Animal Cognition

Comparing animal cognition to our own is tricky business. Animals have differently tuned senses and use them in sometimes radically different ways than we do. In some cases, there simply is no commeasurability. Yet […]

While they may not be known as the smartest animals in the world, these 5 animals are unexpectedly brainy. This list of surprisingly smart animals examines the intelligence of five underestimated species. […]

In 2005, Drs. Felix Warnecken and Michael Tomasello conducted a study on altruism in human infants and chimpanzees.1 Altruism is taking action to help someone else, even when that action won’t be reciprocated or otherwise benefit oneself. To put it simply, altruistic actions are motivated purely by the desire to […]

Depending on the characteristics of the environment it lives in, an animal species may develop a wide range of physical adaptations to help it survive there. But mental adaptations can occur as well, sometimes sparking the […]

Do you know the feeling when you’ve been struggling with something for ages and suddenly the solution dawns on you? Eureka! What you’ve just done constitutes insight, the ability to use a mental representation of a problem and draw on past experience and knowledge to solve it. Are humans the only species that can do this? […]

Since time immemorial, humans have amused themselves through intoxication. Whether it was our cavemen ancestors chewing on hallucinogenic plants, medieval villagers unwinding with a cup of mead, or the hippies of the 60’s indulging in psychedelics, it’s safe to say that drug use is one of our oldest pastimes. However, humans […]

The mirror test was developed by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr.1 in 1970 as a method for determining whether a non-human animal has the ability of self-recognition. It’s also known as the “mark test” or “mirror self-recognition test” (MSR). When conducting the mirror test, scientists place a visual marking on an animal’s body, usually with scentless paints, […]

On the 7th of July, 2012, a group of scientists released the “Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness”. The statement puts forth the case that many animals are conscious, even if in different degrees and qualities than humans. There is enough evidence to render untenable Descartes’ conception of animals as automatons without any inner life. […]