Is there any intelligent life down here?

[Mythsaje]

I think we have to stop and question what we think of as intelligence on occasion. Many of us seem to think WE are the only intelligent species here on Earth, but I'm not at all sure that's the case. There are several other creatures that show astounding depths of perception at times. Not only depth of perception, but the ability to grasp the abstract, use and manufacture tools, or solve complex problems the likes of which they have never seen.

Ask any dog owner and you're bound to hear stories you might find difficult to believe. Unless you yourself are a dog owner, that is. Those of us who live with and love dogs recognize a simple truth. Every dog is an individual, completely different in personality than every other dog, regardless of breed.

Some scientists who study such things have said that an intelligent dog might have the vocabulary and mental capacity of up to a seven year old human child. I do not find this all that difficult to believe, since we have to talk around certain things in my house to avoid tipping our hand to our over-sized Pomeranian. Like tonight. We usually give them their last out for the evening at 10:00 PM. So at 10:00 tonight, my wife glanced over at me and said "It's 10."

The Pom immediately jumped up and started running around the room. So my wife said "Go ask Dad."

What did he do? Ran straight over to me and bounced off my chair.

I will admit, he has the best grasp of human language of any dog in the house.

One of the most fascinating things I've researched for my writing is the intelligence test performed on various creatures by the scientists that study such things. They have come up with some rather remarkable devices to study an attribute they call "insight," which, in short, is the ability for an animal to understand the principles behind things they have never before encountered.

Some of the most successful studies of animal intelligence have been done on corvids and other birds, particularly known "mimics" such as parrots, Macaws, and similar avians. Crows, for example, show remarkable levels of insight, able to manipulate rather complex devices to get them to disgorge treats.

I have a particular fascination for this line of research. Had I been drawn to the sciences, I probably would have explored in this direction myself.

Another amazing creature is the octopus. They also show an amazing level of insight, and definitely have manipulative digits at least as versatile as our own. They can take a young octopus raised in captivity, and give that octopus food in a mason jar, and in less than a minute, the octopus can figure out how to open the jar and extract what's inside.

I, for one, find that amazing.

And that's not all. How many people are aware that there are two different types of killer whale? Two different orca philosophies, if you get right down to it. One type of orca hunts seals and whales, as well as fish, while the other type survives on cold-blooded prey alone. The two types are indistinquishable from one another by any measurement we can devise--without performing a necropsy, that is.

The two varieties do not mix, though the information I've received indicates that pods of each will greet one another in passing.

It's also notable that humans are NEVER considered to be prey and the only recorded attacks by orcas can be attributed to them mistaking a human for a seal or something similar.

Makes one wonder a little, doesn't it?

It sure makes me wonder.

Of course, I'm inclined to wonder about these things.

[EST]

1. Intelligence is a very slippery thing.

Humans are considered-by humans-to be intelligent, but most of what we attribute to intelligence is more correctly a result of the fact that humans are remarkably adept at pattern recognition.

This conclusion is not mine, exclusively, but when I apply my own pattern recognition to my experience of people, I find it consistent.

Even thinking, which once was a private conceit of humans that applied only to humans, has proven to be little more than pattern recognition and a mental voice track in which we are forever talking to ourselves. That mental voice that we call thinking can take the form of everything from a quiet self evaluation to an overwhelming replay of an orchestral rendition or the voice of a long dead authority figure, scolding or praising.

I have eleven cats and two dogs and all of them appear to be doing at least some thinking on occasion, with the dogs consistently edging out the cats.

Measuring intelligence implies some sort of arbitrary scale and that scale is, of course, supplied by humans, with their inbuilt prejudices, illusions and familiar pattern recognition.

[lligrd]

2. I Always Have Thought That Humans Were Guilty Of Hubris

for believing in their superiority over animals. I have a dog that is mesmorized by the movie "Eight Below" and barks at me to help when one of the dog in the movie is hurt. It is very wierd, almost like those dogs are such good actors that he understands the movie. He does not do this for any other movie. He actually watches the entire movie and runs to the screen at specific parts of the movie every time. And don't even get me started about the horse I bought that out smarts me every time. (And I really do have a high (human) IQ contrary to what the people at the stable think after seeing the horse outsmart me all the time.)

[Mythsaje]

3. Some horses show remarkable intelligence...

I had one as a kid who regularly shorted out the electric fence we used to contain him. We never figured out how he did it.

Donkeys and mules, on the other hand, are generally smarter in general than horses. That's why they have a reputation for stubbornness. They don't necessarily buy into the idea that they HAVE to do what we tell them. LOL

[lligrd]

4. Well My Horse Must Think She Is A Mule Then

I will simply have to inform her otherwise. I'll bring a mirror. I know, I'll post a picture of Bush on the mirror and she will think she is a total idiot!

[lligrd]

5. Or A Total Ass!!

lol

[rosesaylavee]

6. I nominate your dog for president.

Is he available from now to 2008? :)

I enjoy greeting animals when I enter someone's home - its amazing to me when others do not. Most of my friends' pets recognize me and come to greet me rather than the other guests too. Why is it so hard for people to see these creatures as worthy of notice?