Researchers at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) in Sichuan Province have begun to crack the code of panda linguistics.
So far 13 unique vocalizations of the endangered animal have been identified, giving a never-before-observed glimpse into their life. Much of the decoded sounds regard to how males interact with females, and how adults and cubs communicate.
For example, a male makes a "baa" sound just like a sheep or a goat to woo a female. If the feeling is mutual, she responds with an approving tweet.
The five-year research began with recording vocalizations between adults and their offspring as they communicate in different situations like nursing and bonding. Recording of interactions between adults included mating and fighting.
The data from these recordings were analyzed and the unique vocal signatures were isolated.
Panda cubs have a limited "vocabulary," which primarily consists of cries for when they are hungry, upset and happy.
"Adult giant pandas usually are solitary, so the only language teacher they have is their own mother," head researcher Zhang Hemin said.
As cubs grow, they graduate to more complex vocals like barks, roars and chirps.
The way a mother talks with regard to her baby may include chirps when expressing anxiety, and loud barks when someone she is not familiar with approaches her cub.
"Trust me. Our researchers were so confused when we began the project that they wondered if they were studying a panda, a bird, a dog, or a sheep," Zhang said.
The research is ongoing. One of the goals is to develop a sort of panda-to-human translator through voice recognition.
"If we can understand their language, it will help us protect the animal, especially in the wild," the researcher said.
Around 200 of the 375 giant pandas in captivity are in Zhang's research center. The 1,800 or so pandas left in the wild today are only found in China, most of them in the provinces of Shaanxi and Sichuan.