Ever wondered what animals are really thinking? Now could be the time to find out, as Blackpool Zoo gives visitors the chance to be Dr DoLittle for a day.

The Education Team at the popular attraction have discovered a unique way of communicating with the animals by using simple phonetic sounds, and they want visitors to give it a go over the next two weeks.

Anybody passing through the zoo's gates will be given an information sheet with simple instructions on how to strike up a conversation with the animals.

Blackpool Zoo's animal communications expert Paul Bamford has helped develop the unique language and has been using it to communicate with the zoo's animals.

Paul explained: "We have discovered that the animals react to certain sounds and when the sounds are articulated in a way that mimics' the particular animal you are trying to communicate with they seem to understand.

"An animal's vocabulary is restricted. However, through this study, we have been able to attached meanings to certain phonetic sounds."

The first area the zoo looked at was simple greetings - asking the animals how they are feeling, if they are hungry, full, tired, warm, cold, comfortable and so on.

"We conducted the study on a range of animals at Blackpool Zoo to see which animals would be the most responsive," Paul added. "Many of the animals seemed to pick up aspects of the phonetic language, however the primates, sealions and the parrots seemed to be the most responsive.

"The results of the study so far have been amazing. If you articulate the phonetic sounds properly the animals are able to make sense of what you are saying. The primates even used actions as well as the phonetic sounds to explain themselves."

Prof Laislo of the UK Zoo Foundation said: "This is a very important study and Blackpool Zoo's findings have been remarkable. They are truly leading the way with this unique method of phonetic communication."

Paul added: "So far we have noticed that some of the animals tend to react better to a male voice, so it will be interesting to see if we have any successful female visitors.

"We ask all those who wish to take part to report their findings to our Education Team."