Do animals use telepathy to communicate? Intriguing video evidence.

March 20, 2016June 26, 2019

Do animals use telepathy to communicate? Intriguing video evidence.

Many pet lovers have had the experience of a dog, cat, or other being appearing to know about something without having been shown it. Or inexplicably understanding the significance of something that happened. In some cases a persistent thought may arise in a pet-lover’s mind which, when they respond to it, seems to have been communicated by the pet himself – especially when the pet, or someone else, is in danger, or need.

The idea that animals communicate using what we call telepathy, is by no means new. But scientists, who have traditionally dismissed both telepathy as well as animal sentience, have only just begun to investigate this intriguing phenomenon. Many scientists would unwilling to risk the ridicule of their peers even suggesting this subject is worthy of exploration. Fortunately for us, Cambridge-educated biologist, Rupert Sheldrake is not one of these.

Sheldrake was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge where he was Director of Studies in cell biology, and was also a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. He is currently a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California. In recent years he has been willing to undertake properly controlled trials investigating phenomenon such as ‘Dogs that Know when their owners are coming home and other unexplained powers of animals’ – which became the title for one of his fascinating books.

More recently, he investigated the telepathic powers of an African Grey parrot called N’kisi who lives in New York City. The 10 minute video below provides all the context you need, as well as live footage of this extraordinary experiment. I hope you find it as intriguing as I do!

You can find out a lot more about animal sentience in my book, Buddhism for Pet Lovers.

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Comments (17)

Susanne Ruedin

ReplyMarch 20, 2016

Around 65-70 years ago my stepmothers father was a travelling salesman in rural Vic and possibly parts of SA & NSW, he sold farm supplies & equipment. His wife & children never knew when to expect him home, but when he did turn up there was always a meal waiting. How did his family know he was coming, well that was down to the family’s Cockatoo, “Roy’s coming, Roy’s coming”, is what he used to say in the morning and sure enough before sunset Roy would be home. Considering that Roy could be gone for any thing from a week or a month or two, I always thought this was pretty remarkable.
I hope this is of interest to you.

Susanne
- David Michie Author
  
  ReplyMarch 20, 2016
  
  This is a remarkable story, thank you Susanne! I have heard of cats and dogs having this prescience, but never a cockatoo! Wonderful – thank you! Warm wishes, David
Glynis Jolly

ReplyMarch 20, 2016

Somehow my oldest cat knows when I’m not feeling well, be it physical or mental. She stays close at these times, giving me whatever power of healing she possesses. Chances are the other two cats know too, but not being as connected with me, leave it alone.

I’ve always supposed this sort of thing with pets. I’ve seen it so often that I can’t see how it could be any different despite the strong skepticism scientists have.
Clare Metcalf

ReplyMarch 21, 2016

Sheldrake’s work is amazing and he is making great strides on behalf of the animal kingdom.
I work professionally as an Animal Communicator and my cats will usually tell me (telepathically and verbally) that their Daddy is on his way home, but what amazed me more was when my rescued ex-battery hens also began anticipating his return by waiting by the gate for him to arrive and getting really excited about the treats he would bring, even if I was holding food for them at the time!
They all also know if one of us, or one of their friends is unwell, and one time we had to keep one of our hens indoors with us overnight due to illness – in the morning her companion left the henhouse, knocked at the door to the house and made her way to the garage which she had never been in before, to find her best friend, who was quiet due to her illness, so it was not that she was following the sounds chickens make, rather they were communicating telepathically their whereabouts.
In my years of experience working with animals I have to conclude that they are far superior in every way to humans who for the most part have forgotten most of their innate abilities such as intuition, telepathy and healing.
- David Michie Author
  
  ReplyMarch 21, 2016
  
  Hi Clare, Thank you so much for these stories. I agree with your conclusion completely that animals have far superior intuition/telepathy and that for a variety of reasons humans have lost this capacity – at least, in many places. The interesting thing is that Buddhism regards these qualities of mind as completely natural and normal, and the masters of the tradition are generally known to be quite clairvoyant. Warm wishes, David
  - Clare Metcalf
    
    ReplyMarch 22, 2016
    
    Yes David, and I am sure that in most ways it is due to Buddhist avoidance of harm to and respect for all sentient beings that enabled the retention of all the natural qualities we mention.
    
    Only once the heart has hardened and the mind can ignore or in some way rationalise the suffering of others do we lose the empathy, understanding and ability to communicate in all ways with those who share our world.
    
    I believe that telepathic communication in the way we are discussing it is not simply a mind skill we can re-learn – we must engage the heart first and foremost to enable us to remember our connection to all life. Then it becomes as natural as spoken speech. And the animals themselves are our best teachers.
    - Monica Montserrat
      
      ReplyMarch 23, 2016
      
      I completely agree, animals are our best teachers. And how they have to suffer to teach us!
Paulette Bartenstein

ReplyMarch 21, 2016

My cats seem to project what they are doing into my dreams. For example, one night I dreamed that my cat was on the bank at the edge of my yard chasing ground moles. He had got out of the house after dinner, and was out all night, which was a rare occurance, since I always kept him inside at night.
Anyway, when I let him in that morning, I found a dead mole on the front porch.
- David Michie Author
  
  ReplyMarch 21, 2016
  
  Intriguing tales – thank you Paulette! Warm wishes, David
Monica G Montserrat

ReplyMarch 21, 2016

This story involves after death communication from my pet cat.
The day “Bruja” (my beloved cat) was euthanized due to kidney failure I was devastated.
After crying all day I finally visited a friend in the evening. This friend owned a pack of oracle cards which was sitting on the table where we had a cup of tea.
Without even touching the pack, we suddenly saw one of the cards falling off the table, apparently ‘on its own’. I picked it up and this is what I read:
“I bring you a message from your deceased loved one: I am happy, at peace and I love you very much. Please don’t worry about me”
I had been battling guilt over the euthanasia. I still cry in relief when I remember this.
- David Michie Author
  
  ReplyMarch 28, 2016
  
  An unusual and wonderful story, Monica – thank you! Warm wishes, David
PL Derickson

ReplyMarch 21, 2016

Love you, David!
Nick Lynch

ReplyMarch 21, 2016

With elephants I’ve had a few encounters, but one that stands out occurred up river from where I used to run a safari lodge on the Zambezi on the Zambian side. Friends of mine went on holiday for a month and I looked after things whilst they were away. My accommodation was an open veranda with a single wall and a corrugated tin roof. The veranda was situated up a slight hill close to a bay on the river. That year the dry season had been hotter than usual and had lingered beyond the time the rainy season usually started. The elephants had been particularly active and had honed in on the neatly kept garden, which for the elephants must have represented a salad feast. The wall that surrounded the garden had been brought down in several areas by the elephants on their many raids and one of the things I was meant to do was to shoo them away. Shooing away elephants can be tricky.

A few nights had passed without incident until the one evening I received a radio call from one of the guards. A young bull who I thought to be about eighteen had gotten into the yard and was now posing in the center pretending to be interested in one of the trees. Whilst I am by no means an elephant expert, I have lived for many years in the bush around elephants and have learned to ‘read’ them, as anyone who has worked on safari should know to some degree. Especially essential basics like what constitutes a warning sign and how through reading their body language knowing when they’re likely to charge.

My friends who owned the property were keen animal lovers and absolutely against the idea of shooting anything and in an effort to scare off the elephants had resorted to using ‘flash bangers’ a small none lethal but loud firework that they’d lob near the elephants to encourage them to move on.

Making sure the guards were safe and that I had a clear run behind me, I lit and threw the first flash banger a few meters behind the young bull. It exploded BANG but to my dismay instead of running off, he stubbornly turned around abruptly to face me and flared his ears and made threatening noises. I thought ‘shit’….and then realized, he understood the flash bangers did nothing more than make really loud noise. In fact, this was his humor, a game he liked to play.

It was exciting for him, great fun. I stood my ground and yelled “go on, get out of here” and as he turned I lit another flash banger and threw it a safe distance behind him. Again he trumpeted and now shook his head, which is not a good sign ordinarily but he was at least moving up through the garden and towards an area that had one of the large collapsed sections of walling. It was a very large garden.

The elephant wasn’t moving fast enough and almost seemed to be tempting me to throw another banger, which I learned later was definitely his game. Realising he’d become accustomed to the noise I shot a couple of rounds into the air from a pistol and the difference in sound was enough to surprise him into moving away more determinedly. He didn’t run, but at least walked off more alert and made a couple of droppings.

With the excitement over I went to bed to read for a bit before sleeping. The open veranda offered no protection from animals or anything like that but there was nothing to really fear either other than the 1 in 100 chance of late night canoeing opportunists from villages up river. My only solace from the mosquitos’ and bugs was a trusty old mosquito net.

That night the moon was full and bright and you could easily make out the bay and the surrounding bush. Hyena’s from across the river on the Zim side in the Zambezi National Park serenaded the scene with their typically eerie cackling and sobbing laughter.

I was sleeping soundly when at about three in the morning something woke me up. This bit is strange because I am not usually a light sleeper and truly, I have no earthly idea about why or how I woke up – but something woke me up and I immediately sat up and carefully looked through the mosquito net scanning the scenery for signs of movement, the pistol I had fired earlier clasped in my hand. I somehow knew however that it was ‘him’ that was coming.

I was not surprised to see him soon appear from the left of my field of vision steadily and deliberately making his way to the veranda. Yes of course I felt a slight pang of anxiety and quickly realized there was little I could really do. In a few short moments he was standing two meters away from the end of my bed and looking directly at me.

He had absolutely deliberately come back and sought me out. There was no way I was going to fire the gun with him being so close as that would have just freaked him out and probably eventuated in an unnecessary accident, namely me being squashed. I resigned myself to the fact that nothing could really be done. I looked him. He looked me. I looked at him and then slumped my shoulders in a relaxed way and decided to lay back and grumbled “oh buggered off man I’m going back to sleep” and with that I pulled a pillow over my head.

I felt him stand there for about another ten seconds studying me, before turning away peacefully and walking off on his rounds.

In me he had found something new to entertain himself with and for the next three weeks returned nightly. Always in the early hours of the morning, but instead of standing in front of me he’d stand behind my bed and the flimsy short wall which he easily could peer over to see all the action. At the base of that wall were shrubs which he enjoyed yanking out and munching whilst watching me for a while before getting bored and moving on.

The one night my girlfriend came to stay and I’d forgotten to tell her about this guy. On cue he came to the back of the wall and started munching and now had two hairless monkeys to gawp at.

“What the hell do we do?”

“Nothing…this is what he does for fun, go back to sleep”
- David Michie Author
  
  ReplyMarch 28, 2016
  
  A wonderful story – thank you so much Nick! MOre amazing evidence of just how intelligent eles are. I highly recommend Beyond Words by Carl Safina for other stories of elephants and their intelligence. Warm wishes, David
Cheryl A High

ReplyMarch 30, 2016

I have so much to tell you about the life of cats in community I don’t know where to begin. For over 15 years I have lived with and cared for indoor/ outdoor cats. This was an ever changing community that at one particular time had at least 80 members, both tame and feral. I learned part of their language just because I needed to to care for them. The community does not really name the newest members until they have an actual personality. Then if They pick out a unique trait and will imitate it perfectly. If others recognize the cat from that description that becomes the cats name. They will preface a complaint or worry about that cat by perfectly imitating the action name. So I heard about he who charges, or she who gives a hop when she jumps, or he who sits watching. They act out specific parts of their history by repeating the story exactly the same way but with actions and sometimes with sounds . I have had many after death experiences of reassurances from them. It never fails to surprise me , I believe that kittens are non entities to the community because the other cats cannot discuss them in any way without a way to describe them. In a way they are invisible to the main body of the community. There are options for tired moms, affectionate aunts, former mothers who share in the nurturing roles. I have had mom’s stare at me in such a way that means they are asking for help with their babies. I have had cats say goodbye in such a way I knew I wouldn’t see them alive again. I have woken up to my cat MauMau staring at me and immediately remember I had dreamt about a cat I had been worrying about. There are so many of these experiences that I have had waited so I could write this in a semi coherent fashion.
- David Michie Author
  
  ReplyMarch 30, 2016
  
  Thank you so much for sharing all this, Cheryl! Warm wishes, David
- Monica G Montserrat
  
  ReplyApril 2, 2016
  
  Cats are an essential part of my life. I will always have cats, until the day I die.
  I have a dog as well, and I love him, but still, cats seem to ‘speak to my soul’. And yes, they have an uncanny ability to know, even from afar, when I am experiencing difficulties and have a need for an extra rub or two!

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