DailyDirt: Animals Are Getting Smarter...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Dec 8th 2011 5:00pm — Michael Ho

The more we study animals, the more we find out about their impressive cognitive abilities. And as we learn more about how other animal brains work, we might learn more about how our own minds think. Or perhaps someone will just figure out how to train parrots to pass CAPTCHA tests. In any case, here are a few interesting examples of animal intelligence.

Chimps are the only other species, besides humans, that regularly throws things. It's presumably a pre-cursor to speech and communication. Chimps in captivity even throw things without any training, as the researchers say, "I've never in my life seen a chimp be given a banana for throwing shit at someone." [url]
Until someone actually invents a dog collar that can translate dog barks into English, we'll have to study dog behavior and guess at how dogs think. Animal behaviorist John Bradshaw discusses his behavior guidebook for dogs and tips for training dogs. [url]
Researchers have observed ravens in the wild using pointing gestures. "It's over there!" quoth the Raven. [url]
To discover more interesting articles on the mind, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: animals, chimps, cognitive abilities, dogs, gestures, intelligence, ravens, smart animals

19 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

SF Company Joker, 8 Dec 2011 @ 5:09pm

animals vs humans
I disagree. Animals aren't getting smarter, humans are getting dumber.

Kardashians are on TV, 16 & Pregnant is a show and apparently the cupcakes are at war.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Michael Ho (profile), 8 Dec 2011 @ 5:29pm
  
  Re: animals vs humans
  I wonder if anyone is tracking the "average intelligence" of the human population... it's quite possible that the median intelligence is trending downwards.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Jeff (profile), 8 Dec 2011 @ 6:05pm
    
    Re: Re: animals vs humans
    trending??? No... the correct term is "free-falling"
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2011 @ 9:57pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: animals vs humans
      are you speaking from personal experience ?
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - A Guy (profile), 8 Dec 2011 @ 6:40pm
    
    Re: Re: animals vs humans
    Intelligence seems to be linked to some magical property akin to "the degree to which we like what you say, or how you say it."
    
    Before you can measure it, you need a rigorous definition of what you are measuring.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Hephaestus (profile), 8 Dec 2011 @ 10:23pm
    
    Re: Re: animals vs humans
    Michael
    
    You forgot a major one... Dolphins talk in images
    
    David
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Michael Ho (profile), 9 Dec 2011 @ 1:51pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: animals vs humans
      David,
      
      These DailyDirts aren't supposed to be comprehensive... but I did mention dolphin communication in this one:
      http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090513/1026354871/dailydirt-talking-to-animals.shtml
      
      If you've got any more examples of cool animal communication techniques, I'd love to see 'em.
      
      Thanks!
      
      Mike
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- lol, 3 Aug 2013 @ 8:26pm
  
  Re: animals vs humans
  I think the fact your reading this article and using the internet is an argument to your statement. Your using a database of unimited human knowledge. Tv is ignorant. But people have never read as much as they have today. People have never had access to the amount of information they have today. TV is being phased out and it's catering to the lowest common denominator of humans who still view it
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hip Hop Production, 8 Dec 2011 @ 6:30pm

The lack of intelligence of the human species is linked to too much tv. Therefore I blame television.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stupid is as stupid does, 8 Dec 2011 @ 6:51pm

Animals Are Getting Smarter...
After following OOTB's comments.... I have to disagree with that statement.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2011 @ 7:43pm

Just Look at Congress
"Animals Are Getting Smarter..."

Or maybe humans are just getting dumber...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wayne, 8 Dec 2011 @ 8:28pm

Animals are not getting smarter, we are just (finally) figuring out that animals are more than simply "squishy robots". I think the idea that animals do not have intelligence will be looked back upon by future humans the same way as the idea that the earth is the center of the universe.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2011 @ 9:56pm
  
  Re:
  I agree. They were always intelligent, we are just now better discovering their true intelligence.
  
  So they are adapting to new environments in new and intelligent ways. Doesn't make them any 'more' intelligent, they already had the intelligence to adapt to a changing environment before the environment changed but they didn't adapt (because they have no reason to) until after the environment changed. Doesn't make them any more intelligent, they just don't need to apply their pre- existing intelligence to adapt to a new environment before the environment changes. They're intelligent, not psychic.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Hephaestus (profile), 8 Dec 2011 @ 10:25pm
  
  Re:
  What do you mean the earth is not the center of the universe? Next thing you will be telling me is that the earth is shaped like a potato.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2011 @ 9:38pm
    
    Re: Re:
    The earth is shaped like a potato !!!!.
    
    A round one...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2011 @ 3:35am

www.npr.org/2011/12/09/143304206/cagebreak-rats-will-work-to-free-a-trapped-pal

Even rats are more empathetic than some people I know :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
darryl, 9 Dec 2011 @ 9:28pm

Chimps are dumb
Dogs are far more intelligent that chimps, they are also very skilled in human communications.

Most humans can determine the nature of a dog bark from it's sound alone, therefore it is a very effective form of communication.

Dogs are also expert at reading facial expressions and body language, also their 'mind map' of the world around them is based on smells.

You could teach a dog to do something in 5 minutes that would simply be impossible with a chimp.

Also lion ants throw things.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Darryl, 9 Dec 2011 @ 9:47pm

Accuracy of Techdirt ??????? *NOT VERY*
Since the sides of the pit consist of loose sand at its angle of repose,[10] they afford an insecure foothold to any small insects that inadvertently venture over the edge, such as ants. Slipping to the bottom, the prey is immediately seized by the lurking antlion; or if it attempts to scramble up the treacherous walls of the pit, it is speedily checked in its efforts and brought down by showers of loose sand which are thrown at it from below by the larva. By throwing up loose sand from the bottom of the pit, the larva also undermines the sides of the pit, causing them to collapse and bring the prey with them. Thus it does not matter whether the larva actually strikes the prey with the sand showers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2011 @ 3:29pm

A quote from one of my favorite movies
F****n' scrugs. They're getting smarter all the time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]