Are animals clever or a bit dumb?

Question

Everyone is always banging on about how clever dolphins are for example, and all I see them do is swim around and eat a bunch of fish all day. Ok, they can dive through hoops and stuff but that doesn't make them smart like people. Anyone kid could do that and we wouldn't all be saying. ''god that kid is so smart he can swim through a hoop''!! Same with dogs, I mean they are nice but if they are so smart why can't they talk properly instead of meaningless barking all the time? I think humans are much smarter than animals and everyone is just far too sentimental these days about them.

Answer 1

i think animals are realy clever, if they wernt most of them would be dead now. my dogs are clever they can open the door to let them self out for a wee or to come in the living room, they know when its dinner time, and my dad always takes the papers to my nans on a sunday as soon as the dogs see the shop bag they know were he's going an jump at him untill he lets them go. so no way are they dumb.

Answer 2

We have always judged animals intelligence on what we measure intelligence to be. I.e whether an ape can talk to us using sign language. I think we would all be very surprised at just how intelligent they are. There are things animals can do that we will never be able to do. For example a dogs sense of smell, sniffer dogs or birds migrating thousands of miles because they have been shown the route once. Behaviourists are always disproving theories with new results. Like Alex the talking parrot, he has learnt language through observing a model and him receiving the rewards. For years he has been trained to learn language, then one day he got annoyed at saying sounds of letters on their own and spelt out nut as in nuh uoo tttt (because he wanted one). No one knew he knew letters made words that made language but he did and could have for years he just didnt do it. He had worked it out on his own and was way more advanced than anyone could have imagined.
A dogs bark has many different chords to it and to a dog may sound musical, they can distinguish a much larger range of pitch and frequency, so they are talking in their own language. Some of the most successful animal trainers in the world are the people who try and work out how the animal thinks rather than getting the animal to think like a human. If spoken language is the only measure of intelligence, surely that would mean that all deaf people are stupid, but they're not.

Answer 3

After you've stopped being sentimental, you just might realise how dumb that question is in the first place. Comparing a kid with a dog/dolphin/other animal? You might like to think of the fact that even us humans talk so many languages that YOU do not understand... So its possible (ain't it) that YOU dont understand the "meaningless" barking. Many of us less aurally challenged can tell the difference between the different barks/meows our pets give off.

Answer 4

That depends on the animal yes dolphins are intelligent and are sensitive to people in trouble etc...
on the other hand i had a border collie dog and this dog was as thick as two short planks and i mean REAL DUMB throw a stick and she would run to it and sit next to it.
Then there are pet rats these in my opinion are very intelligent puzzle solvers IE: had a rat whos cage door opened out the ways he couldn't do it so he figured it he swung on the rope climb and bash into the door it would open which it did....i changed cages to one that has doors that slide UP the way to open he figured that also by putting his nose under it at the same time as holding a toy of his in his mouth and wedges it openw ith the toy.
so as u see depends on the animal but rats rule !

Answer 5

Animals are clever at being animals. Intelligence in this context is relative. They're smart enough to do what they NEED to do, just not smart enough to be able to do everything we would like for them to in order to impress us. I mean, maybe they would think (if they thought in these terms) that we're the dumb ones, because we can't do everything they do. Why can't we? Because we don't need to. We're different creatures, with a whole separate world of issues to navigate.

Answer 6

Its not that they just "jump through a hoop."

Its the fact that they do what we ASK them to do when we ASK them to do it. They do not have to listen to us. But they CHOOSE to do so because they want to be friends with humans.

More than that, they learn what we're asking them when we both speak different languages!

How often have you gone to an alien planet and learned to do exactly what the aliens ask you to do when you don't speak their language? (Think about how VASTLY different the ocean is from land.... its essentially an alient planet to the Dolphin's eyes.) That takes intense intelligence!!

Dog's vocal cords aren't designed to form words the way ours do, the way some parrots do. Also their jaws and tongues are physically unable of making the sounds we make when we speak.

Answer 7

Animals exist with a more basic awareness than humans. Humans are a more advanced creature with higher reasoning, predicting and analyzing abilities that other animals do not have. Other life exists for its own reasons of survival and simple rewards. They are simpler than we are but they are alive and can think, feel and communicate in their own ways. I certainly hope that you recognize the value of other life and show respect and compassion.

Answer 8

You obviously do not know much about dogs, they are the best friend anyone could have, why do you think they are taken into old peoples homes.They bring a lot of joy and understanding to a lot of people, what about hearing dogs? and dogs for the blind?
Give me a roomful of dogs any day too any human, as far as I am concerned all animals are far superior to man.

Answer 9

Dolphins DO communicate actually. These "meaningless" barks are, in fact, a language. Flipper was NOT stupid. Dogs can communicate very well too. My dog made it very clear when he was hungry, upset, or wanted a walk. WhilstIf humans are so intelligent, why are we always fighting wars? We don't communicate so well then, do we?

Answer 10

animals are very clever in their own way granted they don`t have brains like ours but theirs do the trick for what they need. many animals know how to do things that the average person wouldn't have a clue about. plus any animal that can learn tricks is very clever