Smart Sheep

[Pah]

Was Your Meat Smarter Than Your Pet?

The "teaser" from ABC News

Updated 1:44 AM ET May 23, 2005

If you could talk to the animals, would they have anything to say? New research suggests they might.

Testing the IQ of a sheep may seem laughable. But at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, England, they know better. One sheep who got a reward every time she recognized a human face correctly on a video screen scored a perfect 50 out of 50.

"If it was a monkey, no one would have any problems, possibly even if it was a dog," said Keith Kendrick, a neurologist at Babraham. "They would say, 'Yeah, yeah, that's expected.' But a sheep, no one really believes."

 

[michel]

Not long ago I saw a programme on television, in which a couple of animal psychologists had drawn up a set of tests - for any animal - to see a)how quickly they could learn, b) if they were capable of deductive reasoning , amongst other criteria, which I have forgotten.


I know that one test involved showing the animal that you were putting some food on the floor, then covering it with an upturned cup. Obviously, the one who could get the cup off the fastest, using the least effort was the clever one. It was quite funny - there were actually some animals who would insist on pushing the cup along, thinking no doubt that the food would stay where it was!

There were other tests which involved an animal negotiating an obstacle to get to something on the other side (This one was a bit intricate, because you had to allow for the possibility of the animal going through the obstacle - usually a framework (for cats, say an upturned chair)) - it was amazing how many went around, or jumped over the obstacle, instead of taking the short route.

Thinking about it, that is pretty well the nearest you could get to quantifying I.Q for an animal.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Bricks are smarter than my pet...he's lucky he's so good natured and loveable, cos he's never gonna win prizes for smarts.

 

[Unedited]

We have some pretty smart cats too. The youngest has figured out how to open doors. She can jump up and pull down the handle, so we have to lock any doors we don't want her to get in. There was also one time when she was mad that I was watching TV and not her, and she managed to press the power button to turn it off.

 

[michel]

LOL-Jessie (our dog) is apt to stay by the patio doors, which are locked open (just wide enough for her to get through). She's put on a bit of weight; but when she sees a squirrel, she has no problems chasing out into the garden after it; but when she comes back, she's convinced she won't go through the gap, and waits outside until someone lets her in. How's that for I.Q?:jiggy:

 

[Original Freak]

I read a newspaper article where a raven took a paperclip, bent it and used it as a hook to get some food in a hole. Apparently it's the only other recorded case of an animal creating and using it's own tool other than primates. Soon they'll be picking locks and helping themselves to the fridge.

 

[Prima]

I'm not surprised at this.

My dog, by the way, found out how to open our gate so he could get out of our backyard.