Is there something like Animal Intelligence?

Yesterday while I was busy chasing cats, I found in the stowage an old issue of National Geographic magazine. It had a cover story on animal intelligence. It made for interesting reading.

I wonder if you have harboured wishes of having conversations with animals, remember Dr Dolittle? 🙂

Animal Intelligence

Animals are smarter than most of us think them to be. Animals have always had intellectual abilities however what fauna friends refer to as intelligence might be entirely different from human definitions. It’s like searching for life in far off galaxies, but then life forms on a particular planet may be in contrast with what we have here.

We have chimpanzees demonstrating teamwork, dolphins enchanting humans with their understanding and dogs and kittens forming emotional empathy with their human friends. We have Dogbert, the CEO dog from Dilbert comics. Hobbes, the philosopher tiger from Calvin & Hobbes and who can forget the likes of the lazy cat Garfield and heroics of Superman’s dog Krypto?

Fictional, you say?

Well, how about this, Betsy, the now-famous dog has a vocabulary of more than 300 words, knows 15 people by name and can retrieve objects seen in photographs or the deceased parrot Alex who gave avian intelligence new dimensions with his smart as a whip behaviour.

Then, there’s Chaser, the amazing dog, who knows words like “sit,” “fetch,” and “roll-over” adding up to an astounding 1,000 words!

Dogs pick up words in a way that’s surprisingly similar to how young children learn — not by endless repetition, but by using inference. When introduced to a new toy, they don’t need to be directly taught its name; instead, they figure it out by recognizing which toys they already know and identifying the new one through a process of elimination.

Even though dogs live closely with us — sometimes even snuggling in our beds — there’s still much we don’t fully grasp about their inner world. Although they are descended from wolves, dogs behave quite differently. While wolves can be affectionate toward humans if raised carefully, taming them is a difficult, deliberate effort. Dogs, on the other hand, are so naturally trusting and eager to bond that “taming” isn’t even part of the conversation. From an early age, puppies seem especially attuned to human emotions, much like human infants. They can read our body language and intentions in ways that even our closest primate relatives, like chimpanzees, cannot.

Do Scientists believe in Animal Intelligence?

Being highly social creatures, dogs are deeply tuned in to the people around them. They learn by closely observing human behavior, picking up on subtle cues that help them adapt and thrive. Their keen observation skills and ability to form quick associations often make them seem remarkably intelligent.

Animals are intellectual creatures, but can they recognize themselves? The question of animal self-awareness has intrigued humans for ages. While we can’t borrow their brains for a test drive, scientists have developed some ingenious methods to peek into their understanding of themselves and the world around them.

The most well-known test is the mirror test, devised by Gordon Gallup Jr. in 1970. Here, the animal meets its reflection with a mark on its body, unseen by itself. If the animal investigates the mark, it’s considered to recognize itself and possess self-awareness.

Chimps, orangutans, dolphins, elephants, and even magpies have passed the mirror test, hinting at self-recognition. However, it’s not foolproof. The test is heavily reliant on vision, potentially excluding creatures with superior senses of smell or touch, like our canine companions.

The quest for understanding animal awareness goes beyond reflections. Scientists are exploring alternative approaches:

These tests provide fascinating insights into the animal mind, but they don’t offer definitive answers. A failed test doesn’t necessarily mean an animal lacks self-awareness; it might just mean they approach the test differently. Although dogs are incredibly skilled at reading us, humans often fall short when it comes to understanding them. In a recent study, Clive Wynne and Holly Molinaro from Arizona State University found that people usually assess a dog’s emotions by focusing on the situation around the dog rather than paying attention to the dog’s actual behavior and body language.

The journey to understand animal consciousness is a continuous exploration. By combining these methods and considering the unique sensory world of each species, we can keep unlocking the mysteries of their inner lives.

In 2012, a group of some of the most brilliant thinkers of our time, including Stephen Hawking, came together to declare that animals do in fact have emotions:

“The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.”

See Also: Albert Einstein and his pets

Still, got doubts? Look into the eyes of any animal in your vicinity, if you look with the belief you would for sure see the warmth of love. And believe me; any species capable of love is for sure, intelligent!

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