A new dawn of animal linguistics, by a modern-day Doctor Dolittle.

For centuries we believed that language was humanity’s defining gift, and that bird calls were no more than an expression of emotion. Then one young Japanese scientist stepped into a forest and began to listen.

Through patience, curiosity and a series of inventive, handmade experiments, Suzuki Toshitaka eventually revealed that Japanese tits combine over twenty ‘words’ and are able to use grammar and syntax, displaying the cognitive building blocks of language and upending everything we thought we knew about animal intelligence.

Part scientific detective story, part memoir of a life spent in forests, I Can Understand the Language of Birds follows Suzuki Toshitaka’s journey from teenage birdwatcher to the researcher who set up the world’s first laboratory specifically devoted to animal linguistics.

Illustrated by the author, and filled with delight, humour, and infectious enthusiasm, this is a book about opening our ears to wonder all around us.