Category: Animal minds

The cat that gets friendly with elderly, demented people when he “knows” they have definitely begun to die. more

The researcher was careful not to say that their work teaches us “how humans evolved to construct shelters” – probably because there is little evidence that most humans have ever wanted to live in trees. more

In short, they set up a test that did not involve reading for comprehension, then claimed that baboons can recognize words. more

Somehow, an interesting finding that theoretically could apply to some actual species gets morphed into a “proof” later in the article. more

Kurzban’s analysis of the difference is interesting, but the study that backs it up is unintentionally hilarious: more

“However, policing remains a rare behaviour and more data are needed to test the generality of this hypothesis.” more

So dogs learned to detect a message using fingers, which they don’t have, but chimps, which have fingers, didn’t learn to detect the message? Jane Goodall, check YOUR messages. more

Attributing human thoughts/characteristics to insects feels especially odd considering that the soldier bee does not know that it will die, nor does the colony, … more

“…their performance is indistinguishable from that displayed by monkeys.” more

“Monkeys do feel the distress of others but have no good grasp of what’s going on with them.” more

“Smarter animals do not so much abstract a solution to a problem as take available hints from their environment.” more

The fact is, if you pay attention to any animals long enough they will sometimes act in ways you don’t expect. more

One wonders what the judgment will be on the many dumpster rats who didn’t show empathy when last noticed? Are they morally culpable? more