Magpies and mirrors

With that recent study of the magpie recognizing itself in the mirror and thus joining the select group of humans, some apes, bottlenose dolphins and Asian elephants, and another on whether apparently grieving animals really perceive death (the latter concern voicing the opinion that quite a few humans seemed to have trouble with that particular concept as well), the human/non-human intelligence gap seems to be blurring.

One thing that seems true over the decades is that humans, or should I say certain academics, are so obsessed with delineating all the things they can do and animals cannot, that when these supposed specialties are being broached by certain species, the investigators tend to then develop new barriers to joining the smart club. Though I am wary of anthropomorphizing, and do feel from time to time that my dog is so utterly alien that its a wonder than we share space, I also believe that same dog to take pleasure in existence, to make decisions, to have an aesthetic sense. Its so much easier than coming up with reasons as to why its brain would preclude those possibilities.

But what I really want to say here is that everytime someone waxes on about how amazing humans are, they tend to hold up the Einsteins as examples when the Einsteins are not what you call typical. Whenever I read someone writing about an animal failing some intelligence test I can only think that quite a few people might have done the same.

I’m not saying we’re not smarter as a species. But we seem to be a little too obsessed with not only being at the top of the food chain but also being tops in gray matter. And I am pretty pleased magpies came to the dance. As annoying as their chatter is, I love those birds. They are the definition of street smart.