conference: animal intelligence
scores of scientists and government delegates from 43 countries will attend a london conference on march 16 to discuss whether society's attitude to animals needs re-examining.
the conference comes at a time when the food industry is being forced to address mounting consumer concern over the structure of britain's food industry and factory farming.
among those speaking are officials from mcdonald's and the world bank's private sector arm, whose responsibilities include livestock investment. leading theologians will also argue that christian and islamic faiths need to update their attitudes towards animals by bestowing an intrinsic value similar to that given to people.
Here are some findings that will be discussed:
* wood mice build their own signposts, using sticks and stones to mark sites where food is abundant or mark short-cuts back to their burrow
* parrots, when shown two different objects, use language to describe the difference in terms of colour, shape and texture. grey parrots can master 1,000 words and have an intellect comparable to a five-year-old human
* elephants make graves by breaking branches to cover their dead relatives. and they have a large hippocampus (part of the brain thought to play a part in memory storage and mental map space)
* fish are renowned for having a three-second memory; however, evidence suggests they can be highly manipulative and cultured
* sheep can carry the mental image of another sheep or person for two years, store up to ten human and fifty sheep faces at a time and respond to human facial expressions (yes they like smiles more than grimaces)
* chickens feel intention and expectation and can tell people apart, they also have a sense of space greater than human children which allows them to perform complex tasks such as opening doors and quickly navagating through mazes
* pigs may use a sophisticated form of consciousness to deceive other animals for greater personal reward
the conference comes at a time when the food industry is being forced to address mounting consumer concern over the structure of britain's food industry and factory farming.
among those speaking are officials from mcdonald's and the world bank's private sector arm, whose responsibilities include livestock investment. leading theologians will also argue that christian and islamic faiths need to update their attitudes towards animals by bestowing an intrinsic value similar to that given to people.
Here are some findings that will be discussed:
* wood mice build their own signposts, using sticks and stones to mark sites where food is abundant or mark short-cuts back to their burrow
* parrots, when shown two different objects, use language to describe the difference in terms of colour, shape and texture. grey parrots can master 1,000 words and have an intellect comparable to a five-year-old human
* elephants make graves by breaking branches to cover their dead relatives. and they have a large hippocampus (part of the brain thought to play a part in memory storage and mental map space)
* fish are renowned for having a three-second memory; however, evidence suggests they can be highly manipulative and cultured
* sheep can carry the mental image of another sheep or person for two years, store up to ten human and fifty sheep faces at a time and respond to human facial expressions (yes they like smiles more than grimaces)
* chickens feel intention and expectation and can tell people apart, they also have a sense of space greater than human children which allows them to perform complex tasks such as opening doors and quickly navagating through mazes
* pigs may use a sophisticated form of consciousness to deceive other animals for greater personal reward
posted by jessalauren at 1:05 PM
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