therefore knows where a dragon had his one small vulnerability. Beorn can also talk with many animals. And so does Radagast, the Brown Wizard.
216* In Piers Anthony's ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels, Dor has the power to communicate with ''inanimate objects.'' It is expressly stated that it is his magic that "animates" them. Almost all Xanth humans are born with a magical Talent, but Dor's is impressive enough that he is classed as a "Magician," and presumptive heir to the throne, which is always occupied by a Magician. The counterpoint to Dor is Grundy the Golem who can speak to any living thing (including plants). Unlike Dor, his talent is not considered Magician caliber due to the fact that anyone who tried hard enough could theoretically learn the language of any living thing. The trope is somewhat justified here due to the magic of Xanth making every living thing at least somewhat intelligent. In fact, at one point after the Sea Hag captures him, he even teaches a ''beetle'' a few sentences of dragon language so it can pass on a message for him.
217* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'': Torak can speak with wolves, ravens, and bears.
218* In ''Literature/CharlottesWeb,'' Fern is able to understand what the animals are saying when they talk to each other, although she is not shown speaking to them herself.
219* ''Literature/TheImmortals'' introduces the concept of Wild Magic into the Literature/TortallUniverse.
220** Low level wild magic, what most people who have it are limited to, is basically just an aptitude for a particular species - Onua loves horses and has a good eye for them, their personalities, and what they're feeling. They're inclined to like her, and she has an easier time training them and convincing them to do things for her than she might otherwise, but it's not outside of the realm of non-magical possibility. Someone with more can silently call individual animals to them and convey basic ideas back and forth but not quite ''speak'', as Stefan can with ''his'' horses.
221** Daine's Wild Magic, on the other hand, is extremely strong and applies to all animals, and she's subject to considerable PowerIncontinence as she learns to control her power. All animals in her vicinity are compelled to like and help her, and she inherently thinks of them as her friends. She ''can'' speak to them directly. Being around her explicitly does make them more intelligent, though it may fade to a degree when she's not present. Animals in this setting ''can'' speak to one another across species but rarely do unless under her influence. Early in the quartet Daine is willing to hunt and kill for meat, but as her powers grow and she starts to shapeshift she does develop CarnivoreConfusion and eventually only "manages" chicken, mutton, and fish. [[spoiler: Her father, who is a minor god of the hunt, is rather disappointed in her stopping her hunting.]]
222** The next book series, ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', deals with some of the repurcussions. With Stefan and Daine's help, Kel is able to strike a deal with her [[HorsingAround fractious gelding]] Peachblossom, allowing her to ride him and prevent him from being sent to pull carts or be killed; the horse insists on no spurs and sees this quiet, determined girl as someone who needs to be protected. Kel also befriends a flock of sparrows that, made more intelligent by proximity to Daine, are eventually able to develop a system of signals with which to tell Kel and her allies about things they've scouted. Another character makes the half-joke that animals in Corus are getting so strange that he expects dogs will start running courts of law soon.
223* In ''Literature/LesVoyageursSansSouci'', all kids can understand and talk with animals, but they lose that ability when they become adults.
224* Grizzly of the ''Literature/SeekersOfTruth'' can communicate with animals to a degree, but animals generally don't have much to say, boiling down to "Hey, get off my branch!", "Come have sex with me!", or "Holy crap, what was that?". He usually uses this to get large, angry animals to leave hikers alone. (Of course, that's not to say that talking to animals doesn't occasionally come in [[PlotTailoredToTheParty very, very handy]].)
225* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' Grover, a Satyr, can speak to all animals and Percy can speak to horses, zebras and hippocampi, as horses (and their counterparts) were created by his father, [[LordOfTheOcean Poseidon]]. Percy can also speak to sea creatures. Pretty self-explanatory.
226* In ''Literature/SpindlesEnd'', a "Literature/SleepingBeauty" retelling by Creator/RobinMcKinley, this is the last of the 21 blessings bestowed by fairy godmothers on the princess on her christening day.
227* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' it's stated that the Fairy gift of tongues extends at least to dogs (and it is implied to some other animals). Confirmed in ''The Time Paradox'', where Holly can not only talk to all of the animals in a zoo, she can talk to all of them at once.
228* In ''Literature/ChildrenOfTheRedKing,'' Billy has this power. It's harder than talking to humans, though, because animals tend to think in different ways and seem to be generally less intelligent.
229* Nakata from Creator/HarukiMurakami's ''Literature/KafkaOnTheShore'' uses his ability to understand cats to find people's lost pets.
230* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "Beyond the Black River", some men can talk to some animals, "Only such as remember Jhebbal Sag." Fortunately for Conan and Balthus, as one of them can command such animals to attack the two of them.
231* In ''Literature/MosesManOfTheMountain'', after reading the book at Koptos Moses knows, among other things, "the language of the birds of the air, the creatures that people the deep and what the beasts of the wild all said". However, he's never seen using this power until the very end of his life.
232* In ''Literature/TheGirlWithTheSilverEyes'' by Willo Davis Roberts, Katie Welker can speak to and understand (telepathically) cats and dogs, among other powers. She's also [[MindOverMatter telekinetic]].
233* In Creator/ShannonHale's ''Literature/BooksOfBayern'' series, people born with various gifts can gain ElementalPowers by learning the languages of the elements. Those who learn the "languages" of animals, trees, and [[MindControl people]] can control those things too. Animal-speaking is really only used in the first book, ''The Goose Girl'', whose protagonist can talk to birds.
234* In ''Literature/TheShadowSpeaker'', Ejii discovers she can talk to animals and read their minds when she hears the thought of a cat eating a dead animal.
235* In the ''Literature/{{Lionboy}}'' series, Charlie can converse with cats after an accident when he was young, which involved getting scratched by a leopard cub, and some of their blood went into the other's body. He can also talk to a chameleon named Ninu, but only because Ninu knows Cat, too.
236* In ''Literature/SpheresOfInfluence'', [[spoiler:Son Wu Kung]] shows the ability to speak with just about any animal in the Nexus and environs.
237* One of Cheri's powers, alongside superhuman math skills. It comes in handy for ''Literature/TheUltraViolets'' numerous times.
238* Logan in ''Literature/TheMenagerie'' can understand the baby griffins, while everyone else can only speak with the adult griffins.
239* John Stretch from the ''Literature/GarrettPI'' novels is a [[UpliftedAnimal ratman]] who can communicate with his un-altered rodent kin. This allows him to use them as scouts and spies, although their usefulness is limited by their poor vision, limited brainpower, and inability to understand the speech of anyone ''but'' him.
240* In the ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series, many fairies can do this, and are good friends with animals.
241* In Literature/{{Relativity}}, the supervillain known as Cricket can speak to insects and spiders. He wants to use his powers to do legitimate research on insects, but no one believes he has the ability. He uses bugs to help him steal things just to prove that he can do it, rather than out of any desire to be evil.
242* Anyone who spends enough time with [[CatsAreMagic Holois]] in ''Literature/ToughMagic'' can understand her, even though she only speaks in mrows.
243* The gnomes of ''Literature/{{Gnomes}}'' and its various spinoffs such as ''Series/TheWorldOfDavidTheGnome'' can converse with all kinds of vertebrate animals.
244* ''Literature/ATasteOfHoney'': Aqib, though he initially is not aware of it and thinks animals listen to him because he grew up among them. Turns out he's SemiDivine through his mother's line of descent and his special power is talking to animals.
245* ''Literature/TheTrueGame'': Jinian Star-Eye has the ability to speak to animals [[spoiler:until the planet's Gaia decides to withdraw all talents from humans]].
246* Obviously applies to WildChild characters like [[Literature/TheJungleBook Mowgli]] and Franchise/{{Tarzan}} because they were raised by animals. This may however be restricted to just one species.
247* In ''Literature/{{Hawksmaid}}'', Matty can communicate with falcons. This starts as an instinctual understanding of their thoughts and feelings, but gradually progresses to the point where can understand their speech and talk back to them.
248* ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'': Enkidu, as a nature attuned being created by the gods, can talk to animals. A good thing because his Master is a wolf.
249* ''Literature/{{Doglands}}'': There are some humans, such as Jodi, called "Dog Talkers". They can communicate fluently with dogs. It's mentioned that they're not speaking "dog tongue" but are speaking some other sort of language.
250* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': Kaylana is capable of communicating with basically any animal, many of whom are friendly with her, and even can control some (aside from those bound to other mages).
251* ''Literature/DraconisMemoria'': Played with. The White can telepathically communicate with the spoiled, but it doesn't understand human languages, and the spoiled do not understand the "language" it speaks. It can, however, broadcast intent or show images, and have the spoiled tell it what words human use for those images. For example, it could identify one of its spoiled as a scholar, but didn't know the word "scholar", so it had to transmit a picture of a scholar and have the spoiled tell it the right word.
252* ''Literature/NorthToBenjamin'': Edgar finds himself able to communicate with Benjamin, a dog, but it comes at the cost of losing his ability to communicate with humans. He still sounds like a human to himself, but other humans hear him talking like a dog.
253* ''Literature/CastleHangnail'': Early in the story, Molly finds a spell in the castle library that lets her communicate with animals. It frequently comes in handy over the course of the story.
254* ''Literature/SplinteredSeries'': Alyssa Gardner can hear the thoughts of insects and flowers, and communicate with them.
255* ''Literature/XanaduStoryverse'': After being transformed into a cat, Erica gains the ability to fluently understand other felines. Notably, this isn't presented as a spoken language, but as a system of postures, movements and small noises, each carrying some form of meaning, that she can now perfectly interpret.
256* In ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'', Anand's language lessons in Silver Valley include Mule, Goat, and Elephant in addition to several human languages.
257* ''Literature/DolphinBoy'': Dibs, a six-year-old boy who has a gift for mimicking sounds but has never spoken a word, befriends the dolphin Baby Blue. He starts making dolphin-like whirs and buzzes and soon is happily chatting with her in her language. Kaleb comments that psychologically, Dibs seems to have more in common with dolphins than with humans.
258* In ''Literature/HayyIbnYaqzan'', the protagonist is [[RaisedByWolves raised by gazelles]]. He learns to imitate their sounds so perfectly that he can express himself as fluently as they can.
259* ''Literature/GoblinsInTheCastle'': When Fauna visits Granny Pinchbottom's cottage early on in ''Goblins on the Prowl'', the sorceress gives Fauna an item known as "[[TranslatorCollar Solomon's Collar]]", which grants the wearer the ability to understand animal talk and be understood by them in turn, though with limitations (it doesn't work with bugs, but it's sometimes good for a spider). It's ostensibly meant for William, but Fauna decides to try it on first, whereupon [[ClingyMcGuffin she finds she can't get it back off]].
260* In the ''Literature/DolphinTrilogy'', the protagonist is [[RaisedByWolves raised by dolphins]], who teach him Dolphinese. He never entirely masters the language because he can't hear the highest frequencies, but he becomes close to fluent.
261* ''Literature/MaddysDolphin'': In {{Atlantis}}, humans and dolphins could all talk to each other. After the city was destroyed by a volcano and the resulting tidal wave, the survivors interbred with ordinary humans and dolphins, and the gift of interspecies communication was lost to most of them. Today only a small number of beings have it, including the human Maddy and her dolphin Indigo. This means that if a dolphin other than Indigo wants to say something to Maddy's brother CJ, first the dolphin has to say it to Indigo, and then Indigo has to translate to Maddy, and then Maddy has to translate to CJ.
262* In ''Literature/DolphinIsland'', researchers work to decipher dolphin language, and later the related but distinct language spoken by orcas. Professor Kazan has learned to say several common phrases in Dolphin, although he admits his accent is so poor that only dolphins who know him well can understand him. Some dolphins have also been taught to understand and speak English. Professor Kazan eventually makes waterproof communication devices with buttons humans can press to issue simple commands to the dolphins.
263* ''Literature/TheLastAdventureOfConstanceVerity'': Connie learned how to talk to wolves (and wolf-like creatures) from a shaman.
264* In the ''Literature/Tempest2011'' trilogy, selkies can understand the language of most other sea creatures.
265* In the ''Literature/RealMermaids'' series, Mermish speech is on the same frequency as dolphin language. Dolphins find the sound highly unpleasant and avoid mer pods whenever possible. But in ''Real Mermaids Don't Sell Seashells'', Jade discovers that because of her human ancestry, dolphins can tolerate her mer voice and are even willing to talk to her. Their language turns out to be mostly mutually intelligible with Mermish.
266[[/folder]]
267
268[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
269* The title character from ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' regularly has conversations with his horse Comet, who doesn't know he's a horse.
270* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS2E9TheDogWhoKnewSuperman The Dog Who Knew Superman]]" suggests that this is one of Superman's powers, as he's able to talk Corky (the dog of a mobster's wife) into going back to his owners.
271* During his first interview on ''Series/TheColbertReport'', Creator/ShermanAlexie and Creator/StephenColbert were joking around about this idea when talking about weird misconceptions that people have about Native Americans.
272-->'''Colbert:''' [[MagicalNativeAmerican So you don't have any magical powers]]? You can't talk to animals?\
273'''Alexie:''' No, I can't talk to animals. I don't have any Dr. Doolittle abilities.\
274'''Colbert:''' Pocohontas could talk to animals [[WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} in that one movie]].\
275'''Alexie:''' Well, she could talk to Creator/MelGibson. [[TakeThat I guess he's kind of an animal]].
276* ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'': Deet is able to understand and communicate with all the creatures on Thra.
277* The Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho'' speaks all languages, including those of animals. He talked to a cow in one comic, and convinced a cat to investigate a strange room for him in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger "The Lodger"]], as no one would notice it and he could understand its meows.
278** There's also a RunningGag in which the Doctor [[BabyLanguage speaks baby]]...and no one believes him.
279** He speaks Horse as well, and stands up for a transgender horse in the Old West.
280** He's never been shown to get any useful or verifiable information this way, so this may just be ConfusionFu.
281* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/EerieIndiana'', in which a kid's braces give him the ability to talk to animals... [[spoiler:and he finds out [[ParanoiaFuel they are planning a full-scale]] [[GaiasVengeance takeover of the Earth]] and will probably kill him for knowing too much.]]
282* River Tam in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' once speaks to a cow. It's unclear whether she was utilizing her PsychicPowers or just being her typical {{Cloudcuckoolander}} self.
283* ''Series/GroundlingMarsh'': Eco has the ability to speak to animals, as well as rocks and plants. It's a skill that she learned years ago.
284* In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', Nate can somehow perfectly understand Ray, after the latter has been turned into a pig by the Fairy Godmother. In a later episode, Constantine and Charlie likewise understand Zari, even though she is a cat thanks to the very same Fairy Godmother (and Constantine).
285* In ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'', Alligator Loki only speaks in growls, but Classic Loki is somehow able to understand him.
286* ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'': Mermaids can learn the language of dolphins and whales, though this is optional in mermaid school. The viewer learns this when it becomes apparent that Lyla didn't take that class. Other episodes raise the topic of talking to fish (apparently impossible, and mermaids aren't interested in conversing with food), and penguins.
287%%* The titular character of ''Series/MarvinMarvin''.
288* Vince Noir from ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' has this ability in the first series. His companion Howard Moon feels that it's wasted on him because he only uses the gift to talk about how much he admires Gary Numan.
289* In ''Series/{{Misfits}}'', Kelly's telepathy allows her to read the mind of anyone, including animals. She learns some disturbing things about what her dog gets up to when she's not at home.
290* In ''Series/{{Mortified}}'', Taylor has frequent {{Imagine Spot}}s where she imagines she can talk to animals and they speak back to her in fluent English.
291* George Sunday in ''Series/MyHero2000'' uses a device called the Interspecies Interpreter in Series 3 #3 which allows him to talk to animals (except dung beetles, as George says "why would you want to, they live in dung"), specifically his in-laws' dog.
292** It returns in Series 6 #3 where George in his new persona, George Monday, uses it on the in-laws' cat to find out why Janet gives it so much attention.
293* In the ''Series/OddSquad'' episode "Bad Lemonade", Polly Graph, having been run out of business selling lemonade and hot chocolate, is shown attempting to speak pigeon. While she initially has a rough start, by the episode's climax she is able to summon an entire flock of them to chase Odd Todd away from his own lemonade stand.
294* Snow White in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' is able to translate a crow's caws into English. Also, when the residents of the Enchanted Forest are sent back, Jiminy Cricket is transformed back into a cricket, but doesn't have a translation device. Only Grumpy is able to understand him.
295* Princess Astral from ''Series/TheOtherKingdom'' was shown to be capable of communicating with various kinds of animals, and even plants, due to growing up in the nature-themed kingdom of Athenia.
296* ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'': While he initially just seems crazy, episode 8 reveals that Buttons does actually have the ability to communicate with seagulls.
297* ''Series/TheSantaClauses'': Sandra, the daughter of SantaClaus, discovers over the course of the first season that she perfectly understands animals. This is explained as that her inheritage as Santa's human daughter gives her some special kind of Christmas magic. Her father has shown to be able to communicate with his rendeers in [[Film/TheSantaClause the original movie trilogy]], but Sandra is depicted as special as she understands all animals.
298* Subverted on a ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch called "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals". It's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; Creator/MarkWahlberg talks to animals. [[ThisIsReality They don't talk back]].
299* Sean the dolphin trainer in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', possibly.
300-->'''Eliott''': Do you actually talk to each other?\
301'''Sean''': Come on, Eliott, he's just a dolphin.\
302'''Dolphin''': ''Annoyed-sounding squeaks''\
303'''Sean''': Because, Bruce, then she'd think I was crazy!
304* Spock from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' can communicate through Vulcan telepathy with many beings that would count as being basically animals. In ''Film/{{Star Trek IV|The Voyage Home}}'', he actually mind-melded with Earth whales and deemed them most intelligent.
305* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Dog Dean Afternoon", as the only witness to a murder is a dog, Dean takes a potion that lets him temporarily understand animals.
306* Shiro Akebono (Battle Kenya) in the ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' series, ''Series/BattleFeverJ'' is a wild child that can talk to animals.
307** Later on, another Shiro ([[Series/ChoudenshiBioman Red One]]) is also able to talk to animals as part of his power.
308** Kakeru Shishi/Gao Red from ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' can talk to animals as well as being an actual vetenarian. He tried to have a similar talk to Orgs... which failed and shocked him.
309*** His ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' counterpart Cole can also do this (Which is slightly more justified by the fact he was raised in the jungle.)
310* ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': In "The Deadly Dolphin" and "Light-fingered Lady", Wonder Woman pacifies guard dogs with a smile. In "The Man Who Could Not Die" she commends a ''lion'' to stand down. "A Date With Doomsday" she gets information from a pigeon. "The Girl from Ilandia" shows it best as Wonder Woman gives telepathic commands to a dog named Tiger who then executes them perfectly.
311-->'''Wonder Woman:''' Tiger, you take care of her and if she's in trouble you come and find me. Understand?\
312'''Tiger:''' ''barks (and later carries out these orders to the letter)''
313[[/folder]]
314
315[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
316* Myth/NorseMythology: In the Germanic myth of the Nibelungs (later adapted into a series of operas by Music/RichardWagner), the hero Sigurd gains the ability to talk to birds.
317* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Melampus raised a pair of baby snakes in his youth after their mother was killed. The grateful serpents repaid him by cleaning his ears, giving him the power to understand animal speech. He eventually earned a kingdom and a wife with it.
318* ''Literature/TheBible'': King Solomon allegedly had this ability, though some interpretations suggest that he just knew a lot about animal behavior and could figure out details about his environment not evident to humans by paying attention to them. UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} is a little more explicit about Solomon being literally able to talk to animals, what with (most famously) the hoopoe telling him the Queen of Sheba was coming and Solomon being ready to receive her early. (In Islam, Solomon is considered a prophet, and every prophet has a miracle; for Solomon, his was talking to animals.)
319* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheVolsungs'': After tasting the blood of dragon's heart, Sigurd understands the language of the birds. This power is critical to the plot only once, though.
320* ''Myth/TheScholomance'', in Romanian mythology, is an evil school for dark wizards and witches who want to learn Main/TheDarkArts. One of the powers that its students are specifically stated to obtain is the ability to understand the language of beasts.
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder:Roleplay]]
324* {{Downplayed|Trope}} with Hyeon from ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', whose ability to converse with animals is presented in a more realistic and less convenient way: rather than holding perfect conversations with them, he's only able to convey general ideas and short sentences. This also varies depending on the animal- birds and cats he can talk to with relative ease, but his pet squirrel can't really speak back to him and only gets the gist of what Hyeon tells it.
325[[/folder]]
326
327[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
328* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': the Animalism discipline, mainly used by the Gangrel and Nosferatu clans, gives vampires power over animals.
329* The TabletopRPG ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' allows vampires to learn how to speak with animals, summon them, control them and eventually take over their bodies. Many use the lower-level power to get food. "Here, kitty, kitty." <Chomp>
330* In ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', the Contract of Fang and Talon has this as the basic ability. A changeling needs to learn each sort of animal language separately.
331* In ''[[TabletopGame/SeventhSea 7th Sea]]'', those who possess a certain type of shape-shifting sorcery can talk to animals as well, with the catches being the farther away the sorcerer is from their home land or the more domesticated the animal is, the harder it is to communicate with it.
332* ''TabletopGame/DishonoredRoleplayingGame:'' The Beast Whispers enhancement allows the user to speak with a specific kind of animal.
333* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
334** In 3rd Edition, [[OurGnomesAreWeirder gnomes]] have the racial ability to speak to communicate with burrowing mammals through magic, albeit only for a minute a day. Fifth Edition changes this to only Forest Gnomes, but they can do it at will and it applies to any animal of small or smaller size, including non-burrowing animals.
335** Both druids and rangers can learn a spell that lets them communicate with animals for a brief period.
336** A member of the primeval prestige class can communicate with animals, although they're limited to members of the species they can the form of and of a few similar others. For instance, a primeval who can turn into a dire wolf can communicate with dire and regular wolves.
337** Xvarts (aka svarts or xivorts), a race of blue-skinned little humanoids, can speak with bats and rats in some editions of the game. 4th Edition explicitly makes them {{Evil Counterpart}}s of gnomes.
338** Sea Elves can communicate with aquatic animals in most editions.
339** Tritons can communicate simple ideas to sea creatures, but they lack the ability to understand anything that an animal tries to say to them.
340* The Speak with Animals and Speak with Plants advantages in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' do [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what they say]] with the caveat that some animals are barely sentient and most plants don't experience the world in a way remotely similar to us.
341** With the Sapience Enhancement in the "Powers" supplement, however, one can carry on a conversation with an animal or plant as easily as they can with a human being.
342* The superheroine Lynx in the ''TabletopGame/GURPSSupers'' supplement ''Supertemps''. She's a FriendToAllLivingThings as well.
343* In ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'', this is the province of the Animal Friend (one particular kind of animal) and King of the Beasts (an entire broad category like land animals, sea animals, or "vermin") stunts. Add Call of the Wild as well ("calling out in a 'native' voice" to summon friendly creatures that can understand you via one of the other two) and you, too, can play your very own pulp-style NatureHero.
344* ''TabletopGame/TheOneRing'': Beorn the [[OurWerebeastsAreDifferent Skinchanger]] can teach a trusted PlayerCharacter to communicate with specific types of animals, one type (e.g.: birds) per lesson. It's not quite "fluent" though, requiring a skill check to interpret or deliver the message correctly.
345* ''TabletopGame/{{Talislanta}}'' has the Ariane, who can speak with animals, as well as with trees and rocks.
346* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': {{Literature/Wulfrik}} the Wanderer was given the Gift of Tongues, which alllows him to communicate perfectly with any living thing including animals... so he can goad them into fighting him.
347[[/folder]]
348
349[[folder:Toys]]
350* The [[MaskOfPower Great Mask Of]] [[TranslatorMicrobes Translation]] in ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' allows the wearer this power, on top of its Noble Mask counterpart's writing-translation abilities. Several characters have also mastered [[AnimalTalk Bird Talk.]]
351[[/folder]]
352
353[[folder:Video Games]]
354* Fei-Xing from ''VideoGame/FaithOfDanschant'', a {{wuxia}}-fantasy RPG, can speak to birds. His bestie is a blackbord named "Xiao-hei" which he converses to time-to-time.
355* Guy (or [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Gus]]) from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' [[{{Hulkspeak}} speak beaver]]. It's because of being a WildChild, though [[AllThereInTheManual it's not mentioned in-game]].
356* Krile from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' is fluent in moogle and speaks some chocobo, although these two creatures are more intelligent than regular animals.
357* One Pixie quest in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' references the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' situation above by having the Warrior of Darkness communicate with beavers, although this is due to the Echo providing perfect understanding of every language.
358* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', there is a woodsman who can talk to animals. You recruit him at one point to help with a village where animals seem to run things... and then he reveals that he can't talk to ''these'' animals because they're [[ForcedTransformation people who were turned into animals]]. He ''can'', however, speak to the humans in the village, because they're transmogrified animals.
359* Luke from ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' can talk to animals (though in the first game the translation merely makes him a FriendToAllLivingThings). In the second game, he gets the idea to talk with a group of cows (who moo while he makes rather polite conversation) to find out which two of them were swapped with one another. Layton, who has consistently been shown throughout the first game as the sensible one, wonders why he hadn't thought of that himself.
360* Your character in ''VideoGame/MySims Agents'' seems to be able to understand what dogs and wolves say, and they can understand your [[SpeakingSimlish simlish]].
361* [[CheerfulChild Nami Kamishiro]] from ''VisualNovel/LuxPain'' has the power to talk to animals. This is a plot point in the story as she's able to tell that Atsuki has PsychicPowers when she's first introduced and she's able to figure out who the serial killer is. She's also able to tell that [[spoiler: the person that killed Mako]] was not the serial killer and can determine when bad things are going to happen. Near the end of the game during the witch hunt, [[spoiler: when Melody is killed by Graham]]l, she reveals that she can control the animals around her because of her powers. As [[spoiler: Graham]] comments, "I'm going to have to fight mother nature, am I?" [[spoiler: Her powers are not enough to stop Graham and he easily defeats her.]]
362* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
363** N from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' can communicate with Pokémon. [[spoiler: He came to have this power when his father abandoned him with injured Pokémon.]]
364** Dr. Footprint debuted in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', where he tells you what your Pokémon is thinking based on its footprints. [[FridgeLogic Even if they don't have feet.]]
365** A little girl in the Battle Frontier in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Emerald]]'' could translate Pokémon dialogue directly to help you find out their happiness level, though she put it into little kid terms (i.e. using the word "ouchies" for injuries and wounds).
366* The protagonist from ''VideoGame/MajinAndTheForsakenKingdom'' can talk to animals (and by extension the majin). Most of the [=NPCs=] are rats and birds.
367* Minsc the ranger from the ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series has frequent conversations with his miniature giant space hamster Boo. While it's more than likely that he's just a little crazy, a talking miniaturized space hamster wouldn't be the weirdest thing in the setting.
368** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' grants players the opportunity to actually talk with animals, as well, via the "Speak With Animals" spell, leading to interesting conversations with a wide array of creatures from high-and-mighty cats to weary wolves to merchantile punster rats. This can lead to an amusing conversation with Astarion, your party's rogue elf vampire, if you tell him he can only feed on animals -- specifically, "Nothing we can have a conversation with."
369--> '''Astarion''': You can ''literally'' talk to animals! What does that leave me, rocks and trees?!
370* The protagonists in the ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' series can communicate telepathically with pretty much any animal that's not in the middle of trying to kill him. In general, they're about as helpful as human [=NPCs=].
371* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', Link gains the ability to talk to animals when he shapeshifts into a wolf.
372* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'', the wizard Crispin gives Graham a piece of magical white snake to eat, which allows him to communicate with the animals he comes across. Less understandable is how said animals know that he'll understand them.
373** In [[VideoGame/KingsQuestIII the third game]], a certain spell Alexander can cast allows him to understand animals, though not to actually speak back to them.
374* ''VideoGame/SoulBlazer'': The hero can talk to animals and also plants; the rest of the humans can't.
375* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', Ark can talk to animals as well as plants [[spoiler:at first, but loses this ability at the end of the second chapter, when humans are revived]].
376* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', Aigis can understand the thoughts of the team dog Koromaru. This leads to Kormaru having input in the team's discussions. She's kind of a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] though: While she can translate what he's thinking, she cannot actually talk to him because "canines do not have their own language." Justified in that Koromaru is at least smart and self-aware enough to use a persona and fight shadows. Less justified with the other animals Aigis (or her predecessors) interacted with.
377* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': Morgana, a mysterious shapeshifting cat, can be heard speaking perfect Japanese by Persona users (i.e. the player party and anyone else who's entered the game's {{Adventure Friendly|World}} MentalWorld ). Everyone else just hears a cat meowing. [[ChekhovsGun This becomes a plot point]] when a certain character claims to have been awakened to a Persona recently even though [[spoiler:he understood Morgana perfectly fine in June]].
378* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2: Seasons'', any sim with a gold gardening talent badge (including all plant sims) can speak with plants. This fulfills the need for social interaction (and the plant sim's "love" need).
379* In ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom'' once you find the Whisper Conch you can talk to animals...and [[WiseTree Trents]].
380* In the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' series, NPC animals have coherent thoughts for Mind Read-capable Adepts. So do [[ForcedTransformation certain trees]]. In ''The Lost Age'', Felix and friends can conduct an entire trading sidequest with a series of animals this way to unlock a BonusDungeon.
381* Franklin can do this in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', being able to understand what some animals are saying. [[LampshadeHanging Even he thinks this is weird]].
382* Henry from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' can understand not just animals, but anything sentient. Including plants.
383* In ''Emberwing: Lost Legacy'' people who can speak to dragons, a rare ability, are known as Emberwings.
384* The player in ''VideoGame/FantasyLife'' understands animals. Some characters besides the player seem to be able to do this while others clearly can't, but the setting isn't clear on how frequent this is.
385* Several characters in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series seem to understand Mabari warhounds (a dog breed with magically enhanced intelligence) well enough to have a conversation, even though it sounds like random barks to the player. The Mabari definitely understand English; a common saying is that they're "smart enough to talk, wise enough not too."
386* Cassie from ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' seems to understand her bird Zigs well enough.
387-->'''Cassie:''' Zigs, what do you think of our chances?\
388''[Zigs responds]''\
389'''Cassie:''' Oh, well... let's just keep that to ourselves.
390* Lele from ''VideoGame/TunTown'' understands cats, dogs, birds, pigs, and every single animal in the game, for reasons never explained. He's in fact a human mediator drafted in the middle of a feline-canine war against his will.
391* ''VideoGame/{{Utawarerumono}}'': Aruruu displays the ability to speak to and understand animals, most prominently displayed with Mukkur, her pet tiger-god. She is given the title "Yaana Mauna", or "Mother of the Forest", for this. In the sequel she claims that while it's rare, the trait is not unique, and says that she believes Rulutieh is also a Yaana Mauna. Rulutieh is very close with her giant bird Cocopo, but she says she's never been able to understand him to the extent that Aruruu can.
392* ''VideoGame/OperationVIDEOGAME'' has a level where Numbuh Three has to stop Knightbrace from using fireflies to manufacture a line of luminous toothpaste called Bug-Brite. Much to Knightbrace's hilarious annoyance, Numbuh Three succeeds because the fireflies are able to tell her what she needs to know to shut down Knightbrace's operation.
393* In ''VideoGame/FarnhamFables'', Prince Philip is able to talk to animals. In Episode 1, he communicates with a sick fox to help cure him of his illness, then asks it to track the lost Gloria. In Episode 3, he uses his talent to convince the escaped creatures to wait for him in the gym.
394* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': Characters who take the Pet Pal talent can converse with animals, whose ability to string a sentence together varies widely -- chickens have a very short train of thought and [[AnimalSpeciesAccent cluck a lot]], while bulls can prove surprisingly philosophical.
395* It's implied that the [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario Bros.]] are fluent in Yoshi, seeing as how the text boxes of Yoshis in most games consist of a variation of [[PokemonSpeak "Yoshi!"]] followed by the actual text in parentheses. Fitting, considering that they were [[RaisedByWolves Raised by Yoshis.]]
396* In the ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series, particularly game 5, Matt can understand his fellow playable character and cat, [=NoLegs=], who has no legs.
397* In ''VideoGame/{{FARA}}'', as the Cat Whisperer you can talk to cats. You do get some really surprised responses from them.
398-->'''...A Young Cat says:''' "Wait, could you all understand us this whole time?"
399[[/folder]]
400
401[[folder:Webcomics]]
402* Rowan, the baby from ''Webcomic/BoyAndDog'', can understand both Murphy (a dog) and Milo (a cat).
403* Grace, and by extension the other chimeras, in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' can talk to animals (squirrels at least). At one point, Tedd used her as a negotiator with the squirrels on his lawn. Raven later has Grace talk to his cat as a test of her claimed abilities, then brings her along to try to work out a peaceful resolution with an enchanted, super-sized feral pig. The pig can understand her just fine, [[DownerEnding but it still doesn't work out]].
404* Krosp of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' is a cat created with opposable thumbs, human intelligence, human speech, and the ability to command cats. Unfortunately, cats are idiots, and even if they can understand his commands, they tend to [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny get distracted three seconds later]].
405* Paz, the unlucky girl from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', can talk to animals. The first thing we see her talk to is a mouse. Turns out, mice don't have a lot of important things to say. [[spoiler: It comes in much more useful when it lets her speak with [[GiantEnemyCrab Lindsey]], who's very intelligent but normally needs a computer to communicate.]]
406--> '''Mouse:''' Yes, yes! I see! I see, I see! Oh yes, I see!
407-->I'm a mouse!
408* ''{{Webcomic/Hemlock}}'': Lumi can converse with snails and frogs, and Tristan learns snailspeak after becoming her familiar in order to talk with her giant snail Richmond whose upper shell serves as their home.
409* Gail [[PowerIncontinence temporarily]] has this power in ''Webcomic/WhenSheWasBad''.
410* [[RulesLawyer Nelson]] from ''Webcomic/FullFrontalNerdity'', as is his wont, figures out a way to [[http://ffn.nodwick.com/?p=992 powergame this.]]
411--> '''Nelson:''' A hundred squirrels acting in concert could bring down our nation's power grid.
412* In ''ComicBook/PS238'' this is one of the powers of [[FunPersonified the Flea]]. He's limited to communicating only with insects, but [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower he uses it to good effect]].
413* In ''Webcomic/SpareKeysForStrangeDoors'', this is one of Andrew Cole's abilities.
414* ''Webcomic/TwistedTropes'': [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry]] interprets a snake speaking as pickup lines for Slytherin girls.
415[[/folder]]
416
417[[folder:Web Original]]
418* ''Blog/HowToHero'' mentions heroes who can control animals or talk to animals in the entry on [[https://howtohero.tumblr.com/post/162110626911/animal-sidekicks Animal Sidekicks]]
419* ''WebVideo/KidTimeStorytime'': Hooty speaks in hoots and Two-Tone speaks in meows, but Storyteller translates for the viewer.
420* ''WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier'': Subverted in the Robin Hood special, where Marian sends Robin a message via InstantMessengerPigeon to warn him of an ambush... and Robin exasperatedly tells her that she only ''thinks'' she SpeaksFluentAnimal.
421* ''Website/{{Serina}}'':
422** The fork-tailed babbling jays have enough vocal flexibility to speak the much simpler languages of the non-sapient birds they share the desert with.
423** Daydreamers can communicate with most of their non-sapient dolfinch cousins, whom the small-prey ecotype percieves as akin to their own children in terms of intelligence.
424* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Several characters, including Avatars of some animal spirits, like Aquerna (who can talk to squirrels and order them around) or Arachne (who can talk to spiders but spiders don't make really good spies because they're not very smart). Aquerna talks to the squirrels and ''vice versa'' in what seems like English to her, but everyone else hears squirrel noises.
425[[/folder]]
426
427[[folder:Western Animation]]
428* A recurring plot point in ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatianStreet'' is that humans don't understand the dog protagonists. Despite this, a virtual assistant in one episode has a language setting for Dogs, and a later human villain can inexplicably understand them.
429* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' episode "Raise the Oozy Scab", Jimmy has a device that allows him to speak to fish, which he hopes to use to ask for directions to a sunken treasure. It fails, as the fish just want to talk gossip. Later, when the sub is attacked by a giant squid, Jimmy modifies the device to be able to speak squid and convince it to let them go.
430* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E28TheQuestion The Question]]", Gumball goes to the forest so the animals will teach him the meaning of life. He makes random noises at a squirrel, and gets slapped by it. Darwin says Gumball unknowingly insulted the squirrel, and makes random noises that the squirrel actually understands.
431* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', baby Kate can talk to dogs and cats. To them, people speak pure gibberish. Indeed, a story in the program's thirteenth season confirms that, in fact, all babies can speak to animals. As they start to grow up, they gradually begin to lose this power. The fact that the babies in question [[FurryConfusion aren't human themselves]] isn't brought up.
432* From ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', Ma-Ti, with the power of [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower heart]]. He often uses it to ask for information or assistance with the problem of the week (e.g., talking to a baby elephant about a poaching operation in "Last of Her Kind" or summoning a flock of birds to eat a huge number of grasshoppers before they can reach the mainland in "Send in the Clones").
433* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Dexter's Lab: A Story", Dexter wants to speak with a dog, so he constructs a translator device and learns that the dog is saying "Hey! Hey! I'm a dog! Look! Look, it's a thing! Over here! A dog!" and so on. When the dog's owner turns up, his speech patterns are identical.
434-->'''Man:''' It's my dog! It's my dog!\
435'''Dog:''' It's my man! It's my man!
436* Diego from ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer''. In his spinoff ''WesternAnimation/GoDiegoGo'', the animals talk as well, and it carries on to crossover episodes of its parent series ([[SuddenlySpeaking notably in Baby Jaguar's case]]).
437* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince:'' Prince Ezran turns out to be able to understand animals, a skill which plays a key part of the events in the third season.
438* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
439** In one of the ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' shorts, Timmy wishes for this as part of a short where he was making himself a superhero. This sets up a RunningGag of him seeing a mayfly go from infant to old man in 24 hours.
440** Tootie can talk to penguins in the live-action special ''Film/AFairlyOddChristmas''.
441* ''WesternAnimation/FlipperAndLopaka'': Lopaka is an 11-year-old Polynesian boy with the ability to converse with sea creatures.
442* SantaClaus in the ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'' cartoon ''speaks fluent rabbit''.
443* Several instances involving [[Characters/FuturamaBenderBendingRodriguez Bender]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
444** In the episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E5TheBirdBotOfIceCatraz The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz]]", Bender suffers an accident that causes him to reboot, and automatically goes into "Penguin mode" due to penguins being the first thing he sees upon reactivating. Interestingly enough, after he later returns to his default "human" mode, he appears to retain the ability to speak Penguin, encouraging them (in their own language) to attack the people trying to hunt them. Whether or not he can perform all this with other animals is unknown, but it seems entirely possible.
445** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E12TheSting The Sting]]" Bender is given a bee language cartridge to allow him to communicate with the space bees, so he's likely able to communicate with any animals with the right software.
446* ''WesternAnimation/TheHollow'': Mira is capable of understanding and talking with animals as well as asking them to do various tasks. Most comply, but a few refuse because, while she can talk to them, she lacks the RequiredSecondaryPowers to actually make them listen to her.
447* ''WesternAnimation/JamiesGotTentacles'': Jamie can talk with animals such as ants, fish, and probably all animals. He can also talk to and understand plants.
448* In the ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "Werewolf of the Timberland", the Indian named White Feather can speak to wolves and owls (and presumably other forest creatures).
449* In his appearances in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Aquaman's ability to command the creatures of the sea is again referenced, and since this is [[AdaptationDistillation the DCAU]], he uses it to much more badass effect. Like dropping a killer whale on people and riding it into battle.
450* [[Characters/KimPossibleRonStoppable Ron Stoppable]] from ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', most often with Rufus. He has also shown that he can communicate very well with other animals: Chippy, Roachie, and Professor Dementor's giant dogs, to name a few.
451* ''WesternAnimation/LarryAndSteve'' is a short about a man named Larry who understands a dog named Steve. As a result, Larry rescues Steve from the local pound.
452* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraBolin Bolin]] speaks fire ferret to talk to [[TeamPet Pabu]]... or just chomps his teeth to indicate that Pabu should do the same to the rope.
453* In ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'', Blythe Baxter, for reasons that no-one is really sure of, not even the animals, can understand and talk to animals after entering the pet shop for the first time. Though they assume it was due to [[ItMakesSenseInContext hitting her head while inside a falling dumbwaiter]]. She keeps it a secret in fear of being called "weird". Though interestingly, the animals are almost always doing human activities, such as playing cards, performing magic tricks, and reading books, yet none of the other human cast seems to take notice and assumes they're just average non-sentient animals. The final season reveals that [[spoiler:Blythe's late mother also had the ability to talk to animals, which she got from her, and her father knew the whole time]].
454* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesRabbitsRun'' may (or may not) provide an example of a FunnyAnimal communicating with non-anthro animals. When Lola Bunny is stuck in the ocean with WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, Lola says she can "speak dolphin" and asks them to send "a nice yacht, a big one, with a Jacuzzi" to save them. Mac and Tosh's yacht immediately appears. However, it's a bit of an AmbiguousSituation since the only "dolphins" we see are actually sharks.
455* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': Tooey is a dog whisperer who helps run his family's kennel, and hopes to become a musher like his father some day.
456* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'':
457** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3'' has Pinkie Pie with her "squink" thinking procedure, her obsession with the color pink. How positively pink is she? She was once able to command some pink fireflies to basically act as flashlights for the gang during their quest. When asked how she'd managed that, Pinkie Pie matter-of-factly answers, "I speak pink."
458** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
459*** [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicFluttershy Fluttershy]] is able to talk to the animals she takes care of (though some scenes suggest that animals just naturally understand pony-speak, the same way Snoopy and Garfield understand humans) and can interpret the sounds they make as well. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E2TheCutieMapPart2 The Cutie Map]]", when the heroes are imprisoned and their powers taken away, Fluttershy tries to ask a nearby bird for help, but it doesn't respond to her and she cannot understand its speech, meaning that her ability is magical in nature. Note that while she can talk to and understand animals, she does not control them and most of the animals she interacts with are simply nice enough to listen to her. In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E18AHealthOfInformation A Health of Information]]", royal jelly from a special beehive is needed to cure Zecora's illness. Fluttershy tries to explain her circumstances and politely ask for the royal jelly, but the bees don't care and attack her anyway, and she's forced to find another way to get it.
460*** Also doubles as an ActorAllusion in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E22HurricaneFluttershy Hurricane Fluttershy]]", when Twilight Sparkle, voiced by Creator/TaraStrong (the voice actor for [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls Bubbles]]), is chattered at by a squirrel, to which her response is "Do I ''look'' like I speak squirrel?"
461*** Iron Will can understand what his goats say.
462* Bubbles from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' can speak to animals. In one episode in which this would have been exceptionally useful, she loses her voice due to a bee stinging her throat. {{Justified|Trope}} in that her particular power is [[{{Omniglot}} the ability to speak any language]].
463* ''WesternAnimation/TheRocketeer'': Sylvester Slapdash understands what his pet ferret Lilith says.
464* In the ''WesternAnimation/SheZow'' episode "[=SheSquatch=]", [=SheZow=] gains the power to understand and communicate with animals.
465* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'':
466** It's indicated that Razz can communicate with horses, since she understands Swift Wind before he figures out how to speak to humans. The tie-in book ''Island of Magical Creatures'' also confirms that Swift Wind can communicate not only with other horses, but is also fluent in hedgehog, God only knows how or why.
467** Mermista can communicate with seagulls. Whether she can communicate with other sea life is unknown. She taught Sea Hawk how to talk to seagulls, though he is a little rusty.
468* Communication with animals was one of the abilities given to ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''. For some reason, it wasn't frequently in evidence on the show.
469* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', [[Characters/TheSimpsonsHomerSimpson Homer Simpson]] is shown on numerous occasions to be an extreme {{Omniglot}}. In one episode, where he joins the Naval Reserve and later is believed to have stolen a nuclear submarine, he meekly informs each aircraft-carrier surrounding him that "It's his first day" in their respective language, to hordes of laughter. This includes that of the ''SS Antartica'', crewed entirely by ''penguins''.
470* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' can speak to the animals in the cartoon show, though Nat Smurf in both his adult and Smurfling incarnations is the primary conversant of the series, being a NatureLover.
471* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'':
472** Sofia is able to communicate with animals and other beastly creatures that normally do not speak English (such as pegasi), due to the magical power of her amulet. However, it doesn't work the other way around, like when she's turned into a cat in "When You Wish Upon a Well" and she loses her ability to talk to humans (but she can still talk to her animal friends). A couple of episodes revolve around her being unable to understand them after losing her Amulet. Like the rest of the other magical properties of her amulet, she keeps this a secret from everyone else. The backdoor pilot to ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'' has Sofia's family be surprised at the existence of {{Talking Animal}}s in Avalor, which is host to talking jaquins and animal spirits.
473** Cedric understands his crow companion, Wormwood, due to being a sorcerer. Likewise, other magical characters, such as the people of the Mystic Isles, understand animals as well.
474* In ''WesternAnimation/SpacePOP'', despite the Space Pets speaking only in beatboxing, everyone can fluently communicate with them.
475* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
476** [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsPatrickStar Patrick Star]] can apparently communicate with birds in whistle language. Apparently, [[AchievementsInIgnorance he thinks he's just speaking Italian]].
477** [[Characters/SpongeBobSquarePantsTitularCharacter SpongeBob]] has been shown to communicate with Gary, and one episode confirms that he can understand snail language.
478* Apparently, [[Characters/TeenTitans2003BeastBoy Beast Boy]] from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' possesses this ability, as he's able to communicate with a group of raptor-like dinosaurs while mimicking their form when the team finds itself stuck in a LostWorld stuck in time. Subverted as the translation reveals that they still intend to eat the team of heroes, culminating in a short skirmish.
479* ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985'': Snarf turns out to have this talent, which he uses to great effect in "Snarf Takes Up the Challenge" in order to rescue the captured Thundercats from Mumm-Ra's pyramid. Played with in that Snarf had to make deals with the animals to get their help, and a magpie at the end of the episode was angry that he'd forgotten the bird's reward.
480* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateBookOfSpells'': Gus the half-elf can talk to tree-dwelling animals.
481* Eliza Thornberry from ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys''. She uses this power to converse with the various animals her family documents. However, if she ever reveals her power to a human, she'll lose it.
482* ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'': "[[Recap/WordGirlS6E12FortuneCrookieParsleySageRosemaryAndCrime Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime]]" reveals that Mr. Botsford can speak bear. He took a few classes in college.
483* In ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', the Tongue of Saiping lets the user speak with and command animals.
484* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': Captain Marvel seems to demonstrate this in "[[Recap/YoungJusticeS1E13AlphaMale Alpha Male]]", based on how he has an entire conversation with a tiger he dubs Mr. Tawny.
485[[/folder]]

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