The Science Behind the Law of Attraction Magazine February, 2017 | Page 46

ANIMALS ARE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK & IT ? S TIME TO ACT

ACCORDINGLY

By Alexa Erickson
Humans have excused much of their behaviour toward animals , both loving and cruel , under the misguided belief that they aren ? t smart enough to understand what ? s going on . We view our pets , for instance , as having unique personalities that draw us in , but we don ? t necessarily envision them knowing their own uniqueness in the world , or knowing they can make decisions to advance their own well-being .
Pictures provided by Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project
We ? re aware that dolphins , primates , and elephants have the ability to recognize themselves in mirrors . We ? ve discovered that chickens can forgo an immediate treat for a larger reward later on . Yet still we act as though animals are devoid of most feeling and reason .
The discussion about animal cognition has led to some pretty intriguing discoveries , and in just the last few years , researchers have uncovered facts about the abilities of creatures most of us would have never considered to harbor the intelligence they do , and are learning even more about species already knownto have advanced abilities .
Elephants are painting and drop the brush when they want to change the color
Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal is one of many scientists whose open mind and yearning to better understand the intelligence of animals has led to many breakthroughs on the topic . In his book , Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are ?, de Waal gives hundreds of examples of shocking intelligence from non-human species , even unearthing many instances in which animals seem to be smarter than we are :
Chimpanzees , for instance , can easily beat humans at recalling a set of numbers that was displayed for a fraction of a second .
Octopuses can learn to open pill bottles protected by childproof caps , which many humans can ? t figure out on their own .
Paya is doing a self portrait . Page 46 - February , 2017