Animals and Emotional Awareness...

You know, animals sometimes do things you'd never think they would. Our dog Tiffany would rip paper towel into neat little strips. Our cat Fluffy would tap you on the arm when he wanted your attention. One dog I'm sure I heard sigh sarcastically, on more than one occasion. I'm serious.

Maybe someone should study this. They recently found Dolphins are more intelligent than us I know.

Are scientists even aware of how intelligent, and more-to-the-point, emotionally aware and complex they are? And is there anyway they could study this.

Perhaps they should.

 

Hi ,
Yes, I agree with you. I own a very clever dog. I love reading the newspaper and he knows all about my daily routine so early in the morning he gives the newspaper in my hands. I am genuinely surprised several times to see various works. I feel emotionally bound to my dog.

 

Oh, I'm sure that somewhere at some small or mid-sized college (the big ones wouldn't want to be associated with something so 'lightweight') some graduate student in Psychology is working up a proposal to present to his department head for a research project. Maybe even some Veterinary school's grad student. Seems like every five or ten years a news item pops up with new research done on animal's emotional abilities. And is promptly filed away or dismissed by the cynics.

But those of us blessed with both our animals and analytical minds already know that they have varying degrees of 'Emotional Intelligence'. Often times more than some of our bipedal cohorts.

--- ONG

 

I think you will find animals are more intelligent than we let on. Maybe more intelligent than us. We can fuck things up quicker than they can, does that make us more intelligent. I don't think so.

 

I agree with the point that animals are intelligent, but I don’t agree with the thought that they are more intelligent than us human beings. They maybe smarter than some humans (because there certainly are some dumb ones), as a whole, I just can’t support that.

 

Point taken, but I think you know what I Kent by you comment. Thank you. Nice post.

 

I don't know about that, lol. No other animals have managed to fuck up the planet as bad as humans have, maybe they don't do it on purpose.

I think we, as a species, are so disconnected from nature that we can't even guess at the knowledge locked away from us because of it. Do you know that they have just found out that plants in distress actually emit noise but in a frequency that humans can't hear? They don't know why yet though. And mycelium from mushrooms act like a network, stretching for miles underground, that transfers nutrients from a plant that has too much to a plant that has too little? That seems pretty intelligent to me.

Animals are by no means stupid either, we just don't understand them yet but they sure do seem to understand us. We tried to change the kind of litter we used and my cat shit on my bed, he got his point across very clearly, lol. If I look at his behavior for the entire day before he did that, I can see he was trying to tell me something with his behavior and meowing, I just had no idea what(I didn't know that the new litter was being used already because I wasn't the one to change the box). Him doing that was a last resort for him to tell me what he needed.

 

As a person who has always had an almost uncanny affinity with kitties, there is nothing of which I'm more convinced. Animals feel emotion and show it.

 

What a great video of Billie's intelligence. I also like the way communicate with him to. A mark of a caring and clever person. I also have three cat's just as if not more cleaver than me. Outstanding, also what you say about plant's. We should be studying them more than space etc. Thank you.

 

Yeah, there are a bunch of videos on TikTok and YouTube showing both cats and dogs using these buttons to tell their people what they need. I bought a few after the "incident" with my cat but he doesn't seem interested in learning them yet. Lol

 

There was an insightful incident in India depicting elephant altruism with respect to a dog...

Elephant cognition - Wikipedia

 

Animals indeed exhibit remarkable behaviors and abilities that can surprise us. The examples you provided about your dog ripping paper towel, your cat tapping your arm for attention, and a dog sighing are interesting observations of their unique behaviors.
It is essential to recognize and appreciate the intelligence and emotional capacities of animals. By studying their cognitive and emotional abilities, scientists gain insights into the complexity of animal minds and the importance of animal welfare. Ongoing research and advancements in the field of animal cognition continue to shed light on the remarkable capabilities of various species. This knowledge can contribute to our understanding of animals and inform conservation efforts, animal welfare practices, and the ethical treatment of animals.

 

The thought processes of animals seem similar to our own. One day we we hiking a loop trail about 1/4 long in a wooded area with our dog Tiffany and our daughter and her dog Merlin. When we had completed the loop and returned to the starting point, Tiffany suddenly dashed down the trail around the loop. No amount of calling would stop her. Merlin just ran after her not having a clue what was going on.

About 5 minutes later the dogs came bounding down the completion of the trail. And Tiffany sat with a satisfied look on her face. She knew when took off down the trail should would return to where we were. As if let us know she understood the concept of a loop she did the same process a few weeks later on a different loop trail.