Posted on 01/09/2005 6:28:39 PM PST by wagglebee
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Rats can use the rhythm of human language to tell the difference between Dutch and Japanese, researchers in Spain reported on Sunday.
Their study suggests that animals, especially mammals, evolved some of the skills underlying the use and development of language long before language itself ever evolved, the researchers said.
It is the first time an animal other than a human or monkey has been shown to have this skill.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Maybe they are talking about democRATS.
It didn't say they could learn how to say "I surrender."
So, Rats can understand the phrase "I'll get the BB gun" in multiple languages.
A good question, but fortunately it was done at the University of Barcelona and not in the U.S. for a change.
But here's the real kicker:
"The rats were trained to respond to either Dutch or Japanese using food as a reward.
Then they were separated into four groups -- one that heard each language spoken by a native, one that heard synthesized speech, one that heard sentences read in either language by different speakers and a fourth that heard the languages played backwards."
Sheer torture, even for rats. Imagine having to listen to Dutch and Japanese played backwards, etc. Where is PETA when you finally need them?
That still doesn't mean we didn't pay for it.
They are then eligible to vote Democrat, at which time they will gain the super ability of telling the difference between "is" and "is".
Shoot, I thought the article was about Dems & the French.
Always my first question when I see one of these stories!
Rats are smart. Ask any pest control company. For Free.
Also, you can bet the farm that PETA will be shrieking like demented hyenas over this...
Ping (read the article and you'd see why).
Yeah. Gotta read to the end, but I see what you mean. Still, I donno if I should deploy the list for this. Let's see how it goes.
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