animal Inteligence essays

animal Inteligence essays The debate about the intelligence of animals has been one of the most frequently talked about subjects in the study of animal behavior. Are animals intelligent, or are the just doing what their instincts tell them to do. But if an animal only reacts on instinct, how have some animals been able to survive even though their environment has changed. How could these animals survive they are not able to learn from and recognize the changes to their environment. Too me the idea that animals are just mindless robots just doing what their instincts tell them to do is preposterous. Animals have a long history of learning, communication, and other signs of intelligent behavior. Scientist trying to understand their behavior has studied animals around the world. Some scientists have been studying conditioning animals to do certain action and remember long string of characters. Pavlov a behavioral physiologist discovered that when he rang a bell just before feeding his dogs began to salivate and expect food. While most people think of this as just a simple reflex it shows that the animal has linked the two actions. The Skinner box showed the learning capability small animals. It used operant conditioning to teach mice to remember patterns to switches. If a creature can remember and figure out how to activate a switch it clearly shows a capacity for higher thought. If animals only act on instinct what does it due when it encounters an event that it has never come across before. The whole idea of adaptation would not exist. When the first gazelles appeared on earth did they right from the start that know that moving in herds would be their safest option. Highly on likely, it probably took a few gazelles being eaten before the learned that. While I will admit that there is a possibility of this knowledge occurring naturally I still doubt it very much. Did ants suddenly organize the complex socia ...