09-30-2011, 06:28 AM
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#1
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I Live Here
Join Date: May 2007
Location: So Cal
Posts: 5,193
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Animal Behavior
I love stories about animals displaying behavior that we previously thought of as uniquely human. There are so many of these stories lately that thought I would make a thread.
Here is one today about fish caught on camera using tools.
Quote:
In the video, an orange-dotted tuskfish is seen digging a clam out of the sand. The tuskfish then carries the clam over to a rock, and repeatedly throws the clam against the rock to crush it. This is basic tool tech, but it does the job and is impressive when you consider that fish don't have hands or much to work with in their habitats.
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Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 06:33 AM
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#2
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I Live Here
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A video featuring Dr Robert Sapolsky, a neuroscientist that studies baboons on animals displaying all kinds of interesting and sophisticated political behavior.
Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 06:37 AM
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#3
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I Live Here
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Location: So Cal
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Probably everyone has already read the story on wild parrots naming their babies.
Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 09:06 AM
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#4
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I Live Here
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Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 09:39 AM
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#6
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I Live Here
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Pigeons out perform humans in the Monty Hall Dilemma (pdf)
Quote:
magine that you’re in a game show and your host shows you three doors. Behind one of them is a shiny car and behind the others are far less lustrous goats. You pick one of the doors and get whatever lies within. After making your choice, your host opens one of the other two doors, which inevitably reveals a goat. He then asks you if you want to stick with your original pick, or swap to the other remaining door. What do you do?
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Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 09:48 AM
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#7
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Obsessed Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,457
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Dude, these stories rock.
I also love to see evidence of animals doing things thought to be "human specific".
Like parrots naming their kids? Awesome!
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09-30-2011, 09:51 AM
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#8
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I Live Here
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Location: So Cal
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Quote:
Michael wrote
Dude, these stories rock.
I also love to see evidence of animals doing things thought to be "human specific".
Like parrots naming their kids? Awesome!
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Thanks!
I love the pigeon one. Now, whenever I go to Starbucks and see the pigeons hanging out at the feet of the people, I think "Which of these animals would you bet on in a battle of logic."
Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 10:36 AM
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#9
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The Original Rhinoqurilla
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Somewhere Not-So-Cold with Mountains
Posts: 4,829
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I have to agree, awesome thread ubs. Love reading about intelligence in animals, as there tends to be so little intelligence displayed in our own species at times.
Wait just a minute-You expect me to believe-That all this misbehaving-Grew from one enchanted tree? And helpless to fight it-We should all be satisfied-With this magical explanation-For why the living die-And why it's hard to be a decent human being - David Bazan
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10-01-2011, 05:53 AM
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#10
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I Live Here
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Quote:
Rhinoqulous wrote
I have to agree, awesome thread ubs. Love reading about intelligence in animals, as there tends to be so little intelligence displayed in our own species at times.
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Thank you. Some of the stories are getting so old that they are vanishing off of the search engine lists and I'm worried about losing them.
Here is another TED: Joshua Klein's Vending Machine for Crows
Joshua Klein is a technologist with a personal interest in the hyper adaptability of species that exist inside human ecology (rats, roaches, and especially crows). Really interesting review of different experiments with crows ending with his own development of a crow vending machine.
Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 10:41 AM
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#11
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I Live Here
Join Date: Apr 2008
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I did read that a million monkeys typing on a million type writers over a period of years wrote Moby Dick..............................
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09-30-2011, 03:42 PM
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#12
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I Live Here
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Quote:
ILOVEJESUS wrote
I did read that a million monkeys typing on a million type writers over a period of years wrote Moby Dick..............................
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And it only took a hundred or so apes a few months to print and publish it.
"Those who most loudly proclaim their honesty are least likely to possess it."
"Atheism: rejecting all absurdity." S.H.
"Reality, the God alternative"
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09-30-2011, 09:40 PM
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#13
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shred
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Allentown Pennsylvania USA
Posts: 1,038
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Quote:
ILOVEJESUS wrote
I did read that a million monkeys typing on a million type writers over a period of years wrote Moby Dick..............................
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I thought it was "Hamlet".
Also what Stern said.
"Ignorance is not bliss; it is terrifying like walking blindfolded down a dark hallway full of set bear traps." ~ Sternwallow
Death will be like 1964 all over again.
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10-01-2011, 05:56 AM
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#14
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I Live Here
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Quote:
clambake wrote
Also what Stern said.
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Which part?
Never give a zombie girl a piggy back ride.
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09-30-2011, 03:37 PM
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#15
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I Live Here
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 23,211
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Quote:
ubs wrote
I love stories about animals displaying behavior that we previously thought of as uniquely human. There are so many of these stories lately that thought I would make a thread.
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I am cautious about reports of "human-like" behaviors from animals. I agree that there are many well established ones but it is very easy in many cases for the theist to say that the behaviors are merely very complex instincts like the termite hill, the Bee huve or the Bower-bird's nest.
The key, I think, to a valid instance of a human-like feature is the (intellect based) ability to adjust its response to a situation that is just outside the animal's ordinary range of experience.
If the fish in the report could not slam its catch on a rock because, say, it happened to be a very large variant of its kind and, if the fish exhibited novel behavior, dropping a rock on its catch instead (no, I don't know how this could be done, I am not as smart as the hypothetical fish), then I would be impressed over its human-like innovation or creativity.
When I read about Chimps using a long straw to get insects out of holes in rotting wood, I was elated (toolmaking discovered). Later, when I read that all Chimps did it the same way, I was disappointed (merely complex instinct). Then when I read that similar behaviors had to be spread from one animal to another (in Bonobos) by example and communication, I was happy again (non-instinctual learning).
"Those who most loudly proclaim their honesty are least likely to possess it."
"Atheism: rejecting all absurdity." S.H.
"Reality, the God alternative"
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