[Ninja Nem]

It has been a long standing belief in a good number of people that animals are nothing more then unfeeling machines that have no intelligence. When faced with clear and concise evidence that this is not the case and that some animals are nearly as intelligent as the human animal yet they still deny it. What is that makes people so scared to admit that animals are more then they appear to be? Why is it such a hard thing to accept?

National Geographic has an excellent article on this very subject that provides examples of animal intelligence:

Animal Minds - National Geographic Magazine

Anyone who owns a pet should find it hard to deny that animals don't feel emotions. Elephants mourn their dead. Dogs get depressed when their owners leave for vacation. I volunteer at an animal shelter by helping to make the cats more sociable. I have witnessed a ray of emotion in these cats from anger to joy. And yet....why is it also hard for people to admit that animals have as broad a spectrum of emotions as us?

[slightlybatty]

i was brought up in a house to respect animals. they are living creatures that God created and it is our duty as their masters/owners to provide and care for them. each animal has a purpose whether it is food, clothing, emotional bonding or whatever its purpose is for. but i was also brought up that humans are superior and animals are not equal to humans. its not a lack of emotions is a lack of understanding....

[de l'eau salée]

Thank you so much for linking this, Calypso! I saw this National Geographic once, and I really wanted to read it, but I never saw it again after that one day. Yay :)

[Happy]

When faced with clear and concise evidence that this is not the case and that some animals are nearly as intelligent as the human animal yet they still deny it.

Can you tell me which animals are "nearly" as intelligent as humans?

[de l'eau salée]

Can you tell me which animals are "nearly" as intelligent as humans?

I think dolphins are one of the species, not sure on the others.

[mcgooglian]

chimps are also close to. We actually watched a video on them in sociology and in terms of intelligence, they could learn quickly and were pretty smart.

[Happy]

I've never seen or heard of any of the animals stated above solve complex problems before.

[BeHope]

I've never seen or heard of any of the animals stated above solve complex problems before.

have you done much research into the subjects?

[snail]

Birds are apparently capable of abstract thought, at least to an extent.

[Ninja Nem]

I've never seen or heard of any of the animals stated above solve complex problems before.

Did you bother to read the article? Then you would have read about the crow who had to figure out how to bend a piece of wire in order to retrieve a basket of meat from a glass tube. Also, to guve enrichment activities to octopi and similar sea animals, handlers will freeze fish in a big block of ice and place it into something. The animals then have to figure out how to retrieve the fish.

And yes, dolphins and chimps are close to us intelligence.