DailyDirt: Anthropomorphizing Animals

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Humans tend to think about other animals in human terms -- which is only natural since we don't really have other frames of reference other than our own experiences. So not surprisingly, it's always interesting when animals seem to enjoy the same activities that people do and seem to be able to solve problems better than we can. Here are just some fairly recent examples. By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
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Filed Under: animals, crows, intelligence, monty hall problem, orangutans, pigeons, smart animals


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  • icon
    Torg (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:23pm

    Man, screw those orangutans. They keep beating my high score in Angry Birds. And they have an unfair advantage, since they just have to sit in a cage all day. I could get three stars too if I didn't have to study.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Michael Ho (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:44pm

      Re:

      Just wait until those orangutans take over the planet.. hopefully, they'll remember how well we treated them when they enslave humans!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 6 Feb 2012 @ 7:03pm

      Re: Man, screw those orangutans.

      I’ve heard orangutans characterized as being like they’re spaced out on dope all the time—apparently they’re a pretty laid-back bunch.

      Chimps, on the other hand, are pretty violent and nasty.

      Bonobos are supposed to be a subspecies of chimp, but they behave completely differently—instead of being violent, it seems they believe in “make love, not war”.

      So let’s see, that covers sex, drugs and violence in the ape world. Did I miss anything?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Torg (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 7:50pm

        Re: Re: Man, screw those orangutans.

        Monkeys also steal things. Really it's a wonder it took as long as it did for people to realize that we're related.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 6 Feb 2012 @ 7:59pm

          Re: Man, screw those orangutans.

          Only monkeys? No ape larceny?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Torg (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 10:31am

            Re: Re: Man, screw those orangutans.

            Apes use extortion and burglary, but petty theft and pickpocketing are firmly controlled by the lesser primates.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:40pm

    Damn

    I thought we'd finally get a My Little Pony post on Techdirt...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Torg (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 5:57pm

      Re: Damn

      There was a brief mention of My Little Wu-Tang last year, but considering that they're almost exactly following Mike's Theory of the Economics of Free you would think there'd be more exposure.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 6:56am

        Re: Re: Damn

        They've actually been cracking down on the fan distributions lately. Fortunately, not in a comprehensive manner.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Xyro TR1 (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 9:09pm

      Re: Damn

      One can hope.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Yartrebo (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 6:08pm

    Link behind paywall

    Would it be possible to not link to stuff behind a paywall? That "Monty Hall Dilemma" link is behind a paywall good for nineteen dollars and ninety-five cents.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    TtfnJohn (profile), 6 Feb 2012 @ 6:12pm

    Dem smarty pants crows

    Crows and ravens do love to play and find ways to amuse themselves. Just about anything will do but I've not seen one sledding before!

    Cute as that looks, though, beware -- don't get anywhere near a crow or raven's nest when there are chicks in it or you'll be subject to co-ordinated attacks by mom and dad as well as other members of their murder (a flock of crows) until they drive you off or inside. Worse. They'll remember you and continue the attack until the chicks are grown and gone.

    Don't mess with crows! :-)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    fb39ca4, 6 Feb 2012 @ 6:23pm

    Soon they will have to filter orangutan porn.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pixelation, 6 Feb 2012 @ 6:31pm

    Now we know why there has been such a spike in visits to Pooflingers.com.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 6 Feb 2012 @ 6:59pm

    I would think that they would tend to destroy these devices, since they probably won't take care of them as well as a human would. They don't understand the concept of cost like we do and they probably don't know how much these devices cost since they aren't paying for them. Maybe we should make them a special device that is more robust than what would normally be given to a more careful human.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    RBM, 6 Feb 2012 @ 10:36pm

    Reminds me of an anecdote, eschewing the "Disneyfication" of children's view toward animals. A girl finds a small lizard, which crawls around on her arms and hands. Her father explains that the reason he's doing that is because he's cold blooded, doesn't make his own body heat, etc. and is attracted to hers.

    The girl looks up with a horrified look on her face and asks, "You mean he doesn't LOVE me, daddy? D:"

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    gab4moi (profile), 7 Feb 2012 @ 3:56am

    OMG!!!

    Won't someone think of the orang children!!! Filter the chimp porn immediately!!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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