Intellectualizing

My granny sent me this story from the Washington Post about how dogs are much smarter than you naked apes thought. I'm sure she sent it because 1) yes, we are smart and 2) she knows I am an example of a smarty-pants dog. I'm a real problem solver. Especially when my problem is the hunger and the solution is manipulating the naked apes to get it for me. (Or, alternatively, finding ways to get INTO the food).

The provocative new experiment indicated that dogs can do something that previously only humans, including infants, have been shown capable of doing: decide how to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which the action takes place.

"Every day, we're discovering surprises about animals and finding out animals are far more intelligent and far more emotional than we previously thought," said Marc Bekoff, an animal behaviorist who recently retired from the University of Colorado. "We're really breaking down the lines between the species."