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    Inside Animal Minds: The New Science of Animal Intelligence
    Inside Animal Minds: The New Science of Animal Intelligence
    Inside Animal Minds: The New Science of Animal Intelligence
    Ebook67 pages1 hour

    Inside Animal Minds: The New Science of Animal Intelligence

    By Virgina Morell, and Peter Miller and Mary Roach

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    About this ebook

    The Animal Intelligence Bundle:

    "Minds of Their Own" by Virginia Morell (March 2008)
    "Almost Human" by Mary Roach (April 2008)
    "The Genius of Swarms" by Peter Miller (July 2007)

    In "Minds of Their Own," Virginia Morell provides an overview of the science of animal intelligence. She introduces you to an African gray parrot named Alex, a bonobo named Kanzi, and a border collie named Betsy. Each of these animals tells us something interesting about the way they perceive and manipulate their world. The article also looks at what scientists are learning about the intelligence of dolphins and crows, beyond mere communication.

    In "Almost Human," Mary Roach takes us to the savannahs of Senegal to meet a group of 34 chimpanzees, whose behavior and social structures have given scientists some important clues about the nature of their communication and intelligence.

    In "The Genius of Swarms," Peter Miller looks at the collective behavior of ants, bees, and other insects for what they can tell us about social organization and how sometimes intelligence lies outside of the individual brain. This article served as the basis for his book, The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNational Geographic
    Release dateOct 9, 2012
    ISBN9781426210037
    Inside Animal Minds: The New Science of Animal Intelligence

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      Book preview

      Inside Animal Minds - Virgina Morell

      Published by the National Geographic Society

      1145 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

      Copyright © 2012 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

      eISBN: 978-1-4262-1003-7

      The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge, the Society’s mission is to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 10,000 scientific research, conservation, and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy.

      For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com

      National Geographic Society

      1145 17th Street N.W.

      Washington, D.C. 20036-4688 U.S.A.

      For rights or permissions inquiries, please contact National Geographic Books Subsidiary Rights: ngbookrights@ngs.org

      Cover: Border collie

      (Vincent J. Musi; cover design by Jonathan Halling)

      v3.1

      CONTENTS

      Cover

      Title Page

      Copyright

      Epigraph

      Minds of Their Own

      Photo Insert

      Almost Human

      Photo Insert

      The Genius of Swarms

      About the Authors

      Three National Geographic magazine articles on animal intelligence, compiled in one easy ebook format, to read and reread:

      In Minds of Their Own, Virginia Morell provides a fascinating overview of the science of animal intelligence. She introduces us to an African gray parrot named Alex, a bonobo named Kanzi, and a border collie named Betsy. Each of these animals tells us something interesting about the way they perceive and manipulate their world. The article also explores what scientists are learning about the intelligence of dolphins and crows, beyond mere communication.

      In Almost Human, Mary Roach takes us to the savannas of Senegal to meet a group of 34 chimpanzees, whose behavior and social structures have given scientists some important clues to understanding their communication and intelligence as well as our own evolution.

      In The Genius of Swarms, Peter Miller looks at the collective behavior of ants, bees, and other insects for what they can tell us about social organization and how sometimes intelligence lies outside of the individual brain. This article served as the basis for his book The Smart Swarm: How Understanding Flocks, Schools, and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making, and Getting Things Done.

      Minds of Their Own

      By Virginia Morell

      Animals are smarter than you think.

      In 1977, Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creature’s mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world.

      When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died September 2007 at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dog’s eyes and know that, of course, Spot has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking—that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it?

      That’s why I started my studies with Alex, Pepperberg said. They were seated—she at her desk, he on top of his cage—in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar, at Brandeis University. Newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team—and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful.

      Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others’ motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays

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