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To: hosepipe; betty boop; stormer; CottShop
Thank you so much for the pings to this fascinating sidebar!

However, I'll wait to be impressed with dogs and chimpanzees until they make a practice of burying or cremating their dead, building monuments to them with writing and/or pictures to remember them and their deeds.

397 posted on 07/15/2007 9:35:16 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Alamo-Girl

If funerary practices and writing are the criteria for animal intelligence, then I’m afraid you’ll have to wait. But I think it is undeniable that some animals have some capacity for abstract thought, and have the ability for strong emotional investment. I studied elephants in Namibia at one point and witnessed some really remarkable and moving interactions. And trust me, I’m not like that knucklehead in Alaska who thought he could commune with bears - if elephants don’t almost scare the brown out of you, I don’t want you around. But they are marvelous, intelligent creatures that provided me with well deserved doses of both humanity and humility.


398 posted on 07/15/2007 10:09:01 PM PDT by stormer
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