Cats can too. My cat reads my body language and understands some words.

If I say treats she bolts from wherever she was sleeping right to me. Are you hungry brings her to the food bowl. Time for bed sends her off to the bedroom waiting for me.

I think it says more for our own intelligence that we can create languages that other animals understand than anything. The chimp thing is interesting though. Another thing that always stuck with me is that throughout all the times people have tried teaching chimps sign language they’ve never once asked a human a single question.

Dogs and cats seem to ask what we mean sometimes. Maybe chimps are just really dumb.