[Psycho_Bunny]

Yes.  I've never been surprised by how intelligent animals are....just surprised that people are surprised when animals demonstrate their intelligence.

People who walk around thinking animals are automatons - mindlessly reacting to stimuli - strike me as neither observant nor particularly intelligent themselves.

[rlmorel]

"...People who walk around thinking animals are automatons - mindlessly reacting to stimuli - strike me as neither observant nor particularly intelligent themselves...."

I don't think it is that...it is just that there is a certain TYPE of intelligence that we consider a basic tenet of human rationality...and up to recently, it has not been shown to be present in non-primates.

There are a lot of people who can agree that intelligence can be measured in a variety of ways, and while certain South Pacific aboriginal peoples may not have mathematical intelligence that would have stood them in good stead amongst the people who were involved in the Manhattan Project, the people in the Manhattan Project for the most part would have been very hard pressed to survive in the jungles of New Guinea with no food and water, where the natives would be able to do it quite handily. (NOTE: THIS IS NOT CULTURAL RELATIVISM I HAVE JUST DEFINED!)

If that "human" characteristic is there in animals, researchers have not been able to find a way to allow animals to demonstrate it for us, confirming they have it as well as us.

Now, I am not an animal behavoirist, and I do not play one on television, so take this with a grain of salt. But it has been my impression that mathematical skill is the domain of humans. That is, some higher level animals may be able to count, but it has not been demonstrated that they can take two counts and combine them and assign a numerical representation for a sum.

Sounds to me like this "Alex" is getting kind of close to that.

[TX Bluebonnet]

Yes. I've never been surprised by how intelligent animals are....just surprised that people are surprised when animals demonstrate their intelligence.

People who walk around thinking animals are automatons - mindlessly reacting to stimuli - strike me as neither observant nor particularly intelligent themselves.

Couldn't have said it better.

[grjr21]

mindlessly reacting to stimuli

[RobRoy]

>>People who walk around thinking animals are automatons - mindlessly reacting to stimuli - strike me as neither observant nor particularly intelligent themselves.<<

That would be me, except I wouldn't call them mindless any more than I would call my computer "CPUless".

Both interpret information and process according to their pre-programming.