Animals probably can’t understand humans at all.
If they could talk they would probably ask questions like… Why do they live inside huge boxes? How come they save their food and burn it before eating it? Why do they go everywhere in metal machines? Why do they bend over to photograph us every time they see us??
Insects wouldn’t understand how we balance on two thick legs or why our eyes are so small in comparison to the rest of our bodies. Reptiles would wonder why we don’t shed our skin. Fish would be confused about how our lungs work.
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Chickadees are able to communicate with one another about the type and degree of threats. (For example, they tend to be more concerned about small, agile predators that can fly.)
So we kind of do know what the think about us, or at least what they communicate. We are…kinda scary, sometimes? But, like, usually not that scary.
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Can a butterfly distinguish a human from a mud puddle? Both are sources of salts.
If the reptile was in the changing rooms at the beach, or in a locker room, it would see that we do shed our “skin.” But then it would wonder about why we put on different skin.
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Why do we destroy forest just to build some boxes? Why do we sow grass by those boxes? And why to we cut the grass to the ground, then pour poison on it?
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i always think about how confused my snake must be, looking at me like “now why is that creature putting on a new skin?? they just shed the old one??”
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the turkeys where i live seem to find humans scary, but not when in cars, so i would love to know what they are thinking. and i think all the little critters that randomly get cameras in their faces must be so confused whenever that happens
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Birds have been wondering “Why do humans carry around those silly little things on strings around their necks that they use to block their view of us whenever they look in our direction?”
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“Why are they so happy to see me? They’re holding a small box up towards me and tapping it!” Or, what my backyard birds probaby say: “There is The Seed Giver! Observe as she gives us the finest offerings!”
I was thinking about this the other day. When I was about seven, I had a hyperfixation on flamingoes. For my birthday, my family took me to the zoo and I made a beeline for the American Flamingo exhibit. That day, I was wearing a very flamingo-themed outfit: my shirt had a flamingo on it, and I wore a fluffy pink skirt. I wonder what the flamingos might have thought about this very happy human child dressed like one of them. I like to think that they appreciated my enthusiasm, but it’s more likely they were more focused on flamingo things.
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They know I’m not mud, at least. Considering how quickly they disappear when I try to photograph them…
But perhaps they just don’t like their picture being taken and would fly away from mud puddles too if those became sentient and pointed a lens at them
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That’s a strange thought. Sentient mud puddles with cameras. 
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i’m pretty sure sometimes the chickadees are cussing me out.
I had a conversation with a bear once that was very clear to both of us, i think. It was embarassment. We both were being careless in our environment and startled each other in a way that could have gotten very dangerous. We both made a slow but intentful beeline away from each other and went on with our lives, lesson learned.
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im pretty sure the cardinal i catfished wasnt very happy with me…
turns out if you can mimic the male’s mating calls well enough and be louder than the actual males, you will get females showing up, looking very confused when you arent a little red bird XD
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I had to reread that lol. I was like “Wait. How do you have a chat with a bear that took a bad turn?”
For a long time now! Their parents tell the stories of when their great-great-great-great-great-great grandparent had the same thing happen to them 50 or so years ago. “Eh. You get used to it.”
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There is this one pond in my neighborhood where the ducks and geese always come up to people because they are fed. I never bring food with me and the but the ducks always come up to me anyways. I bet when they find out I don’t have food they are like, “Oh come on! Where is the food I am supposed to be given!?”.
it was nonverbal :D
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my cats and a dog certainly appreciate the box, and so do: martens, swallows, peacock butterflies, cellar spiders and field mice would like to as well, that is why i have cats.
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Sometimes I have thought about that. Animals, with their inarticulate noises, understand each other. Humans, with all our fancy words, constantly misunderstand each other. Maybe we should go back to inarticulate noises.
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They are inarticulate to you! And the noises you make are incomprehensible to them.
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But they communicate by a sort of signal, not exactly a language. Louder, sharper, more urgent notes for different levels of danger. Can they communicate other things?