Human beings have been studying the behavior of animals for centuries, and ethology, which is what we call this field of scientific knowledge, aims, among other things, to discover whether animals think or not, since human beings have made intelligence one of the issues that differentiate them.animal humans.
In this Animal Expert article, we will explain the main concepts of studies that aim to evaluate the sensitive and cognitive abilities of animals Do animals think?We’ll explain everything about animal intelligence.
- To come to a conclusion about whether animals think or not.
- The first thing to do is define what is meant by action to think.
- “Thinking” comes from Latin thought.
- Which means sorrow.
- Calculation or thinking.
- The Michaelis Dictionary defines thought as “the execution of the ability to judge or deduce”.
- The dictionary emphasizes several meanings.
- Including “mentally examining something carefully to form a judgment.
- ” “minding.
- Intending.
- Intention.
- And “deciding on the basis of weight.
- “[1].
All these actions immediately refer to another concept whose thinking cannot be separated, and which is none other than intelligence, a term that can be defined as the ability of the mind to learn, understand, reason, make decisions and get an idea of reality.which animal species can be considered intelligent has been the subject of constant studies over time.
Depending on the definition given, virtually all animals could be considered intelligent because they can learn and, in other words, adapt to their environment.Intelligence isn’t just about solving mathematical operations or things like that.On the other hand, other definitions include the ability to use instruments, to create a culture, that is, to transmit teachings from parents to children, or simply to enjoy the beauty of a work of art or a sunset; In addition, the ability to communicate through language, even using symbols or signs, is considered a sign of intelligence because it requires a high level of abstraction to unite meanings and signifiers.Intelligence, as we see it, depends on how the researcher defines it.
The issue of animal intelligence is controversial and concerns both the scientific, philosophical and religious fields, in fact, by naming humans as Homo sapiens, this will be one of the factors by which we will be able to understand what differentiates humans from other animals.this somehow legitimizes the exploitation of the rest of the animals, as they are considered, in a way, inferior.
Therefore, ethics in investigating this issue cannot be ignored.It is also important to memorize the name of a scientific discipline, ethology, which is defined as the comparative study of animal behavior.
On the other hand, studies always have an anthropocentric bias, because they are made by human beings, who are also the ones who interpret the results from their point of view and their way of understanding the world, which is not necessarily the same as that of animals, for which it predominates, for example, smell or ear.Not forgetting the absence of language, a fact that limits our understanding.Observations in the natural environment should also be evaluated against those artificially created in laboratories.
Research continues to grow and provides new data, for example, in light of current knowledge of the Grand Primate Project, these primates are now being asked to obtain their rights as hominins as they are.an ethical and legislative impact.
Given the definition of thought, to answer this question it is necessary to determine the meaning of the term instinct, so instinct refers to innate behaviors that have not been learned but are transmitted by genes, that is, by instinct, all the animals of the same species will respond in the same way to a certain stimulus. Instincts occur in animals, but we must not forget this in humans as well.
Studies to resolve the question of how animals generally think have considered that mammals prevail, in terms of animal intelligence, reptiles, amphibians and fish, which in turn have been outperformed by birds.Among them, primates, elephants and dolphins have distinguished themselves by being smarter.The octopus, which is considered to possess considerable animal intelligence, makes the exception to this rule.
In animal thought studies, it was also assessed whether or not they had reasoning capacity.Reasoning can be defined as establishing a relationship between different ideas or concepts to reach conclusions or form a judgment.Based on this description of the concept, animals Can be considered to be reasoning, as it has already been observed that some of them are able to use elements to solve a problem that arises without resorting to trial and error.
The data exposed so far allows us to accept that animals think.As for the ability to feel, it is also possible to find evidence.First, it’s important to differentiate your ability to feel physical pain.To do this, it has been established that animals with the nervous system may experience pain in the same way as humans.So, a good example of this argument are bulls in the sand because it is possible to notice the pain.
But the question is also whether they are suffering, that is, whether they are experiencing psychological suffering.Stress, objectively measurable by secreted hormones, seems to give an affirmative answer.The depression described in the animals or the fact that some die after being abandoned.even without physical cause, it would also confirm this hypothesis.Once again, the results of the studies in this regard are an ethical issue and should make us think about how we treat the rest of the animals in the world.
Find out what animal welfare freedoms are and how they relate to stress in Animal Expert.
The ability of some primates to communicate through sign language, the use of the tools of these species, cephalopods and birds, the resolution of more or less complex problems, mice that stop eating food that have injured their congeners or the use of hot springs made by monkeys in Japan, are examples that have been worked on in the ongoing study that humans develop to solve the question of yes or no.
For more information, you can read the studies of Desmond Morris, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Timbergen, Frans de Waall, Karl Von Frisch, etc.
Learn more about the origin and evolution of primates in this Animal Expert article.
If you want to read articles similar to Do animals think ?, we recommend that you visit our Curiosities section of the animal world.