Thanks C19fan. Cats, dogs -- we didn't domesticate them, they domesticated us.
Posted on 11/29/2018 7:39:05 AM PST by C19fan
It may seem from a dog's friendly demeanour and ability to perform tricks that they are smarter than most animals but a new study suggests this is not the case.
Psychologists from Exeter and Canterbury University examined the cognitive abilities of 'man's best friend' when compared with other animals - including cats.
Experts concluded that canines do not possess particularly higher intelligence than their feline rivals, as well as a number of other creatures.
Researchers used data on observations of the behaviour of dogs, cats, wolves and chimpanzees to see if pooches possessed any specific special skills.
They found that dog's mental faculties are not exceptional compared to other species and were even bested in many categories.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
More like, those wolves who could amiably be around humans got fed, and thus had a higher survival rate, while those wolves which acted in a hostile manner towards humans had a much lower survival rate.
It was the smart wolves...the adaptable wolves who made the transition.
The alpha males took a back seat and the adaptable wolves moved ahead.
Hence the needy, approval seeking wolves we see today in our dogs.
We love them but they are the ass-kissers of yesteryear.
Philosophers talk about the "private language" problem. They say you can't have a language that only one person understands because it isn't a language. Or I think that's what they say.
Cats could always be working on their own problems and coming up with brilliant solutions but if those problems and solutions don't register with experimenters they won't be judged as smart as animals working on problems recognized by human experimenters.
A person in a life or death scenario is significant more intelligent than the same person bored and vegging out on the couch in front of the TV.
House cats usually seem to be bored and vegging out on the couch. The dog who craves human attention may be interacting more with the world, and that attentiveness could be read as intelligence, rightly or wrongly.
A person in a life or death scenario is significant more intelligent than the same person bored and vegging out on the couch in front of the TV.
A solution could be brilliant, but the animal still might end up dead.
In any case experiments like that aren't going to please the animal rights crew.
Thanks C19fan. Cats, dogs -- we didn't domesticate them, they domesticated us.
I, for one, am happy to serve my feline overlords!
And that’s not the too talking!
(I think...)
(^..^)/
...toxo talking...
Dogs look up to you
Cats look down on you
Dogs look up to you
Cats look down on you
After being shot with a BB gun three or four times, cats learn to run as soon as they hear the door opening
“You lie!” says my black lab mix.
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