Book contents
- Much Like Us
- Much Like Us
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Typical Human, Typical Animal?
- Chapter 2 Ginger Boris Doesn’t Like to Be Alone
- Chapter 3 Cats Are Happy When They’re Playing
- Chapter 4 Nature Versus Nurture
- Chapter 5 Clever Dogs and Ingenious Ravens
- Chapter 6 Animal Personalities
- Chapter 7 Altruistic Squirrels and Egotistical Lions
- Chapter 8 Animals Like Us
- Bibliography
Chapter 5 - Clever Dogs and Ingenious Ravens
All Animals Can Learn, Many Can Think, and Some Can Even Recognise Themselves in a Mirror
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 April 2022
- Much Like Us
- Much Like Us
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Typical Human, Typical Animal?
- Chapter 2 Ginger Boris Doesn’t Like to Be Alone
- Chapter 3 Cats Are Happy When They’re Playing
- Chapter 4 Nature Versus Nurture
- Chapter 5 Clever Dogs and Ingenious Ravens
- Chapter 6 Animal Personalities
- Chapter 7 Altruistic Squirrels and Egotistical Lions
- Chapter 8 Animals Like Us
- Bibliography
Summary
As we saw in the last chapter, instincts and learning interact in complex ways to produce the characteristic behaviours of each species and individual. So far, we have discussed learning in a broad sense: ducklings learn who to follow after they hatch; zebra finches learn what traits their future mates should have; guinea pigs learn to get along with members of their own species; and vervet monkeys learn which warning call to sound for a leopard and which to sound for an eagle. The pigeons Jack and Jill even learned (with help) to transmit information with symbols so efficiently that it appeared as though they were having a conversation. In this chapter we will take a closer look at which cognitive capacities animals possess: whether they can not only learn but also think, and whether they, like humans, can develop self-awareness.
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- Much Like UsWhat Science Reveals about the Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviour of Animals, pp. 81 - 99Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022