Posted in Animal Intelligence on November 15, 2009| 1 Comment »
To me, seals look like dogs that have evolved to live in the oceans.
On a related note, this is a very cool National Geographic documentary on Dolphins. They talk about dolphin society and pack hunting. (55 minutes long)
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/dolphins_the_wild_side/
Posted in Animal Intelligence on October 25, 2009| 1 Comment »
[via Cynical-C]
Posted in Animal Intelligence, Humor on August 27, 2009| 2 Comments »
I just like this video because the chimpanzee is surprised when the magician does tricks. This shows just how much the chimpanzee understands and anticipates what’s supposed to happen.
Posted in Animal Intelligence on December 10, 2008| 2 Comments »
I’m often surprised by the intelligence of birds. They have such small brains, but can be surprisingly smart. My guess is that evolutionary pressures increased their brain power while under the constraint of having a lightweight brain (so it could still fly). It makes me think that maybe birds have more powerful brains per pound than mammals.
From the local news:
A babysitter’s parrot is being credited with helping save the life of a 2-year-old girl who was choking Friday at a Denver area home while the sitter was in the bathroom.
“While I was in the bathroom, Willie (the parrot) started screaming like I’d never heard him scream before and he started flapping his wings,” said Meagan, the babysitter. “Then he started saying ‘mama baby’ over and over and over again until I came out and looked at Hannah and Hannah’s face was turning blue because she was choking on her pop tart.”
Meagan performed the Heimlich maneuver on Hannah, which stopped the choking.
“If (Willie) wouldn’t have warned me, I probably wouldn’t have come out of the bathroom in time because she was already turning blue, her lips were blue and everything,” Meagan said.
(Source)
Watch the bird in the second clip
Video of a crow bending a piece of wire into a tool:
Posted in Animal Intelligence on May 16, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Pretty cool talk by Joshua Klein on the intelligence of Crows. Their brain-to-body weight ratio is about the same as chimpanzees, but they’re much smaller, so it’s surprising just how smart they are. I’m guessing that their brains are much better organized than primates (including us) – and that’s the reason they can pack so much brain power in such a small space.
Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.ted.com posted with vodpod
Posted in Animal Intelligence on March 29, 2008| 2 Comments »
Just thought this was a pretty cool video. It’s an 8-minute video of an elephant painting an elephant. You have to wonder what the inner mental life of an elephant is like.
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