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I am constantly startled by evidence of how intelligent the "lower" animals are. Especially language in some animals. Macaws for example not only have a rudimentary language, each bird has an individual name, and the rest of the flock knows that name and can and do communicate to that individual by it. Prairie Dogs meanwhile, known for being road pancakes, kinda cute and a serious pain in the donkey (or ankle) to ranchers and any one who accidentally walks through one of their towns, issue warning barks if someone's coming that are detailed down to the color of the clothes your wearing. (No word if they rate how well you're dressed or not, but that's being studied now.)
Any more stories of incredible intelligence from animals we don't expect to display the level of intelligence we expect from other higher primates, dolphins and dogs?
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
I don't have a story to post to this, but I've read lots about the intelligence of birds. Specifically, African Grey parrots have the intelligence of a 3 year old human child.
As someone who once worked in a pet shop, I think this is likely true. They also make poor pets for the casual birdkeeper since they also require as much attention as a 3 year old human child.
My sugargliders were some escape artist...they figured out how to open their cage. Always starting walking into the kitchen where all the plants are and have one of them jump on my shoulder from top the cabinet or fridge. Because they know when I'm up first thing in the morning they get the dried slice mango
Proud Member of the Infidels of OIF/OEF
No longer defending the US Military or US Gov't. Just going to ""**feed into your fears**"" with Duffel Blog Did not fight my way up on top the food chain to become a Vegan...
Warning: Stupid Allergy
Once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend
DE 6700
Harlequin 2500
RIP Muhammad Ali.
Jihadin, Scorched Earth 791. Leader of the Pork Eating Crusader. Alpha
I always try to be good to crows, and feed them scraps if possible.
At the very least, I just figure, if somehow I end up in a car wreck or something, and end up laying incapacitated in a ditch, I'll still have my eyes by the time the paramedics get there.
rubiksnoob wrote: Dolphins have been documented using tools, I believe, as well as possessing a relatively sophisticated language as well.
It is not widely known that they are the third most intelligent species on the planet, rather than the second as they are commonly though of.
Another dolphin believer! Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much; the wheel, New York, wars and so on; whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man; for precisely the same reasons.
I wish I had time for all the game systems I own, let alone want to own...
I am constantly startled by evidence of how intelligent the "lower" animals are. Especially language in some animals. Macaws for example not only have a rudimentary language, each bird has an individual name, and the rest of the flock knows that name and can and do communicate to that individual by it. Prairie Dogs meanwhile, known for being road pancakes, kinda cute and a serious pain in the donkey (or ankle) to ranchers and any one who accidentally walks through one of their towns, issue warning barks if someone's coming that are detailed down to the color of the clothes your wearing. (No word if they rate how well you're dressed or not, but that's being studied now.)
Any more stories of incredible intelligence from animals we don't expect to display the level of intelligence we expect from other higher primates, dolphins and dogs?
Some dogs are brilliant. Wiener dogs...not so much (but they are sneaky). You say "walk" in any part of a conversation and Rusty is there. He can also open AND CLOSE a screen door during the summer to let himself in and out.
In contrast Rodney has trapped himself in a blanket on numerous occasions.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Our older cat Stitch can pull straws out of pop cans, despite the straw being inserted through the pull tab.
She's also a real bugger for stealing your socks - but only if they're white ones!
The younger one Loki, well, let's just say that pretty much anything not nailed down is fair game for her to come and carry off!
On top of that, we have to keep their food bin well defended and completly inacessable otherwise Loki will get to it, and pull the lid off the container, then proceed to gorge herself to death.
Octopi are highly intelligent animals, amazing problem solving skills and genuinely capable of affection towards an owner (i.e. they recognise the owner is another being and interact with that being).
Triggerfish and boxfishes/puffers are also smart for fishes, being about small mammal level smart (cat/small dog brain), I knew a pink tailed trigger that recognised his owner from among other humans, displayed to the owner and would invert at the surface to allow his tummy to be tickled. He'd also throw a massive tantrum if his tank was altered in any way and rearrange things back to the way he wanted them, overnight once the lights were off.
Experiment 626 wrote: Our older cat Stitch can pull straws out of pop cans, despite the straw being inserted through the pull tab.
She's also a real bugger for stealing your socks - but only if they're white ones!
The younger one Loki, well, let's just say that pretty much anything not nailed down is fair game for her to come and carry off!
On top of that, we have to keep their food bin well defended and completly inacessable otherwise Loki will get to it, and pull the lid off the container, then proceed to gorge herself to death.
I know about that! Monday Barb heard excited rustling and the TBone started barking. The pantry had been left open. Rodney had climbed up it pulled down a closed bag of RUsty's treat biscuits and dragged it into his kennel with the intent of eating all of them (the bag is about four times his size). TBone was barking because Rodney wasn't sharing...
After the dozen or so he ate in about two minutes, he couldn't crawl out of the kennel for hours.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
If you ever irritate a crow, don't return to the scene of the crime - or prepare to be mobbed by it and all its friends.
Dr. John Marzluff, of the University of Washington, has worked with crows for about 20 years. He noticed that birds that had previously been caught were more wary of researchers and harder to trap, causing him to wonder if they recognized him and his team. To test this idea, researchers wore a caveman mask to trap birds and a Dick Cheney one when not (this mask was kept neutral to the crows). In the months afterwards researchers and volunteers wore the masks while walking routes around campus, not bothering crows.
The results were remarkable. While the crows quickly learnt that the "dangerous" caveman masks were bad news, the mobbing and scolding researchers and volunteers experienced increased as the years went by. While wearing the dangerous mask, Marzluff was scolded by 47 of the 53 crows he met - far more than had originally encountered the mask!
In a follow-up study using more masks, volunteers wore them at trapping sites. A dangerous mask was always targeted more than a neutral one - even if the dangerous mask was worn upside down. "The birds were really raucous, screaming persistently,” said Bill Pochmerski, one of the volunteers, “and it was clear they weren’t upset about something in general. They were upset with me.” Marzluff had a similar experience in February 2011, when he stepped out wearing a dangerous mask. "I got about 50 meters [165 feet] out of my office and I had about 50 birds on me, scolding me," he said. "I hadn't worn that mask on campus for a year."
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
I read several articles on ravens that paint them as being the 'undisputed smartest birds'. Apparently a farming town in canada had a murder of ravens that was around 50k birds strong. The city, fearing for its crops, declared open season on ravens, so all the guys with their shotguns went out to kill 50k birds. According to the article, they either maimed or killed a whopping ONE raven. But it had the desired effect, in that the other 49,999 ravens did not stick around to be shot, as they witnessed one killing, recognized a danger to their murder, and sought 'greener pastures'
There's a lot more than that, such as their diverse range of noises they can make (apparently some have been known to imitate cats or dogs for protection, or as offensive means to get food, etc.)
Didn't someone mention a bit back that a crow/raven made off with one his mini's? Not sure if he was a raven guard player..
Proud Member of the Infidels of OIF/OEF
No longer defending the US Military or US Gov't. Just going to ""**feed into your fears**"" with Duffel Blog Did not fight my way up on top the food chain to become a Vegan...
Warning: Stupid Allergy
Once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend
DE 6700
Harlequin 2500
RIP Muhammad Ali.
Jihadin, Scorched Earth 791. Leader of the Pork Eating Crusader. Alpha
They're smart, we've just not been smart enough to understand their smarts, every animal is good at something otherwise they wouldn't have evolved that way.
nomsheep wrote: My rat managed to escape his cage despite it being locked and the roof to far away for him to jump to. I still have no idea how he did it.
I had a hamster like that, I swear to the goddess that she was the reincarnated Harry Houdini. It got to the point that her little hamster palace was placed in a large fish tank, with a fine mesh lid, which was weighted down with large books. STILL managed to escape a couple times.
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
Cheesecat wrote: The parrot in the poster probably doesn't know what those words mean, it's more coincidence than anything.
The parrot definatly knew the concepts of the words in its vocabulary. It demonstrated this by using its limited vocabulary to create new words or names for objects. When Alex was first exposed to dry corn, vs the fresh he was used to he called it rock corn.
We measure intelligence in animals by studying communication skills, tool use or creation, and problem solving. But this is done using our expectations of what those things are. At times totally clueless to the perceptions or abillities of the animals.
Dolphin studies. Why is it assumed dolphins can talk to each other?
Researchers would give a puzzle to a dolphin to solve, and then when that same puzzle was given to another dolphin in a different tank it would consult with all the dolphins within ear shot to find the answer. Drove researches bonkers.
Also early on in dolphin studies scientists were tring to figure out if dolphins could distinguish different shapes and colors with underwater targets. They made metal frames to hold the targets which could be swaped out as needed. The dolphins didn't seem to get it at times, and results were all over the place, untill the scientits realized the dolphins were looking at the composition of the metal frame works. The dolphins perception of the trained behavior was that the molecular composition of the frames was what set them apart not the color or shape we were trying to work with.
On the primate level, well we now have second generation signers. Primates that have been taught sign language by signing parents. Think about that. Why are they not in the news? Think about THAT.
InquisitorVaron wrote: They're smart, we've just not been smart enough to understand their smarts, every animal is good at something otherwise they wouldn't have evolved that way.
Cheesecat wrote: The parrot in the poster probably doesn't know what those words mean, it's more coincidence than anything.
Actually, there's evidence that parrots are far more intelligent than most people think, and the term "bird-brain" is entirely false, at least for some birds. And I expect the parrot did know what the words meant, they meant that they wouldn't be together for a few hours or more, and it probably said them because it was time for its carer to go home. Animals aren't intelligent enough to know they're going to die (at least parrots aren't), but they learn from experience what to say at certain times, and there's evidence to show it's more than just... well, being a parrot
InquisitorVaron wrote: They're smart, we've just not been smart enough to understand their smarts, every animal is good at something otherwise they wouldn't have evolved that way.
Except for Pandas. Nature's loser.
I think that if any animal has a "gay gene" within it's DNA, it has to be the panda... Seriously, scientists, stop looking at sheep to see if they are gay, and look at pandas!
InquisitorVaron wrote: They're smart, we've just not been smart enough to understand their smarts, every animal is good at something otherwise they wouldn't have evolved that way.
Except for Pandas. Nature's loser.
I think that if any animal has a "gay gene" within it's DNA, it has to be the panda... Seriously, scientists, stop looking at sheep to see if they are gay, and look at pandas!
Maybe pandas have really unreasonable standards when it comes to partner's.
Ouze wrote: I don't have a story to post to this, but I've read lots about the intelligence of birds. Specifically, African Grey parrots have the intelligence of a 3 year old human child.
Pah! 3 year old human children ain't all that. You can capture one with a Kit-Kat and a van. Try doing that with a lion and that sucker will rip your face clean off your skull.
InquisitorVaron wrote: They're smart, we've just not been smart enough to understand their smarts, every animal is good at something otherwise they wouldn't have evolved that way.
Except for Pandas. Nature's loser.
I think that if any animal has a "gay gene" within it's DNA, it has to be the panda... Seriously, scientists, stop looking at sheep to see if they are gay, and look at pandas!
Maybe pandas have really unreasonable standards when it comes to partner's.
Pandas all secretly immigrated to China from California in neolithic times.
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
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