well, the choice between being fluent in all languages and just being able to communicate with animals is a dilemma. So why ? well, at the first hand I think that it's not quiet simple learning a new language mostly if that one is not close to your mother tongue. To learn a new language, it requires some skills that differ from one person to another and a determination from the learner.
And at the second hand, animals are cut but understanding them is, in my opinion, more challenging than a new language you might get in to. Seeing the fact if one successes to communicate with the lion or the tiger, it's good but what is the interest ? At my side, in my culture it does not change any thing.
So I would rather prefer to get down into the learning of a new language each time the occasion faces to me.