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.- Orangutans at a Milwaukee zoo get to play with iPads and even have access to the internet. Pretty soon the zookeepers will have to install internet filtering software so that these orangutans don't try to gamble away their bananas via online casinos. [url]
- The "Monty Hall Dilemma" is a probability problem that most people don't solve correctly by instinct, but some birds seem to? Given "three doors" with mixed grain as a prize, pigeons seem to learn how to optimize their door-choosing strategy better than people. [url]
- People like sledding on snow-covered hills with inner tubes and lunch trays. Crows like to sled down snow-covered rooftops using jar lids. Sledding is just fun, but you'd think that animals that can fly wouldn't be so entertained by sliding along the ground.... [url]
- To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
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Filed Under: animals, crows, intelligence, monty hall problem, orangutans, pigeons, smart animals
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Re: Man, screw those orangutans.
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?
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Damn
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Link behind paywall
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http://people.whitman.edu/~herbrawt/HS_JCP_2010.pdf
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Dem smarty pants crows
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! :-)
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The girl looks up with a horrified look on her face and asks, "You mean he doesn't LOVE me, daddy? D:"
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OMG!!!
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