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Contribution short abstract:

In Zimbabwe, communication with animals is considered an exclusive skill, but a study of human-animal relations during the liberation war reveals a multitude of human-animal relations that went beyond simple verbal communication, and the scale of these relationships only became apparent during war.

Contribution long abstract:

Zimbabwe's war period is frequently described using animal symbology. One of Zimbabwe's professional football teams was even named after chapungu (bateleur eagle), one of the primary animals featured in war stories. In the over one hundred interviews with guerrilla collaborators I collected in rural Southcentral Zimbabwe, animal communication and collaboration was more than symbolic. Chapungu, according to stories, led them to safety on many occasions during the war, but so did baboons, lions, smaller birds, and a variety of small mammals. Dangerous animals like snakes became friends, according to their stories. Some of these stories could be heard outside of the war, but only by "chosen" people: spirit mediums, rain messengers, and chiefly individuals. During the liberation war, heightened communication with animals was reported by many more Zimbabweans. During peace, animal communication was learned. For example, the particularly noise of baboons on the nearby peak could help people understand what was happening beyond that peak. Each animal had their own vocal way of demonstrating fear, joy, or other emotions, and these vocalizations could be learned to read the landscape, like sonar of the forest. These learned animal communications were utilized by rural Zimbabweans during the war to protect and guide guerrillas and their collaborators, but the war brought an extra layer of communication mediated by ancestors, or vadzimu venyika (ancestors of the landscape). After the war ended in 1980, people said, chapungu left - its job was finished, leading to many questions about the nature of human-animal relations.