But it's tough to get funding. It sounds too far out. Except to ordinary folks. Non-scientists are fascinated to learn that animals can talk, and don't think it's strange at all. In fact, they're surprised that more researchers aren't studying the question.
Scientists are a much harder sell.
And 75 percent are either agnostic or outright disbelievers. Hunters delight in finding them at the end of their gunsights, various government agencies are more than happy to tell you how to poison them, and ranchers complain that they carry bubonic plague. They also leave holes in the ground that can trip up horses, and they're worse than cows at stripping landscape of vegetation. They can do enormous damage to a field. They've been stripped clean and people think it's from horses and cows.