Inside Animal Minds: The New Science of Animal Intelligence By Virginia Morell

some considerations for the scale and they may overlap Can use languageHas social organizationMembers of species can teach other membersMate for lifeFeels longterm grief at loss of partnerLongterm Remembrance of deceased membersShows affection for family and even to stray members of their speciesLikewise for other speciesStrong social relations throughout life. Kills and or eats mateSplits in half to reproduceSometimes.

The Animal Intelligence Minds of Their Own by Virginia Morell March 2008 Almost Human by Mary Roach April 2008 The Genius of Swarms by Peter Miller July 2007 In Minds of Their Own Virginia Morell provides an overview of the science of animal intelligence She introduces you to an African gray parrot named Alex a bonobo named Kanzi and a border collie named Betsy Each of these animals tells us something interesting about the way they perceive and manipulate their world The article also looks at what scientists are learning about the intelligence of dolphins and crows beyond mere communication In Almost Human Mary Roach takes us to the savannahs of Senegal to meet a group of 34 chimpanzees whose behavior and social structures have given scientists some important clues about the nature of their communication and intelligence In The Genius of Swarms Peter Miller looks at the collective behavior of ants bees and other insects for what they can tell us about social organization and how sometimes intelligence lies outside of the individual brain This article served as the basis for his book The Smart How Understanding Flocks Schools and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating Decision Making and Getting Things Done Inside Animal Minds The New Science of Animal IntelligenceVirginia Morell is an acclaimed science journalist and author A contributing correspondent for Science she has covered evolutionary and conservation biology since 1990 A passionate lover of the natural world and a creative thinker her reporting keeps her in close communications with leading scientists in her fields of interest Morell is also a regular contributor to National Geographic and Conde Nast Traveler In 2004 her National Geographic article on climate change was a finalist for Best Environmental Article from the Society of Environmental Journalists In addition to her journalistic work Morell is the author of three celebrated books The New York Times awarded a Notable Book of the Year to Ancestral Passions her dramatic bio Virginia Morell is an acclaimed science journalist and author A contributing correspondent for Science she has covered evolutionary and conservation biology since 1990 A passionate lover of the natural world and a creative thinker her reporting keeps her in close communications with leading scientists in her fields of interest Morell is also a regular contributor to National Geographic and Conde Nast Traveler In 2004 her National Geographic article on climate change was a finalist for Best Environmental Article from the Society of Environmental Journalists In addition to her journalistic work Morell is the author of three celebrated books The New York Times awarded a Notable Book of the Year to Ancestral Passions her dramatic biography of the famed Leakey family and their notable findings Blue Nile about her journey down the Blue Nile to Sudan was a San Francisco Chronicle Best Travel Book And The Washington Post listed Wildlife Wars which she co authored with Richard Leakey as one of their Best Books of the Year An accomplished public speaker Morell spent March 2009 as a principal lecturer for National Geographic Society s Expeditions Program on one of its exclusive round the world trips She lives in Ashland Oregon with her husband writer Michael McRae a Calico cat Nini and a smart six year old American Working Farm Collie Buckaroo Read Animal Minds Virginia Morell s National Geographic cover story that explores animal intelligence the subject of her upcoming book from Crown Animal Wise The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures which will be published in February 2013 Elizabeth Kolbert selected this article for the Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009 Houghton Mifflin Published workAnimal Wise The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures Crown February 2013 Wildlife Wars My Fight to Save Africa s Natural Treasures St Martin s Press September 2001 Blue Nile Ethiopia s River of Magic and Mystery National Geographic Books June 2001 Ancestral Passions The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind s Beginnings Simon and Schuster August 1996 site_link too short would gladly read a longer version that explores topics English Three interesting articles Worth the read English A compilation of articles from National Geographic about animal intelligence English An intriguing book that provides me a new perspective swarm intelligence English Short but very carefully guided to explain developments in the study of animals and their intelligence Worth while English Well thank goodness This book reaffirms something I ve known intuitively my entire life that animals are smart and their intelligence is evolved than we think Every animal lover knows that without needing irrefutable evidence Many studies have been conducted is being conducted to delve into the minds of animals because to understand them is to understand ourselves What might we gain from their evolution that we can adapt for our own If we can see through their eyes what might we learn about us as humans Humans are inherently selfish in what we seek to understand so we try to understand animal psyche in our language We benchmark animal intelligence against human standards human speech human behaviors How many words can a border collie recognize What will a New Caledonian crow do given limited choices A or B or will it improvise Can African gray parrots respond to words and respond back with words Can we teach chimpanzees gorillas and bonozos to communicate with us How can we apply the swarm intelligence of ants and bees into our corporate culture Scientific quest for knowledge is always first and foremost for the benefit of the superior species Oh don t get me wrong I applaud the research to understand animal cognitive abilities Just how exactly it serves to benefit the animals I am not sure Certainly it does them no harm What the animals learn about the humans studying them is probably much less insightful contrariwise This is a quick and enjoyable read of really a collection of articles with just enough information to whet the appetite The blurb summarizes the book well so I ll dispense with the repetition Reading this book made me nostalgic about all the pets we ve had growing up thanks to parents who believed that animals bring out the best in us They were not wrong So from earliest memories to a few years ago we ve had not all at the same time obviously Labradors Spitzs mongrels many including my two besties one Siamese parakeets guinea pigs hamsters tortoise fish oh the variety red shrimp yes in a separate tank frogs rabbits white mice Most died natural deaths a few died by accident two were stolen some were adopted away eventually The only thing I ve learnt from them was that they all made me smile when I was sad as if as if they read my mind Now what will researchers make of that English 4. 25 this has been a very fascinating and amusing read a bird that could talk chimpanzees that use a spear like tool to hunt for food dogs that recognize hundreds of words amazing ant and bees colonies who doesn t like to learn about how awesome animals are i feel like books like this one are essential not just for science and research about evolution and the like but also for us humans to have a deeper perception of our earth mates maybe if people are aware that animals have complex cognitive processes and build relationships and feel pain and not just robots responding to stimuli we d be concerned about the rapid extinction of species and animal cruelty. anyway i found the piece about swarm intelligence very interesting especially how companies adapt their practices and strategies to function better i think they re a testament to how far collective action could reach. i also will never forget about that bird who made up a word for apples ban erry cuz it tasted like banana to him and it looks like cherry English This is a great little read Three magazine length stories about three different kinds of animal intelligence exhibited from very different species insects fish antelopes Bonobo etc. One of my pet causes for a few decades now is to get laws passed locally regionally and at the state national and international levels wherever people can organize to make it happen a sentience Bill of Rights. For example I would vote for 1 no hunting of animals that experience longterm grief at death of spouse 2 no isolation in zoos or laboratories for animals that have strong family and social bonds and hierarchies 3 It s OK to hunt animals that can t feel pain etc. There is the tremendous side benefit with the extreme curiosity that would be spurred ubiquitously among billions of people to explore the sentience of the critters in their life and the animals they eat For example in my early 60s now I ve become very curious about the consciousness of my raven neighbors with whom I go through my days. Several years ago I read a BBC article about how some researchers had used computers and recordings from field tests to decipher the language of prairie dogs For example one short chirp could mean that a fat man with a read shirt carrying a gun is walking past. So I marveled think how that would change our entire species collective relationship with the biosphere and other animals if kids grew up using prairie dog translators to relate to the little guys In my first year with two young boy cats Ash and Iggy every day I m stunned and laugh hysterically at the way they relate to each other I ve seen them learn from each other things like pulling open a door with by hooking and pulling back with a paw two nights ago one of them learned how to push open a not so easily opened door. But the really extraordinary thing about them is how they are learning to relate to me Ash uses his paw to tap me on the back to get me to play with him I ve never seen a cat stand up on two legs so much One time he was running past my backside as I was sitting at my desk Right as he got to my spine he quickly reached out and clawed it between the top of my pants and the bottom of my sweater and then he kept running on barely slowing for the strike. You see I decided to relate to them as if they were a visiting sentient alien species from another planet that simply had no hands or way to speak but is otherwise very aware and attuned to developing relationships. In this National Geographic Short you will learn Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities good memory a grasp of grammar and symbols self awareness understanding others motives imitating others and being creative. With what complexity chimpanzees gorillas and bonobos can use sign language and symbols to communicate with us The bonobo Kanzi carries his symbol communication board with him so he can talk to his human researchers. Savanna woodland chimp in eastern Senegal and western Mali live in an environment very much like the open scratchy terrain where early humans evolved The regular making of tools for hunting and killing mammals had been considered uniquely human behavior It would appear the chimps are getting creative. And finally have you ever wondered how birds fish insects and antelopes move in almost perfect synchrony together to evade and confuse predators You can learn the answer in the third story of this ebook English While the idea that rock ants teach each other that dolphins pass the MSR mirror self recognition test as well as using collaborative behavior socially and that rats laugh offered an unimagined view of creature life But it was the chapter about dogs that interested me the most. Hungarian researcher Vilmos Csanyi pronounced Chai nee proposed a hypothesis for research that the transformation of the wolf to the dog was a better model for understanding the evolution of the human mind than the transformation of chimpanzee to human. Interesting points within the chapter Dogs can copy behavior of their owner turn in a circle jump etc which means they have a sense of self A dog s bark is often directed to us to convey the dog s inner state Indoor dwelling dogs hesitate to solve problems wolves and outdoor dogs do easily checking with owners to make sure it is acceptable behavior Border collies have a special auditory talent able to associate speci c sounds a word spoken once with an object to retrieve Great apes are not able to do this. One bonus In this book Morrill recounts examples of what I found so captivating in Bernd Heinrich s The Mind of the Raven how researchers design experiments to answer questions about aspects of cognition. Those five stars are big ones English This is a compilation of 3 articles written by 3 different authors Virginia Morell Mary Roach Peter Miller They all contribute to National Geographic and this is one of their features of Shorts Each describes different behaviors of different animals I loved each article and I have absolutely no issue stating that animals are intelligent beings I do believe they have thoughts and feelings We cannot always understand them or relate to them but it doesn t make it any less real I m not sure why scientists reject any findings that show we are not the only intelligent life out there It seems self explanatory to me Maybe lose the ego and inferiority complex and listen to the people who are around these animals every day studying them And lose gender roles for both humans and animals It ll help the world move forward a lot faster English .

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We put species on a sentience scale and we legally ban all treatments of species based on where the fall on the scale, Imagine a scale from plankton to Homo sapiens sapiens neanderthalensis. Essentially using the most up to date scientific and experiential knowledge and our wisdom and capacities for compassion especially males eats its young: Born simultaneously with thousands or millions of siblingsDoesn t have pain circuitry: The article said prarie dog translators were coming in our near future: They wrestle and groom each other and chase each other all around the house They hide from each other One explores water than the other the other is a hair tie juggler, From Oxford behavioral ecologist Alex Kacelnik Evolution can invent similar forms of advanced intelligence than once that it s not something reserved only for primates or mammals