2007-12-16 02:16:18 · 5 answers · asked by ms.l_thoms 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Of course.
Animals are a heck of a lot smarter than people give them credit for.
When it comes to being social, breeing, hunting... a lot of "smarts" and rational thinking comes into play.
Next time you are at a zoo take the time to sit and watch the apes (gorilla, orangutan, chimp) for a bit.
That is not to say that some animals out there are not as dumb as a box of rocks... but then again I know a ton of people that fall into that group as well.
2007-12-16 02:35:33 · answer #1 · answered by The Cheshire 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, in fact a lot of animal behaviour is a lot easier to understand than humans because it is a lot less complex and more rational than human actions.
You can safely predict what a shark or an alligator will do in certain situations, based on their ingrained instincts. If an alligator suddenly starts moving away from water sources, or chasing down and attacking critters instead of sitting and waiting for them, there's a 'logical' reason for it - perhaps parasites, or it was driven from its home territory by development or competition.
Insects are even more predictable, guided by almost computer-like programming. Their actions may seem irrational to us, because we don't know their code, but even things like heading towards deadly lightbulbs make sense when you recognize that for millions of years, they didn't ever encounter artificial light sources, and a simple code of heading towards any light in a dark area allowed them to find their way out of any enclosure, it makes rational sense.
There are those who believe that human behaviour is governed by exactly the same kinds of ingrained programming - it's just that we have so much more coding in our brains that it's harder to predict which coding we will use in certain circumstances. In this view, even totally irrational actions can be explained by childhood traumas, or chemical imbalances in the brain.
2007-12-16 10:34:35 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If anything I would say its much more rational than our actions.
2007-12-18 18:36:59 · answer #3 · answered by mercedparkour 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Always, if an animals actions were irrational it would not survive.
Perhaps you need to think again and ask a slightly different question.
2007-12-16 10:35:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Generally speaking animal actions are more rational than people sometimes.
they can even be scheming ,criminal ,even joking
2007-12-16 18:47:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋