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Animal Cognition Article



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 19th 08, 05:01 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Default Animal Cognition Article

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...-morell-text/1

Interesting little article.

Suja


  #2  
Old February 19th 08, 06:42 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Default Animal Cognition Article


"Suja" wrote in message
...
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...-morell-text/1

Interesting little article.

Suja



It IS interesting.
Alex has been interestingly contraversial, but it sounds like he served a
great and important purpose.

  #3  
Old February 19th 08, 06:43 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Default Animal Cognition Article

Suja wrote:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...-morell-text/1

Interesting little article.



And a highly contested one.
There's this:


"Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign
language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive
results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his
symbol-communication board with him so he can "talk" to his human
researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his
thoughts."


There are many researchers who doubt that non-human primates are using
language in any way close to the way human primates do. There's the
oft-cited business about how one of the chimps who was taught sign
language combined the signs for "water" and "candy" when presented with
watermelon for the first time. Another example was when one of the
primates, a gorilla I think, saw a swan for the first time and called it
a "water"/ "bird".


All of the times the animals combined other signs with no apparent
connection of meaning to new object were not noted. There's every
reason to think that the human primate researchers were seeing meaning
and cognition where there was none.


It's no different from the way I recognize several of Cubbe's barks to
have different meanings. I know the "theresasquirreltheresasquirrel"
bark, and I know the "mailmanmailmanmailman" bark. But I wouldn't call
that language.


--Lia

  #4  
Old February 19th 08, 07:06 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Default Animal Cognition Article

"Suja" spoke these words of wisdom in
:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...inia-morell-te
xt/1


Very interesting. Thanks for that
  #5  
Old February 19th 08, 07:37 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 2,483
Default Animal Cognition Article


"diddy" none wrote in message:

Very interesting. Thanks for that


I was thinking of Tuck when I read the article. I figured that the
researchers might be interested in a dog like him.

Suja


  #6  
Old February 19th 08, 07:38 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Default Animal Cognition Article

"Suja" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


"diddy" none wrote in message:

Very interesting. Thanks for that


I was thinking of Tuck when I read the article. I figured that the
researchers might be interested in a dog like him.

Suja




Dr Ian Dunbar was very interested in his dad and tested him in Savanahh. He
sent me the compilation of his studies, which I have somewhere, but haven't
seen in years.
  #7  
Old February 20th 08, 01:39 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 362
Default Animal Cognition Article

Suja wrote:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...-morell-text/1

Interesting little article.


Very interesting - thanks for this.

What intrigues me about much of this research is not the question
of whether non-human animals can be taught 'language' or not;
such arguments quickly devolve into arguments of what the
definition of language is, and whether or not the non-human
animals' use of signs and symbols can actually be called
language, and experimenter bias in seeing and reporting their
use, etc. I'm sure there are problems in these areas.

But what I find fascinating is how much intelligence they
demonstrate when people start asking them the right questions, or
give them training that opens the doors to allow them to show it.

Speaking of - what do you think of Patricia McConnell's book,
"For the Love of a Dog"? I'm reading it now and am finding her
discussion of dogs' facial expressions and body language very
interesting.

FurPaw

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dogs.
  #8  
Old February 20th 08, 03:35 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 2,483
Default Animal Cognition Article


"FurPaw" wrote in message:

Speaking of - what do you think of Patricia McConnell's book,
"For the Love of a Dog"? I'm reading it now and am finding her
discussion of dogs' facial expressions and body language very
interesting.


I'm reading it in parallel with 6 other books. Haven't gotten too far into
it, but it is quite interesting. I really like how she writes; she has the
ability to explain complex ideas simply, and to break down complex tasks so
they seem more easily accomplished. I love her little troubleshooting
manuals; 50 pages of goodness is what it is.

Suja


  #9  
Old February 20th 08, 07:51 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 7,732
Default Animal Cognition Article

In article ,
FurPaw wrote:
Speaking of - what do you think of Patricia McConnell's book,
"For the Love of a Dog"? I'm reading it now and am finding her
discussion of dogs' facial expressions and body language very
interesting.


I liked it. Good content, novel structure.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
  #10  
Old February 21st 08, 01:28 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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Posts: 1,411
Default Animal Cognition Article

"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
...
In article ,
FurPaw wrote:
Speaking of - what do you think of Patricia McConnell's book,
"For the Love of a Dog"? I'm reading it now and am finding her
discussion of dogs' facial expressions and body language very
interesting.


I liked it. Good content, novel structure.


As soon as I finished reading it, I loaned it to a friend. It still hasn't
come back so I'm hoping that they enjoyed it as much as I did.

Judy

 




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