Animals that show intentional communication is not just human

All living beings communicate. In honeybees, communicative signals in the form of a wiggle dance transmit information on the location of flowers. Recipient bees decode this information and use it to guide their behaviour. Human language goes beyond broadcasting: it can be used to intentionally reshape what another person thinks or does by adjusting the message based on what we believe the other person already knows.

Intentionality requires an audience towards whom the signal is directed. How do we use a gesture to ask someone to do something for us? Take an example of a group at a dining table, where your goal is for a water bottle to be passed to you. First you make sure someone has your attention. Then you make a gesture, and repeat it if you are not understood, until the water is passed on.