Clever Apes

I thought this was a cool story .

Check out how smart these Orangutans are...Yahoo Link

All of the orangutans collected water from a drinker and spat it inside the tube to float the peanuts high enough to grab them, averaging three mouthfuls before success. In their first attempts, the apes on average took nine minutes before they got the nuts, but they only needed just 31 seconds by their tenth try.

I was watching a program on TV yesterday and they said that parrots can be as smart as a 5 year old and were one of the most inteligent in the animal kingdom.

Wow! How smart are animals? I may become a vegitarian if I keep thinking about this.

edit spelling


[edit on 15-7-2007 by earth2]

I watched a programme that said pigs were highly intelligent, and if there were no humans or other primates then pigs would probably run the world. They even showed some working a computer game for food rewards. Kind of puts me off my bacon.

Orang-utan is Malay for 'Man of the Forrest.'
Legend has it that Orangutans are extremely wise and sacred souls who can even speak, but they never do in front of Man, because they know if Man found out, they would then force them to work. Now THAT is a clever Ape!

Sadly Orangutans are disappearing off the face of the Earth at an alarming rate. They are under extreme pressure and if the rate continues there wont be any more in less than 50 years. I personally sponsor two orphan baby orangutans through OFI until such time as they are able to fend for their own and can be released back into the wild.

You can learn more about Orangutans and what you can do to help at Orangutan Foundation International

The problem in deciding "how intelligent animals are" is that WE design the tests. My cat could design a test that I would flunk completely.

Cats and dogs also train us, but we're too stupid to know it (we know that certain things mean "let me out" and so forth.

In the West, we have a tradition of treating animals and other living things as sort of cardboard cutouts that are here for the pleasure of man. All living things can feel, and many have problem solving abilities (I'm not sure about carrots and plants, but most animals with a nervous system seem to have some sort of awareness AND problem solving ability). Not bacteria, but the simple worms and so forth do.

In the East, Buddhists and some other faiths (Ghandi comes to mind) believe that the lower forms of life have souls that are working up the ladder to incarnation and working their way to merging with the divine. People with this philosophy don't treat animals and insects as cardboard cutouts, but with the respect due something that has a soul.

We may not all become vegetarians... but we can treat the other lifeforms around us with more respect -- and perhaps pick some vegetarian snacks or a veggie pizza more often. In our household, we eat more chicken and fish.

My pussy taught me to sit up and beg

Originally posted by Terapin
Legend has it that Orangutans are extremely wise and sacred souls.

Sadly [they] are disappearing off the face of the Earth at an alarming rate.

Not so wise then, eh?

(Speaking as a strict Darwinian and so on.)

We should try to save them, though, for biodiversity reasons as well as basic compassion. Even if they are incorrigible rapists.

Originally posted by Byrd
Cats and dogs also train us, but we're too stupid to know it.

Not just cats and dogs; as I'm sure you're aware, viruses and internal parasites manipulate us too.