Scientists are re-thinking animal cognition

[Lou]

Got this article in my News Feed today.
I've read similar stuff before but never one with such a medical/scientific focus.

This article discusses the "trust hormone" which is produced in both babies and mothers when they look into each other's eyes. What is mind-blowing is not only to people produce this hormone when looking into their pet's eyes, the dog does, too!

I think the article raises as many questions as answers which is, I think, something any good science experiment should do.

Also, I wasn't familiar with this magazine. just scanning the headlines looks like something I'm going to keep an eye on.

Science | AAAS

www.sciencemag.org

 

[Hog]

Sometimes dogs know that a person is getting sick before humans. When I was a little kid, there were a couple dogs that would always give me sniff downs. They would check everything. And if anything was suspicious they would recheck that area. One dog detected an ear infection. They can detect just about anything.

However, when a dog spent a long time sniffing my rump, my mom said, "Did you remember to wipe, Son?" That little ***** was such a snitch.

 

[Lou]

Sometimes dogs know that a person is getting sick before humans. When I was a little kid, there were a couple dogs that would always give me sniff downs. They would check everything. And if anything was suspicious they would recheck that area. One dog detected an ear infection. They can detect just about anything.

However, when a dog spent a long time sniffing my rump, my mom said, "Did you remember to wipe, Son?" That little ***** was such a snitch.

One of my very favorite books is Dogs With Jobs. It's basically a collection of photo essays. One of the service dogs could detect an epileptic seizure before it occurs. Another could detect land mines.

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[Lou]

So it turns out that these monkeys have been making tools for thousands of years and Archeologists have dug up the old tools and found that they are getting better at it.

These monkeys are 3,000 years into their own 'Stone Age'

While capuchins won't use tools like us any time soon, the species now “has its own individual archaeological record,” scientists report.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[Mom2vegan]

Are any of you into Buddhism, or mindfulness or any of that?

I think that animals are always in the here and now. Like - the state that Buddhists wish to achieve. The same thing as Nirvana. I think they're in it permanently. Animals don't think about the future, and they don't have regrets. They don't have fears or anxieties about what might happen. They're above us in that way. Animals have reached Nirvana, or Heaven, or whatever you want to call it. I think we get reincarnated over and over again until we reach Nirvana. Humans are the lowest spiritual life form. We think we're the highest but we're the lowest. The animals are above us. So - what the Hindus believe is right. BUT - I've had too much wine. AND - wine is not vegan so I must switch to beer in 2 days, when the wine runs out.

 

[Mom2vegan]

One of my very favorite books is Dogs With Jobs. It's basically a collection of photo essays. One of the service dogs could detect an epileptic seizure before it occurs. Another could detect land mines.

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

I was an ER and ICU nurse for many years and we had an epileptic patient who used to always come into the ER. He always had a seizure detection dog with him. He went through so many seizure detection dogs, because his dogs would actually have seizures with him....or for him...... the dogs didn't just let him know the seizures were coming, they often started having seizures with him. Several dogs died from the seizures Dogs are amazing. Dogs are angels.

 

[Lou]

AND - wine is not vegan so I must switch to beer in 2 days, when the wine runs out.

Some wines are vegan. and some beers are not.
I think you are going to be a frequent Barnivore user.

 

[Lou]

Dogs are amazing. Dogs are angels.

Just finished binge watching a new show called In the Dark. The main character is blind and has a seeing-eye dog. The show's creator really wanted to use a blind actress in the role but it quickly became evident that it was too hard on the seeing eye dog. I guess when they have to reshoot a scene the dog would become upset. I guess the dog thought he was making a mistake and it was hard on the dog. And they couldn't really write the dog out of the script.
so instead they used a sighted actress and a specially trained dog actor. And the dog really stole the show. Maybe the best character and actress in the whole show.

BTW, if you are looking for a really good murder mystery with an attractive cast, cool music, clever dialog, snark, and satire, check out this show. It just finished its first season on the CW and has been renewed.



Levi, who plays Pretzel. If they don't give out awards for dog actors they need to start.

How ‘In the Dark’ Trained a Regular Dog to Act as a Guide Dog

Violetta Hessing trained Levi for the CW drama, which also saw Lorri Bernson as a consultant.

variety.com

 

[Lou]

Just finished binge watching a new show called In the Dark. The main character is blind and has a seeing-eye dog. The show's creator really wanted to use a blind actress in the role but it quickly became evident that it was too hard on the seeing eye dog. I guess when they have to reshoot a scene the dog would become upset. I guess the dog thought he was making a mistake and it was hard on the dog. And they couldn't really write the dog out of the script.
so instead they used a sighted actress and a specially trained dog actor. And the dog really stole the show. Maybe the best character and actress in the whole show.

BTW, if you are looking for a really good murder mystery with an attractive cast, cool music, clever dialog, snark, and satire, check out this show. It just finished its first season on the CW and has been renewed.

View attachment 1025

Levi, who plays Pretzel. If they don't give out awards for dog actors they need to start.

How ‘In the Dark’ Trained a Regular Dog to Act as a Guide Dog

Violetta Hessing trained Levi for the CW drama, which also saw Lorri Bernson as a consultant.

variety.com

NOW ON NETFLIX

 

[Lou]

So last month the fellows at RadioLab ran a bunch of episodes on Intelligence. Human intelligence. I skipped most of them. I think some were repeats and the others didn't spark my interest. the last one was on Animal Intelligence. RadioLab has covered this topic before. In fact, I think I brought it up once before. This episode took a more fun look at the Animal Intelligence spectrum. They brought in some RadioLab contributors and some experts in the field. They formed a panel of judges (one of the judges was a dog that has performed on Broadway as Sandy in Annie). in singles and pairs, the "contestants" explained why their animal should win the most intelligent animal award. Some of it was serious (sperm whale), and some tongue in cheek (slime mold*).

I learned almost as much as I laughed.

You can listen to this podcast on whatever you use for Podcasts or here

Radiolab

Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. We ask deep questions and use investigative journalism to get the answers. A given episode might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. The show is known for innovative sound design, smashing information...

www.npr.org

* I don't think this was ever pointed out but slime mold is (and never was) considered a part of the animal kingdom. Originally it was classified as a fungi but eventually got reclassified as Protista. But strangely enough, it does exhibit some type of "intelligence".

 

[Hog]

"the dogs didn't just let him know the seizures were coming, they often started having seizures with him. Several dogs died from the seizures"

That is amazing mom2vegan. Dogs must have the ability to communicate on a level that we humans can not.

 

[Lou]

"the dogs didn't just let him know the seizures were coming, they often started having seizures with him. Several dogs died from the seizures"

That is amazing mom2vegan. Dogs must have the ability to communicate on a level that we humans can not.

According to the Dogs with Jobs book, no one really understands how dogs can predict seizures. And very few dogs seem to be able to do this. One theory is that they can smell some kind of blood chemistry change.

just checking on that and I found this

 

[Lou]

I thought this was such an excellent thread. Sometimes off topic but always interesting.
time to give it a little bump.

anyway I accidentally (or maybe incidentally) learned about an idea that can be simply expressed as brain to body mass ratio as an rough estimate of an animal's intelligence.

Yes it has its critics. and its limitations. but its a good fact based place to start this kind of discussion.

Turns out mice and men have the same ratio. 1:40.
Birds have a much lower one 1:12. this is often explained away because the ability to fly must take a lot of brain cells. But we already know that lots are birds are pretty smart, too.

Since insects are so small they have the highest Brain:Body. but maybe we shouldn't so quickly dismiss that insects are sentient. Bees are capable of some pretty amazing things. Bees dancing is a complex form of communication. Ants have some amazing navigational skills.

Earlier today I watched a video of a horse who had been separated from its owner for years. It's joy of being reunited with its owner was unmistakable. And horses have one of the lowest B:B ratios

Brain–body mass ratio - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org