• Question: do animals think in the same way which we do?

    Asked by ninnin to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 13 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by chloestyles.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 13 Jun 2012:

      I think that’s something all animal behaviour scientists would love to know – I don’t think we know that yet!

      Their brains are certainly comparable to ours and so is the way in which they operate, but exactly how it is animals perceive the processes their brains make, how they think, is not for us to say at the moment!

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 13 Jun 2012:

      Determining whether animals think is very subjective, they certainly don’t think with words in the same way we do but some of our natural reactions to situations where we react without thinking may be more similar to the process which occurs in the mind of an animal.

      There have been many occasions animals have shown some sort of thought process for example; an animal is trapped and when people try to help it figures the way out itself faster.

      Some primates can complete shape recognition tasks which indicate they have some thought processes but the main difference is that they are not thinking in words like we do.

      When we do something without thinking about it then maybe we are using the same processes an animal will use

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