Ah well, that's all they put in the Dragon mag for me to work from... soooo, I guess I'll wait to see what the books say, in full. Not that I ever used Animal Empathy. But that isn't the point :) I made a character that has Animal Empathy as part of her backstory. It may become key later, but she is in no way a Ranger or a Druid. Nor will she ever multiclass as such.
Just random thoughts during my late lunch.