Is there such thing as a mentally retarded animal?

Question

I'm just curious, mostly because I have never heard of one.

Answer 1

Do you mean category of animals which are slow in reaction.
Slender loris,sloths.

Answer 2

Mental retardation or the lack of ability to think quickly across a given species or limited to individuals in that pooled population is very likely. Some animals such as a sloth may appear mentally retarded when infact they think fast but travel slowly.

In contrast the speed by which information travels along the axons of mammals brains would probably be relatively similar -70 millivolts.

However the refresh rate of a mentally challenged animal (the standing rate) might be more limited. Animals with longer axonal processes would probably be more retarded than those with shorter order axons. Therefore a giant squid with some of the longest axonal processes should be slightly slower or more retarded than its cousin the giant octopus, who in turn is more retarded than say a squid about to become calamari.
Animals with non congenital impairment, in otherwords trauma are retarded because of cognitive impairment such as BSE or mad cow desease.

Answer 3

Yes but with animals being mentally retarded doesn't really show unless you examine the animal's patterns closely. Most times the animal just gets killed by its predator because it lacks the instinct to move or run away or is too slow, so either way, it doesn't matter as much for animals because it's all about survival and they will get hunted and in the case of the mentally retarded, killed. all part of the great chain.

Answer 4

We had a 180lb ST. Bernard and a lil 20lb wire haired terrier that that he was 180lbs. The lil dog was always jealous of the St. and tried to bully him.
One day the St. Got fed up and covered the small dog with his mouth and backing it across the room. All this time the small dog was still barking while in the St's mouth. Now that is retarded.
But rabies and distemper will case an animal to go crazy.

Answer 5

Yes, I think there is. I've seen very intelligent dogs, and very, uh, "differently enabled" dogs.

I would suppose the same goes for other animals species. But retarded ones don't tend to live long. Exceptions are, I think, when the animals are domestic, and supported by humans.

Answer 6

Wow, I asked someone that same exact question today at the store! Great minds think alike...

Our conversation got into how there are always mutations in genomes, regardless of whether it's a bird, dog, cat, anything, like the two-headed snake. Well, those are physicaly changes, so their mental ability might also be variable as well.

Answer 7

Yes. I had a friend that had a retarded dog. Seriously. No pun intended. The way she looked and acted was suprisingly similar to a mentally retarded human.

Answer 8

Animals sense when there is something wrong with its own offspring so the mother usually kills it, pushes it out of the nest, doesn't feed it etc. Sometimes you might witness a dog or cat acting crazy but that is more likely to be how it has been treated by humans........ sad hey??

Answer 9

The note "retarded" is a merciless and unnecessary note to apply contained in the reference of someone or an animal in spite of everything. Animals could have disabilities, psychological and actual, so certain they are regularly mentally disabled.

Answer 10

only in domestic situations. My dog has fairly severe paranoid schizophrenia, he is really unpredictable, but they gave him medications to treat schizophrenia and he is much better. i also used to know a dog in ireland who had severe mental retardation. He was the sweetest thing ever but he couldn't walk straight, his perception was completely off, when you threw a stick for him, he went about 10 feet to the left of where you threw it. It does exist, but never in the wild, because they are all killed off by either their mother, herd or predators.

Answer 11

Yes, but it's rarely as noticeable in animals because they're not as smart to start with.

We used to have a cat that was totally retarded. She was the sweetest cat, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer.