Can animals think? 'Nature' explores

[Guest guest]

January 4, 2000

Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT)

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A pigeon that can distinguish between works by Picasso and

Monet. A raven that makes use of a fishing line. A chimpanzee who figures out

how to employ tools to snare a banana hanging tantalizingly overhead.

 

These and other behaviors are on display in " Inside the Animal Mind, " a

miniseries that puts to the test lay and scientific assumptions about how deeply

animals may feel and think.

 

Part of PBS' " Nature, " the documentary from Thirteen/WNET New York takes a look

at the debate over how animals stack up against their human counterparts,

allowing for differing perspectives.

 

" Inside the Animal Mind " is filled with examples of animal conduct that raise

questions not only about various creatures but about us and our own mechanics.

 

The film includes explanations of how human and non-human brains process

information. How our treatment of animals could be affected by an increased

knowledge of their responses to pain, pleasure and even mortality is on the

table. Fish, despite fisherman's lore, may actually find a hook in the mouth

painful, the documentary says.

 

A thorough examination

 

The series, airing at 8 p.m. EST on three consecutive Tuesdays beginning Tuesday

night, and narrated by journalist Steve Kroft ( " 60 Minutes " ), opens with an

examination of animal intelligence. The second part is devoted to emotion, the

third to consciousness. " Nature " creator George Page, executive editor of

" Inside the Animal Mind, " has written a companion book published by Doubleday.

 

Examples of animal capability are presented, including a Southwestern bird that

is a true Houdini when it comes to memory tricks. A nutcracker buries thousands

of pine nuts, one by one, then retrieves virtually all from a winter landscape

transformed by snow.

 

There's that artful pigeon, the one who can summon food in a lab experiment by

rapping his beak against a Picasso but not any other artist's work.

 

Scientist contemplates 'real intelligence'

 

But real intelligence is demonstrated by evidence that animals can manipulate

images or symbols in their mind, proof of more than trial-and-error-learning,

suggests scientist Euan Macphail.

 

Macphail and others pop up again and again with questions about how much animal

behavior, no matter how impressive, mirrors what humans deem intelligence.

 

Is the ability to count evidence of perception, or is skill at arithmetic more

persuasive? Can an animal do a task nearly perfectly right away, showing mental

agility, or is it just learning by repetition? If an animal cannot speak, can it

have consciousness?

 

Through research experiments presented in the series, we see animals apparently

meeting some of the more demanding standards.

 

Some experiments are simple, such as a chimpanzee being directed to add the

amount of fruit contained in two baskets.

 

In another trial, conducted by Professor Sally Boysen of Ohio State University,

a room and its contents are reproduced in miniature and an item is hidden in the

same place in both the tiny and full-size rooms.

 

A chimpanzee is shown where the item is hidden in the scale room and then faces

the test of finding its bigger counterpart. Can the chimp do what a 3-year-old

human being can?

 

Showing self-awareness

 

Whether it succeeds or not, there's a moment that might convince an untrained

observer that this chimp, at least, has the kind of self-awareness we expect in

people. The animal stops at a mirror and checks out its appearance.

 

One of the most heartfelt voices in support of animal intelligence and emotion

is that of Jane Goodall, the venerable primatologist. Evidence exists that

animals have self-awareness, she says, but some see accepting that as

diminishing humanity.

 

" It simply has demolished yet another barrier which we in our arrogance have

erected from time immemorial between ourselves and the animal kingdom, " Goodall

says in the film.

 

Another scientist, Rob Pickard, suggests that bees, despite a brain a million

times smaller than ours, are abuzz with consciousness.

 

" I'm quite sure when a honeybee is sitting on a comb at the end of the long day,

she's running through pictures in her mind of the flowers that she's visited, of

the places that she's seen. ... If she wasn't doing that, how would she build up

this wonderful geographic perception of her whole environment? "

 

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