Mankind is not the only animal evolving. Lately we've learned of apes using tools, chipmunks conversing, Grey Parrots with the mind of three year old humans.....

Animals are getting smarter, just as we are.

I believe we will eventual evolve away from this planet and a new species of animal will rise to become the dominate species.

I also believe this has already happened.

I am an avid dog lover. I can swear that sometimes my dogs actually understand the words I am saying. I dont just mean the words they are trained to respond to, I mean strange words that would normally be foreign to them. They react to conversational phrases and words that I dont consistently use for obedience training.

Nat Geo's website has an old news story about how closely the dog genome is to the human genome. It supposedly sheds some light on why dogs and humans interact so well.

The monkeys may one day rule the planet, but it will not be without a fight for dominance with the canine family.

well i didn't do a search, but this is the first thread I've seen about animal consciousness
growing up, we had so many pet cats, every year we had a new member come and go, it was fun, and they were a part of the family just like our dog was and i'm sure as well as any other American that had pets growing up. our cat (charter) she was named after a mental institution, because she was so nuts! sometimes when that cat looked at us, we could swear she knew what we were thinking...Its those candid eyes with a hint of curiosity in them like she's looking almost through us...I know some people think cats are some of the laziest and dumbest animals lol, and as much as I agree with lazy, I think the their thought process in curiosity resembles ours. just the way they approach what they aren't familiar with, well they don't exactly stop and think about it like us (sometimes we just know that we shouldn't go in there)cat don't think "oh this could turn out horribly fatal", they are just simply curious like us, and many other animals. - I am already a big fan of curiosity, so you can see why I like cats so much -

According to Buddhism you can reincarnate as a 'lower' form of life depending on your actions and choices in this lifetime.

Think about that next time you see someone kicking a dog, that could be one of your friends or family members that you have lost being kicked.

That's why I typed it as 'lower' not simply lower, not my own words or thoughts on it, just passing along what I have read.
I have read that this extends all the way down to a worm, or maybe even lower.

Learning that changed my perspective on animals totally, although I will be the first to admit I'm a hypocrite.
I still eat meat, but if I see someone abusing an animal I step in and do my best to stop it, even if the person is twice my size.

Originally posted by ashamedamerican
That's why I typed it as 'lower' not simply lower, not my own words or thoughts on it, just passing along what I have read.
I have read that this extends all the way down to a worm, or maybe even lower.

Learning that changed my perspective on animals totally, although I will be the first to admit I'm a hypocrite.
I still eat meat, but if I see someone abusing an animal I step in and do my best to stop it, even if the person is twice my size.

There's really just no excuse for that.

Personally I don't think it's bad to eat meat, in the spititual sense, so long as one is appreciative; whatever we use to sustain ourselves, something has to die.

Animals can be pretty smart. I think if we could communicate with them more directly it would be more obvious. Just because we're the most advanced animal on the planet doesn't mean the others will stop evolving.

I saw a guy having a conversation with a parrot once. The bird wasn't just repeating stuff, they were actually having a conversation! It was just smalltalk but still.... I had no idea it was possible till I saw it.

Plus those elephants that draw pictures, that's just amazing. Also wasn't there a gorilla that communicated via sign language?

Kruel:
I think you're referring to 'koko' the gorilla if I'm not mistaken, but alot of apes have been taught sign language it's not a rare occurance by any means.
I had a pet Cockatiel once who would not accept food from anyone but me, I could not take a vacation while I had this bird because I feared it would starve in my absence. To me this seemed like more than just quirky behavior it seemed like a pretty complex trust issue. Nobody else could touch him either or he would get either very scared or violent depending on who it was attempting to violate his personal space.

ofhumandescent:
Your dog sounds like a pretty smart animal to me. I had a Siberian Husky that used to manipulate humans like playtoys. He would get lonely late at night and wrap his runner around a tree until his neck was against the tree. It looked like he was in danger of strangling himself and most of my family (including me) would barrel out the door to unwrap him from the tree. But sure enough half an hour later you would hear him yelping and crying and you would look out to see that he had done it all over again.

One night I heard him yelping, peeked out the window to see him wrapped around the tree again but I waited and watched and stopped my family members from 'rescuing' him. Shortly after this he unwrapped his own runner from the tree and went back to his doghouse.
This is just one example and I wish I could think of more but I'm tired at the moment it's about 2 a.m. here.

This dog was so smart that he would manipulate humans into doing whatever he wanted them to do, I used to laugh at my family when I saw them falling for it because I came to realize that my dog was actually smarter than some of my family members.

Don't underestimate animals, you're only fooling yourself.

The reason I kept my dog outside was because he was a 95% pure Siberian Husky and I was told by my veterinarian that it wasn't good to keep a dog that pure indoors.

This wasn't a fully domesticated dog, or I should probably say that his breed wasn't fully domesticated. I even spoke with other Husky owners and they all confirmed what the vet told me, that a dog like him shouldn't be kept indoors.

He was the closest thing to a wild animal I ever had as a pet, and used to pace back and forth when he was indoors and would never lay down or relax. It seemed to stress him out to be indoors.

I was told it was his natural 'roaming instinct' and that the only thing I could do was give him a very large outdoor area that was 'his domain' meaning no other animals were to be allowed into that area for any reason, ever.

Not to mention that a dog of that size and power was like a bull in a china cabinet anytime he entered the house.

That video was wild. I wonder who could have actually been filming it.

I would also agree that the consciousness of animals is heightening at equal proportions to humanity.

My dog constantly amazes me every day. First off, he prefers being on two feet instead of four. He comes up on my lap and sits up right. Also, when I let him outside, he stands at the door on his hind legs waiting to come in.

He also builds nests to where he wants to lay down. He will add things to it or use his mouth to move things in a certain manner of his choosing.

I've talked to him like a person since I've had him. He knows so many words it's amazing. He also talks back in certain tones not involving any barking.

Animals are definitely indicators of what's going on and it's truly amazing watching them exist. Not to get off topic but I feel they are as much a part of the ascension process as we are. I've done a past life regression on my dog and have seen that he's been almost every animal imaginable. I get the strong feeling that there is a very specific reason he is with me at this time.

I am an animal lover, and a cat fanatic. LOL There is a wonderful spirit in animals and so many people just miss that. I have had dogs and cats my entire life. I see animals as a near perfect example of unconditional love. They are very sensitive, IMHO cats are one of the most sensitive animals. I have some health issues and when I do begin to get sick, they know and they hover until I get back on my feet.

I am new here so I am not sure where to post what, but I also believe animals have a sight to the unseen or spiritual world that we don't have. I do believe that people that abuse animals are deeply disturbed.

It's beyond me that anyone who has spent any time around animals at all would ever believe the idea that animals are anything but conscious beings. They are. They always have been. But they have remained "in the garden" whereas we have "eaten from the tree". Plants are also conscious, though they have an entirely different value system than we mobile creatures do. The elements too have their consciousness. It's everywhere. There is no escaping it. Consciousness is everywhere and of the same source.

Animals are just a smaller scoop out of the same bowl of Spirit that we are. They make sounds according to their species, but communicate with each other using what may best be described as the 'psychic' link, or thought projection. Mainstream Humanity has all but lost this ability, and thus it is us who are too dumb to communicate adequately with animals.

Like us, animals incarnate in bodies for lifelimes in order to evolve, and at some future point that intelligent dog and loving cat will eventually start their first human incarnation.

All creatures have feelings, however well developed, and I often cringe when I see a Lobster scalded to death in a saucepan on TV.

I think an effort should be put in place to teach animals some sort of a general language and have them released back in the wild, anyone think that would do anything beneficial for the future?

Probably be most effective with animals that last longer....

... personally I have a mini story I could tell, a few years back we'd rescued a baby female raven that we'd found in our yard with a broken leg, we'd wrapped it up in a bit of gauzz and made it a little nest out of wood n ripped up paper, some straw and stuff... over a few months we nursed it indoors till it was able to fly again, but it had became drastically domesticated, we'd be able to pet it, feed it by hand, it would never try to fly around the house i'd walk around actually, it was never a pest once...

The eventually when we trusted it enough and it was fat enough to withstand the cold outside we let it go... now everyday for the past few years it comes back with its young ones to visit in the backyard, we usually leave some food out on a plate for the raven and its family... and even its young ones arn't afraid of us, real neat