[Gurthang]

In The Hobbit, don't the wolves talk to each other at their meeting? It says that the dwarves and Bilbo could not understand them, but that Gandalf heard what they said. It then gives an account of what Gandalf heard.

Now, that seems to be pretty hard evidence that animials did have thought and conversation, at least among themselves. Gandalf understanding them could be because he was a Maia, or he could have learned from Radagast. Regardless, the wolves did communicate to each other with sound, which could be called speaking.

But this brings out another question. Does this even count? The wolves, although talking to each other, were not speaking in tongues that most people could understand. So basically, would we consider the wolves' growls/barks/whimpers to be 'talking' as we are defining it. This would be very similar to the clicks and whistles that dolphins use to 'talk'. It's obviously communication with sound, but do we dare call it talking?