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curiousexplorer -> RE: And they call them DUMB animals... (5/18/2007 3:47:47 PM)
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"and she knew enough to not try to put this one in her mouth."
Or you could say she didn't know enough and that's why she didn't eat it? Like when one of the big cats gives it's offspring some baby herbivore to practice on and the cubs don't know what to do with it.
As you are the leader of the pack, maybe the dog grabbed you to give you first bite? Or to find out if it was something to eat?
And if the dog was really smart, it didn't eat and grabbed you so you could feed the bird up and make it worth eating. But I'm sure you aren't going to suggest your dog was smart enough to begin agriculture.
"Animals are more perceptive and intelligent that we usually give them credit for."
Actually we often give animals far more credit than we can prove. Familiarity is often the source of any animals intelligence. You find it a lot when reading long term studies of animals. A parrot person will get excited about parrots, a horse person will get excited about horses, a chimp person will get excited about chimps. And yet it is the humble crow which has surpassed them all to reach a similar stage of tool development as early people, closer than chimps or any other creature.
"I firmly believe animals are much smarter than humans."
Many people believe many things. Proving what one believes is another matter. People have spent years trying to prove their favourite animal is intelligent, but none have succeded. In fact with animals like chimps which have had enormous amounts of study, the abscence of intelligence is the big (but not surprising) find.
"I think in some ways their instincs become attuned to activity that they observe from us. The dog has watched you care for the "baby" so his instinct is operating on the maternal vibe that surrounds situation. "
Is it the maternal vibe, or the pack mentality?
"i have a similar story. my sister has 3 cats and a pet mouse and her mouse got out of the cage. We were sitting at the table and one of her cats came over and pawed her leg - when she looked down she noticed he had something in his mouth. she leaned down and put her hand to his mouth and he dropped her pet mouse into her hand. We were astonished!"
Cats will do that with wild mice. Except after they have shown you and you don't pick it up, they play around with it and eat it. Except for picking it up, I've had cats do this many times, with mice, rats, rabbits, and lizards.
"but I never imagined she would feel motherly toward an animal that she has been trained to hunt."
She is trained to hunt featherless birds her owner is raising? Interesting. I would have thought she was trained to hunt live, flying, feathered birds, and to retrieve them or "point" to where they were?
"do you know that horses learn 2 to 5 times faster them humans yes they are very smart creatures."
If horses learn 2 to 5 times faster than humans, then that just highlights their lack of intelligance. Despite the speed they can't get beyond a small childs intelligence (if that).
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