Isn't it just an assumption that animals are less intelligent than us?

Question

Scientists may have found less incidence of brain waves in animals or suchlike but this doesn't automatically mean that they have less intelligence. Though they don't have the means to create like we do (no hands), nor the ability to consult books or write down ideas, for all we know many animals could be geniuses.

Answer 1

Would u really have 3 chimps and a dolphin as your team mates in the final of your local pub quiz?

Answer 2

The assumption is made on the scientific evidence. Since we cannot communicate in meaningful ways with any other species, then the evidence is all we have.

It's not proper, nor practical to just make random assumptions without the science behind it. Without it, you might just come out and say ALL animals communicate by mental telepathy. Why not. There is no evidence to prove they do not. By making such statements, we wouldn't be able to go on functioning as part of this world because we wouldn't have any understanding of this world.

Psychological testing of animals has helped us understand the psychology of humans. There would be a lot of wasted time and costly resources if we ignored the evidence.

Here's a mind exercise: What if, lizards, insects and other small animals living underground had a rich cultural and scientific history. They write entire books on grains of sand and have a high degree of technology hidden in the roots of selected plants.

What scientific instruments and techniques would we need to detect and prove this to be true?

Answer 3

the thing is that we measure the intelligence of animals by how we understand and rate our own intelligence. Humans have the singular ability to completely adapt their environment to suit their lifestyles, whereas animals adapt to their environment. This is due to the way our higher brain has evolved over millions of years (or due to the divine spark if one is religious). Animals survive and cope with all sorts of challenges throughout their lives and like us, the successful ones survive to breed and pass down these traits that give them an advantage. If we could communicate with animals on their own wavelength, we would redefine intelligence. But some animals have shown remarkable ability at communicating on our wavelength, dolphins etc have already been mentioned. Gorillas have been trained to communicate with simple sign language and have been able to express hunger, emotion and pain.
Even within the human population there are wild variations in intelligence - one only has to look through yahoo answers to observe this!

Answer 4

Animals have the ability to correspond between themselves without anyone else knowing what they're talking about. Domestic animals have a free place to live and get fed. Who's more intelligent?
Humans do all the hard work and reap the benefits but (domestic) animals do too without all the hassle.
Just look at ants and the way they build their anthills and organise what goes on there.

Answer 5

Most animals I know are way smarter than I am, and they include some sheep (highly intelligent! The stupid look is just a disguise) a frog (the things I could tell you about that frog if only I were clever enough) and a rock, which is technically speaking not an animal, but smarter than me nonetheless.

Answer 6

No animal has been found to have an ability for language anywhere near that of a human. It's our ability to communicate which sets us apart, although when reading Y! Answers I sometimes doubt that.

Answer 7

For a fact they say that a dog is a mans best friend because if you get them when they're young you teach them to do the right things and later on in the future the dog can pick up the actions that you do. For an example ever since i got my dog which was in 1998 my dog has picked a lot of actions from me like carrying the mail he likes to Carry the mail and to Carry his leash when we go on a walk. once you teach or do they pick up those signals from you and they teach themselves too.

Answer 8

Animals are less able than humans, so this means less intelligent.

Answer 9

I think lots of our animal friends are very intelligent more so than lots like us. ive come across lots of thick as pigshit people in my life-they shouldnt be fit too walk the earth!

Answer 10

I was talking to my pig about this the other day, and you know what he just couldnt get to grips with the concept.
Not very intelligent if you ask me, AND I beat him at checkers every time we play