What if the Earth has always been speaking—
and we’re only now learning how to listen?
From the rainforest canopy to the ocean’s abyss, from backyard songbirds to elephant herds rumbling across the savanna, The Secret Tongue invites you on an extraordinary journey into the vibrant, intricate, and often overlooked world of animal communication.
In this groundbreaking, genre-defining work, author Geoffrey Zachary weaves cutting-edge science with poetic storytelling to uncover how animals speak through sound, scent, posture, colour, touch, and even silence. Blending insights from biology, linguistics, anthropology, Indigenous knowledge, artificial intelligence, and acoustic ecology, this book reveals the true breadth and depth of how living creatures share meaning—and what we can learn from their remarkable intelligence, emotional expression, and social complexity.
Through vivid chapters that span species and continents, you’ll explore:
• The musical grammar of whales and songbirds
• The chemical codes of ants and bees
• The emotional gestures of wolves, elephants, and apes
• The mimicry and invention of parrots and dolphins
• The cultural dialects of prairie dogs, gibbons, and orcas
• And how humans are finally building the tools—and the humility—to understand
Yet this is not just a book about animals. It is a book about connection. About reawakening a sense of kinship with the wild, and rediscovering the parts of ourselves that modern life has quieted—instinct, empathy, presence, and the ability to truly listen.
From AI-powered whale translators to forest soundscape sanctuaries, from Indigenous trackers who “read” the language of birds to citizen scientists decoding urban frog choruses, The Secret Tongue explores a bold, hopeful future in which communication between species becomes a path to conservation, healing, and coexistence.
Discover a book that will change the way you walk through the world.
Whether you’re a nature lover, educator, biologist, animal caretaker, or simply someone who’s ever locked eyes with a creature and wondered what it was thinking, The Secret Tongue will leave you astonished, moved, and forever attuned to the conversations happening all around you.
📘 Features:
• Dozens of real-life stories and case studies from researchers and wildlife observers
• Explores acoustic, visual, chemical, tactile, and electrical communication
• Spotlights on whales, bees, birds, elephants, octopuses, wolves, dolphins, primates, and more
• Explores cutting-edge technologies, ethical questions, Indigenous perspectives, and future breakthroughs
• Full-colour, vibrant cover designed to reflect the wonder of the natural world
If you loved An Immense World by Ed Yong, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, or Beyond Words by Carl Safina, this book belongs on your shelf.
But more than that—
it belongs in your ears, in your heart, and in how you notice the world from this day forward.
Because the Earth is not silent.
It is singing.
And The Secret Tongue is your invitation to join the chorus.
