Animal Intelligence

Animal Intelligence Intelligence is defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge. Psychologists have exploited this concept in many ways to try and determine whether non-human animals are capable of intelligence. From social learning it is logical to assume that, since non-human animals are able to both acquire and use new behaviours, they must be intelligent in some way. Heyes stated that there are 6 types of behaviour which suggest intelligence. These are imitation, self-recognition, social relationship formation, role-taking, deception and perspective taking.

In the article “A Change of Heart about Animals” Jeremy Rifkin uses scientific evidence to reason with us that “many of our fellow creatures are more like us than we had ever imagined”. Rifkin suggests that animals should be treated better and be provided with better living conditions. He uses Betty and Koko as examples that animals have higher intellectual abilities and emotions than we thought. Many scientists also argued that animals do not have an understanding of death or capable of grief, but Rifkin counteracts that argument by using elephants as evidence to show that they are capable of grief.

Rifkin gives an example of two birds, Betty and Abel, who use their intelligence to make hooks for retrieving food wedged into tubes. Rifkin states, “…study into animal emotions and cognitive abilities...” This experiment shows how animals, and in this case, Betty and Abel, can use their brains to come up with solutions to complex problems, just the same

After reading Jeremy Rifkin’s article, “A Change of Heart about Animals”, I discovered more about animals than I had ever known before. As a former pet owner I know how much owners care for their pets and consider them to be a part of the family, almost like a child to them, so they are treated with kindness and are loved to the fullest. What I did not know was how intelligent animals actually are. Rifkin does a great job at expressing this by demonstrating to the audience facts that they had possibly not known or heard of before. For example, he describes how crows can make tools out of a wire, gorillas can learn sign language and have an average score on an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test, and how pigs can often feel lonely and go into depression.

Why do we say that Bonobo has intelligence? Similar to humans might be a partial reason why Bonobo is classified as intelligence animal. Many evidences show that Bonobo expresses its intelligence in the natural world. Bonobo is highly intelligence and physically similar to human ancestor. Bonobos were discovered in the forest along the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1927. They are named as the “pygmy chimpanzees” because of the similarities in their physical traits with chimpanzees. A lot of people make the same mistake in recognizing Bonobo and Chimpanzee though they have the same height. However, Bonobo come with leaner body, smaller head and longer leg than Chimpanzee. Moreover, they physically feature as the closest primates to human who hold “almost 98.6 percent of their DNA” comparing with human.( http://www.nydailynews.com)

Clearly, animal intelligence clearly cannot be measured simply, since each animal must be inspected individually to assess its competency. Therefore, animals should be considered intelligent if they meet a majority of the following requirements: an ability to communicate and understand, self-consciousness, high relative size of brain to body mass (>= ~2% of total mass), an ability to solve new problems using reasoning without relying on instinct, a desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and an ability to act empathetically. Of course, there will always exist animals that almost meet these requirements, but do not quite fulfill a majority, so animal intelligence must be viewed in terms of relative intelligence. Ultimately, although some animals today lack a mind capable of creating solutions to novel problems and sensing oneself (self-consciousness), several animals today, including dolphins, parrots, and chimpanzees, meet these requirements to be considered intelligent beings and thus should be entitled to the same inalienable rights as humans proportionally to their intellect.

sentient beings with intelligence rivaling some of the most intelligent animals in the story world,

After I finished reading the book , I feel it's an autobiography from an autistic author , who depicts our world from an entirely different perspective . I found it interesting that the idea that Grandin perceives the world differently than we do could be applied to the issues of human beings and animals . Able to put himself into animal's head and look out through their eyes , Grandin's ways of thinking and perceiving resembles those of animals , but at the same time , he could see what most of us couldn't see . Therefore , it seems like the assumption that " human beings are superior in intelligence " is challenged . Since human and animals view the world distinctively , we couldn't conclude that animals are less intelligent

They believe that only they posses the ability to comprehend the world. The world was created for them and their needs. In reality, when they are compare their abilities with animals there is no difference between the two. Animals tend to surpass humans in many areas. “For instance, take the fox, the people of Thrace make use of when they wish to pass over the ice of some frozen river, and turn him out before them to that purpose…. he can hear the noise of the waters' current, and, according as he finds by that the ice to be of a less or greater thickness, to retire or advance,—have we not reason to believe thence that the same rational thoughts passed through his head that we should have upon the like occasions; and that it is a ratiocination and consequence, drawn from natural sense, that that which makes a noise runs, that which runs is not frozen, what is not frozen is liquid, and that which is liquid yields to impression! For to attribute this to a mere quickness of the sense of hearing, without reason and consequence, is a chimra that cannot enter into the imagination. We are to suppose the same of the many sorts of subtleties and inventions with which beasts secure themselves from, and frustrate, the enterprizes we plot against them. (Page 16)” Animals are rational. They do not have to rely on the notion that they are the supreme lords of the land like humans do. They can live a much happier life than humans because they do

I think that the story: How Smart Are Animals is an informing us about if animals are smart or not because she was informing us that animals might not be smart because in the story it says “They would say that Villa just acted, without really understanding the concept of danger or thinking about what she was doing. In the story it was talking about a man called Clever Hans and he trained a horse to do what the audience were doing to what the question was. I Know this because in the text it states “Clever Hans was no longer so “smart”; he couldn’t come up with the correct response. By observing the horse and the audience when the wser was known, pfungst discovered that Hans was very sensitive to the smallest movement of the people watching.”

Have you ever wondered how animals live without humans to help them? Scientist say that some animals are as smart, or smarter than some humans. African elephants are one of the most intelligent animals in the world. Even though elephants are smaller than whales, they are a lot smarter. The elephant’s brain is about fifty kg. big. That is probably why the elephant is so intelligent.

Animal Intelligence Animals are intelligent in many different ways. Dolphins can talk to each other by clicking noises. Dogs understand when you are mad at them. They hang their heads in shame until they know that you aren't mad at them anymore. Bats use echolocation to catch their prey.

First, some animals are very intelligent with some having intelligence that can be compared to a human. Before I get into this contention, I would like to now talk about my definitions which are all from dictionary.com. The words I’d like to define are: fundamentally which is defined as, “ a foundation or basis”, human which

In “The Brains of the Animal Kingdom” by Frans De Waal, he would describe intelligence as learning how to use tools correctly, to accomplish completing task the right way. Frans De Waal’s describes how humans may think that animals are not as smart as we think, but they actually prove us wrong. Animals have their ways of performing tasks and accomplishing things they have to do. De Waal sets an elephant as an example and he states, “Kandula ignored the sticks but, after a while, began kicking the box with his foot. He kicked it many times in a straight line until it was right underneath the branch. He then stood on the box with his front legs, which enabled him to reach the food with his trunk. An elephant, it turns out, can use tools—if they are the right ones” (De Waal 3). Just like humans, an

The capability of a chimpanzees is greater in their physical aspect rather than their cognitive. They seem to understand the information given to them up to a limit. Primatologist Povinelli conducted a research to view the chimpanzees cognitive range.