Animal Intelligence

[Corvus of the Black Night]

This thread is not a:
- Religious debate
- Debate over the existence of Darwinism
- Anything pertaining to the soul or anything similar

...yadda yadda yadda.

What is your opinion of animal intelligence? Do you believe that animals have capabilities not understood by man simply because we cannot understand them? Do you think that they have similar emotions such as happiness, sadness and affection?

*read signature for opinion*

 

[ilikepietehe]

I think they are smart....but arnt capable of doing things...

 

[Anxiety.]

I'm sure they have intelligence that we dont have. Just because they cant talk to us doesnt mean they're stupid.

 

[Rich Boy Rob]

I think some animals can be quite smart. As for emotions, I tend to think that they can be affectionate and I think they can be happy, for instance a dog's wagging tail is supposed mean they're happy and cats rub their heads against people they like.

 

[Luck]

Most animals aren't that smart, even though they do have a way of talking to each other and using tools for various things.
However, 4 kinds of animals are aware of their own existence. Humans, elephants, bottlenose dolphins, some apes, and it is believed that some magpies are self aware too.
I believe that self awareness is the line between 'smart' animals and 'stupid' animals.

 

[Agent Cobalt]

The only intelligent animals are humans, great apes, marine mammals, and the African Gray Parrot. And by intelligent I mean sentient, sapient, conscious, and self-aware.

 

[bardamu]

most animals lack the ability to express themselves as humans, thus humans tend to think that they are not capable of thought and feeling.

most animals, when compared with humans, do lack the range of emotion . . . however, they feel fear, anxiety, pain, anger, and even happiness. They feel the primitive emotions.

This is from my study of psychology, I once compared the brain scans of a German Shepherd and a human chosen at random in downtown Warsaw for a psychology course on the theory of mind. There were seven different trials and situations.

According to a relatively rudimentary brain scan (I'd like to see you put a dog into a parasagittal MRI machine) the situations elicit the same emotional responses in both animals.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

The only intelligent animals are humans, great apes, marine mammals, and the African Gray Parrot. And by intelligent I mean sentient, sapient, conscious, and self-aware.

Your inclusion of the African Gray irks me, not because it isn't intelligent, but because many other animals, for example, Corvids (crows, ravens, jays, magpies), are capable of meaningful communication despite some not being able to speak, using techniques such as pecking a hand or certain calls for a limited version of meaningful communication.

They are also capable of spontaneous thought, which requires a sort of conscious thought, which enables them to solve puzzles.


However, anyone who's had a pet dog has noted certain behaviours such as tail gestures that signify the dog's need to have food or have their bathroom business to be taken care of. The dog has learned to use certain gestures to initiate the owner's attention to fix the situation, which gives them meaning (I have noted personally from my three dogs that they have unique gestures).

What's to say that since it doesn't speak, it isn't conscious? Does this mean an infant is incapable of conscious thought?

most animals, when compared with humans, do lack the range of emotion . . . however, they feel fear, anxiety, pain, anger, and even happiness. They feel the primitive emotions.

This is from my study of psychology, I once compared the brain scans of a German Shepherd and a human chosen at random in downtown Warsaw for a psychology course on the theory of mind. There were seven different trials and situations.

According to a relatively rudimentary brain scan (I'd like to see you put a dog into a parasagittal MRI machine) the situations illicit the same emotional responses in both animals.

That's an interesting observation. You should do it with other breeds and species.

 

[NiKaNoRoU]

I personally believe they are intelligent, if only to a limited extent. Each animal has a different brain, so just like humans, every animal is unique.
Again, just like humans, the environment where the animal is raised affects it's intelligence growth. Also, it's luck. Some animals are born more intelligent than others.

There's a whole site devoted to animal intelligence, and is of course named animalintelligence.org

here's an interesting article taken from there:

March 19th, 2008

Elaine sent me more evidence of fish intelligence. Researchers have discovered that certain fish can count. But only up to four. According to the London Telegraph:

Previously it was known that fish could tell big shoals from small ones, but researchers have now found that they have a limited ability to count how many other fish are nearby. This means that they have similar counting abilities to those observed in apes, monkeys and dolphins and humans with very limited mathematical ability.
Christian Agrillo, an experimental psychologist at the university of Padua in Italy said: "We have provided the first evidence that fish exhibit rudimentary mathematical abilities."
Last year, he and his colleagues showed that if a female mosquito fish is harassed by a male, she will try to avoid his attentions by seeking solace in the largest nearby shoal; demonstrating that the fish can tell bigger shoals from smaller ones. The team first conducted a series of experiments to see whether a lone mosquito fish would prefer to join a shoal of between two and four others.
​

This article is fascinating because it describes the notion of numbers, not just among animals, but among non-mathematical humans.

 

[Agent Cobalt]

Your inclusion of the African Gray irks me, not because it isn't intelligent, but because many other animals, for example, Corvids (crows, ravens, jays, magpies), are capable of meaningful communication despite some not being able to speak, using techniques such as pecking a hand or certain calls for a limited version of meaningful communication.

Never said anything about speech. I based my post primarily on the mirror test. Make of that what you will (the test has its critics). I really don't care enough about the topic to argue about it though. XP

 

[Luck]

Last year, he and his colleagues showed that if a female mosquito fish is harassed by a male, she will try to avoid his attentions by seeking solace in the largest nearby shoal; demonstrating that the fish can tell bigger shoals from smaller ones.

I'm pretty sure that every animal has those to an extent. However, it could just be instinct due to natural selection and is usually like that.

 

[Yamikarasu]

I'm sure animals like chimpanzees and dolphins have a certain level of intelligence, but I'm not about to put them on the same level as humans. I don't think people have the right to excessively abuse animals for fun or other selfish reasons, but in the case of animal testing or for human consumption, human needs outweigh the lives of animals. I am actually very interested in subjects like animal intelligence, it makes me think hard about humanity's place in the animal kingdom.

I also enjoy eating chicken, cows, and many other animals. :3 (Happy Thanksgiving!)

That said, I am against hunting as a sport. Killing wild animals just for fun seems sick to me, especially when they aren't going to be eaten and for the most part wasted. *insert picture of Sarah Palin shooting animals from a helicopter here*

 

[Idiot!]

Well, yes, I think animals do have intelligence. Octopi are smart, IIRC, as they know fake fish from real ones.

 

[Pokémon Ranger ✩ Moriarty]

The problem with asking a question like 'are animals intelligent?' is the fact that as humans deem themselves to be the most intelligent creatures on the planet, responses automatically form correlations between what we are capable of doing, and what animals are capable of doing. Common arguments are that animals can't talk (never mind the fact that they can talk to each other - they can't talk to us, and therefore they're stupid), that they have never invented things like we have (in terms of basic survival instincts, yes, houses are very clever - but what relevance do things like GameBoys have to our survival? We just build them for fun, that doesn't make us clever. And as for the fact that we spend most of our time today building bigger and better bombs to blow ourselves up with - well, that makes us the stupid ones, doesn't it? You don't see dolphins trying to hunt themselves to extinction, do you?) and so on. The fact that people then use these arguments to justify things like experimenting on animals (because human life is so much more important derp derp derp) and hunting for fun irritates me beyond belief, but that's a whole different ball game.

I think that animals are just as intelligent, if not moreso in some cases, than humans in terms of natural instinct and empathy. We have become so acclimatised and accustomed to mechanical devices doing our thinking for us that if there that Hollywood Doomsday scenario and only a handful of us were left with no computers, combine harvesters, washing machines, etc., we would be screwed. Animals, on the other hand, simply adapt - look at the number of creatures kept in human captivity either because they were injured or abandoned, who then survive perfectly when released back into the wild.

Eh, I'm coming off as a bit of a ~tree-hugging hippie~ in this post, and I'm really not. I love my home comforts as much as the next person and I eat store-bought meat on a regular basis (well, so long as it's Free Range stuff) but, to quote Pocahontas (lol academic amirite): "You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you." (And if you've seen the movie, you'll know at that point she was talking about John shooting a bear because, hay, it's only a bear.) My dog may not understand what I mean when I say "stay" and she may once or twice a year run into the patio door because the glass has just been cleaned, but that doesn't mean I think she's stupid or worthless compared to me.

 

[Ayselipera]

I do believe that they have the same emotions and feelings as humans. Just because it isn't always expressed by speech doesn't make them emotionless. I think animals are intelligent in a different way then humans. Animals can sense things that humans no longer can. Over time humans have lost some instincts and natural abilities. From my own personal experiance I would say humans are the smartest and dumbest creatures on this planet.

 

[Guillermo]

The only intelligent animals are humans, great apes, marine mammals, and the African Gray Parrot. And by intelligent I mean sentient, sapient, conscious, and self-aware.

Humans aren't intelligent. We're blind. Over the last hundreds of thousands of years, we've screwed Earth over so bad I wouldn't even begin to call ourselves intelligent. Sure, we're intelligent in the fact that we can invent things and use things, but so can other Animals. Yes, they can't build houses or cars, but they don't need those things for survival. Why? Because not only have their bodies adapted to whatever condition they live in, but they're smart. Everything we've ever made and used has ultimately led to the destruction of our planet. Do you think that makes us smart? Hell no.

Totally not trying to call you out or anything, but it's just how I see things. Don't take it offensively. :[

And I do believe certain animals are intelligent, such as the Chimpanze, Dolphin, Pig, Elephant and various other types of Ape and Monkey. Then you have animals like my cats that are *so* dumb it's not funny.

 

[Nyu~♥!]

Humans aren't intelligent. We're blind. Over the last hundreds of thousands of years, we've screwed Earth over so bad I wouldn't even begin to call ourselves intelligent. Sure, we're intelligent in the fact that we can invent things and use things, but so can other Animals. Yes, they can't build houses or cars, but they don't need those things for survival. Why? Because not only have their bodies adapted to whatever condition they live in, but they're smart. Everything we've ever made and used has ultimately led to the destruction of our planet. Do you think that makes us smart? Hell no.

YES, MAN.
It's a gift to have our planet. And yet many of us don't recycle or whatever. I know that many places just don't have recycling systems, but when I see trash on the ground when there's a trashcan in your house, that's just ridiculous.
Anyway, every animal is smart in it's own way. Dogs can actually smell cancer, putting their nose to good use. One day I came home from school crying, and my dog, who usually runs up to me and gets all excited when I come home, gave me some free space. When I calmed down, he ran up to me with a cute face, trying to see if I was ok. I let out my hand and he let me pet him, his tail wagging. Whenever I'm in a bad mood, he knows it. Humans, really - can't always sense mood.

But really, who knows. Animals have more senses than humans. Humans have the intelligence to be able to pass on intelligence. Get it? You can't really say either one is smarter. But this is a very interesting topic.
Now don't any of you go bashing me.

 

[♣Gawain♣]

They have what they call intincts, which means they are intelligent to a degree. Which also mean that they can do things even though they're young. Like spiders.

 

[Luck]

Humans aren't intelligent. We're blind. Over the last hundreds of thousands of years, we've screwed Earth over so bad I wouldn't even begin to call ourselves intelligent. Sure, we're intelligent in the fact that we can invent things and use things, but so can other Animals.

Intelligence isn't based on your environmental effects. Just because we don't need luxuries to survive, doesn't mean that we shouldn't use it.

Everything we've ever made and used has ultimately led to the destruction of our planet. Do you think that makes us smart?

Yes, because we have the mental capacity to create things like electricity and the Internet. As far as we know, we are the only species to ever exist to be that technologically advanced.
The way I see it, stupid decisions≠stupidity.

They have what they call intincts, which means they are intelligent to a degree.

Is it possible for an instinct to turn into a full blown reflex through a species if used well enough? Because if so, I personally find reflexes to have nothing to do with intelligence.

 

[doesn't matter]

Humans aren't intelligent. We're blind. Over the last hundreds of thousands of years, we've screwed Earth over so bad I wouldn't even begin to call ourselves intelligent. Sure, we're intelligent in the fact that we can invent things and use things, but so can other Animals. Yes, they can't build houses or cars, but they don't need those things for survival. Why? Because not only have their bodies adapted to whatever condition they live in, but they're smart. Everything we've ever made and used has ultimately led to the destruction of our planet. Do you think that makes us smart? Hell no.

Totally not trying to call you out or anything, but it's just how I see things. Don't take it offensively. :[

And I do believe certain animals are intelligent, such as the Chimpanze, Dolphin, Pig, Elephant and various other types of Ape and Monkey. Then you have animals like my cats that are *so* dumb it's not funny.

Dude, screw the environment. What has it done for us? Everything we have we've had to get for ourselves while avoiding all of its attempts to kill us. And while we develop new ways to live and adapt to changes in the environment, it comes up with more ways to kill us.

See the computer you're using? Only possible because we are able to rape the earth and extract the delicious materials from within. Electricity? More rape. Food, safe drinking water, shelter, etc - we've had to secure for ourselves.

And if we mess up the environment while doing it, so what? We'll just adapt once more. Adaptation is our greatest strength. We have inhabited every environment on surface of this planet all because of our ability to adapt, and I'm sure we'll get to outer space as well.

tl;dr screw the environment

Anyway, yes animals are intelligent. Most don't have a level of intelligence that is close to ours, but intelligence still exists.