djeezy: INSTINCTS....But if you believe they can think, that means they can actually commit suicide.lol they make use of inticts even when they pursue their prey, all those tactics they use, one would argue that it was as a result of thinking. It's still not, it's insticts. we are higher than animals, they don't use their brains.

Emary: I have raised close to 20 dogs in my life, have had a pet parrot, lived with a cat during youth service, kept pet rabbits, goldfish and turtles. I can categorically tell you that the two dogs I have at the moment have the intelligence of a 2-3yr old without the speech. They know when I go out and come in and all the corners of our building. They understand several words including sit, stand, come, up, fetch, stop it, move and bye-bye. If I shout bye-bye from anywhere within their hearing, they will run to me to ensure I don't leave them alone. They have toys they play with and share taking turns to do. They understand that they should respect each other when eating so if I put food in a bowl, one will eat first while the other waits. They know when anyone is in pain and will come to lick the person to comfort them. They also observe people's behaviors to distinguish if they are trustworthy of predatory before approaching them. There was a day I bought sugarcane when one of them was a 3month old puppy so I gave him a piece. He obviously loved it because in a few minutes, he came back to sit beside me looking at me to give him more. When I ignore him for a while, he did something that astonished me. He got up on his hind legs and used his left paw to tap my thigh twice. I gave him a piece and he left. When he finished it, he repeated the same behavior and kept doing it for about six times till there was no more sugar cane between us. This was something I never taught him and since I had him since about 6wks of age, no one else could have taught him.

The cat during my youth service knew when I was around and when I traveled, she would go else where. My parrot lived on the balcony and could see from the bus-stop from up there. As soon as he sighted me coming from school in my uni days, he would start repeating the words I had taught him, songs and my name. The goldfish and turtles recognized me and would raise their heads for me to stroke if I came near the tank and I'm the only one they did this for.

There are so many incidents that show me they think. The truth is that they may not have our level of intelligence but they have other types. Can you detect smell like a dog or swim like a dolphin. In short, I thank God, He didn't give them the most destructive of all human vices, the spirit of greed. They live in the moment though some may save food for a rainy day but apart from that they are just glad to be alive and carefree. You've got to admire that.

masterpiecer: ^hmmm, nice ?tion.
i would like to believe dat animals do think.
its only dat it may vary in percentage in various animals, animals like, cats, elephants, dogs, snakes, parrots, etc

Elephant
Elephants r prominent with very strong memories, an elephant never forgets, an elephant can remember events as old as 20yrs!, that why they always return to the burial place of their parents or companion to die. They r very good at recalling memories, and that can only be done by thinking.

Cat
Cats r famous for neatness, stealth(during preying), and sociality, when a cat is preying on a rat, the level of stealth it exhibits is stunning, sometimes it can stay still for minutes without an ounce of movement, in those moments, its actually contemplating its next move, meaning its thinking its next move.

Dogs
Dogs r exceptional, there is a whole lot about dogs, i have actually watched a video clip about a dog dat knows maths!, yeah maths. Simple addition n subtraction ?tions where asked without any sign language, and she would answer by tapping her foot the number of times the answer!, amazing!(if u doubt, i can send u d clip)

Parrots
Be very scared of parrots, do u know dat a parrot can commit suicide?, yes it does, a parrot would commit suicide if u starved it for a long time, what it does is to hang its claws on the roof of its cage and allow its head to hang downwards, eventually dying in that position. A parrot would also continually pluck off its red feather anytime it grows out, that is if it sees u pluck out a grown feather off its tail, thats why they always cover its face with a piece of cloth whenever the plucking is done.

there r so many animals, like monkeys, dolphins(dolphins r d only mammals dat have s e x 4 fun jst like humans), gorilas, u mention.

mc~evans:


Please send me a clip of the dog doing maths

mc~evans:


Please send me a clip of the dog doing maths

Kslib: No,animals dont think.. If not,how can a sane rat burst five bags of garri i bought for my father-inlaw.. What pains me is that i had to go all the way to ijebu to get it.

Emary: I have raised close to 20 dogs in my life, have had a pet parrot, lived with a cat during youth service, kept pet rabbits, goldfish and turtles. I can categorically tell you that the two dogs I have at the moment have the intelligence of a 2-3yr old without the speech. They know when I go out and come in and all the corners of our building. They understand several words including sit, stand, come, up, fetch, stop it, move and bye-bye. If I shout bye-bye from anywhere within their hearing, they will run to me to ensure I don't leave them alone. They have toys they play with and share taking turns to do. They understand that they should respect each other when eating so if I put food in a bowl, one will eat first while the other waits. They know when anyone is in pain and will come to lick the person to comfort them. They also observe people's behaviors to distinguish if they are trustworthy of predatory before approaching them. There was a day I bought sugarcane when one of them was a 3month old puppy so I gave him a piece. He obviously loved it because in a few minutes, he came back to sit beside me looking at me to give him more. When I ignore him for a while, he did something that astonished me. He got up on his hind legs and used his left paw to tap my thigh twice. I gave him a piece and he left. When he finished it, he repeated the same behavior and kept doing it for about six times till there was no more sugar cane between us. This was something I never taught him and since I had him since about 6wks of age, no one else could have taught him.

The cat during my youth service knew when I was around and when I traveled, she would go else where. My parrot lived on the balcony and could see from the bus-stop from up there. As soon as he sighted me coming from school in my uni days, he would start repeating the words I had taught him, songs and my name. The goldfish and turtles recognized me and would raise their heads for me to stroke if I came near the tank and I'm the only one they did this for.

There are so many incidents that show me they think. The truth is that they may not have our level of intelligence but they have other types. Can you detect smell like a dog or swim like a dolphin. In short, I thank God, He didn't give them the most destructive of all human vices, the spirit of greed. They live in the moment though some may save food for a rainy day but apart from that they are just glad to be alive and carefree. You've got to admire that.

masterpiecer: ^hmmm, nice ?tion.
i would like to believe dat animals do think.
its only dat it may vary in percentage in various animals, animals like, cats, elephants, dogs, snakes, parrots, etc

Elephant
Elephants r prominent with very strong memories, an elephant never forgets, an elephant can remember events as old as 20yrs!, that why they always return to the burial place of their parents or companion to die. They r very good at recalling memories, and that can only be done by thinking.

Cat
Cats r famous for neatness, stealth(during preying), and sociality, when a cat is preying on a rat, the level of stealth it exhibits is stunning, sometimes it can stay still for minutes without an ounce of movement, in those moments, its actually contemplating its next move, meaning its thinking its next move.

Dogs
Dogs r exceptional, there is a whole lot about dogs, i have actually watched a video clip about a dog dat knows maths!, yeah maths. Simple addition n subtraction ?tions where asked without any sign language, and she would answer by tapping her foot the number of times the answer!, amazing!(if u doubt, i can send u d clip)

Parrots
Be very scared of parrots, do u know dat a parrot can commit suicide?, yes it does, a parrot would commit suicide if u starved it for a long time, what it does is to hang its claws on the roof of its cage and allow its head to hang downwards, eventually dying in that position. A parrot would also continually pluck off its red feather anytime it grows out, that is if it sees u pluck out a grown feather off its tail, thats why they always cover its face with a piece of cloth whenever the plucking is done.

there r so many animals, like monkeys, dolphins(dolphins r d only mammals dat have s e x 4 fun jst like humans), gorilas, u mention.

adefash:
i like the way you statrted your post by saying you would like to believe that animals think for so so reason. We can not ascertain that they think or otherwise but we can infer from what we think they do since we have not been in their forms before, at least i have not been an animal before.
Back to your points, i like your analysis because they are very educative. But from what you have analysed so far cannot possibly say thats how thinking comes up.if every elephant will return to die where their parents or companions were buried, and no one will think he should do something different, i dont think thats thinking, its stereotypic. What i am saying is that in human, we can choose where to be buried, which hospitals to go, which school to go,who to have sex with, which food to eat for known reasons. These reasons are products of thinking.you may not know what to expect from the next person to you always but you can predict what a dog will do 100 times whenever he see a stranger, you can predict where an elephant will return to die 100 times provided he knows where his parents were buried, you can predict 100times what a dolphine will do whenever he feels like having sex. You cant predict these 100 times in human. A man who loves having sex may not want to have sex with the available ladies around because they are not his tastes. I think this is what we call "thinking".lions dont eat animals not killed by them. You can predict this 1000000 times. This is not thinking, its a hard-coded programe which differs from animal to animal. You may train a dog,as you claimed,to do calculations,computers do calculations as well and we cant say it is thinking, the trained do you trained 1+1=2 can never tell you $1+$1=$2, but a man you teach 1+1=2 could tell the answer to the second question.
Conclusion: from my own view, animals cannot think.

yuzedo: Oh yes!

All the Politicians in Nigeria are always thinking about how to loot and fleece the commonwealth! Thieving Animals!

djeezy: INSTINCTS....But if you believe they can think, that means they can actually commit suicide.lol they make use of inticts even when they pursue their prey, all those tactics they use, one would argue that it was as a result of thinking. It's still not, it's insticts. we are higher than animals, they don't use their brains.

omodapson:

Your points are not in agreement with your conclusion. Some human actions are predictable so are some animal actions. I want a better argument from you to reason along but with this, you have made no point.

omodapson:

Your points are not in agreement with your conclusion. Some human actions are predictable so are some animal actions. I want a better argument from you to reason along but with this, you have made no point.

adefash:
i like the way you statrted your post by saying you would like to believe that animals think for so so reason. We can not ascertain that they think or otherwise but we can infer from what we think they do since we have not been in their forms before, at least i have not been an animal before.
Back to your points, i like your analysis because they are very educative. But from what you have analysed so far cannot possibly say thats how thinking comes up.if every elephant will return to die where their parents or companions were buried, and no one will think he should do something different, i dont think thats thinking, its stereotypic. What i am saying is that in human, we can choose where to be buried, which hospitals to go, which school to go,who to have sex with, which food to eat for known reasons. These reasons are products of thinking.you may not know what to expect from the next person to you always but you can predict what a dog will do 100 times whenever he see a stranger, you can predict where an elephant will return to die 100 times provided he knows where his parents were buried, you can predict 100times what a dolphine will do whenever he feels like having sex. You cant predict these 100 times in human. A man who loves having sex may not want to have sex with the available ladies around because they are not his tastes. I think this is what we call "thinking".lions dont eat animals not killed by them. You can predict this 1000000 times. This is not thinking, its a hard-coded programe which differs from animal to animal. You may train a dog,as you claimed,to do calculations,computers do calculations as well and we cant say it is thinking, the trained do you trained 1+1=2 can never tell you $1+$1=$2, but a man you teach 1+1=2 could tell the answer to the second question.
Conclusion: from my own view, animals cannot think.

adefash:
this is a philosophy class where if you cannot prove your points, though you may be correct, but will not be acceptable. We once raised a dog brought from village.we started feeding him with wet garri.it was gladly eating it. We started adding sugar, it started rejecting garri without sugar. We graduated to giving him solid foods. With time he started rejecting garri even when it had sugar. A tenant parked into our house. She normaly comes in with fast foods and will take the remnants to the dogs. She was always doing this. What we noticed was that the dog started reject eba,amala,rice without plantain we were offering him.he became our tenant's pet.when our tenant packed out, the dog stopped eating from us since we were not feeding him with fast foods. This is not thinking.if you do that to 100 dogs, you get the same result. You cannot get the same result if you that to 100 sane human beings. Human being for reasons do that which is not convinient to them because they taught over it.as we see some children who become wayward because their parents cannot cater for their needs while we have seen alot who will not do that for integrity sake.we have seen people who are upright today when ppl could vouch for them and tomorrow, they are some thing else and the same ppl are suprised that so this brother can do this. Animals are predictable because they cant think to do otherwise but sane humans are very unpredictable because they think.
My opinion!

Orikinla: [size=18pt]All living creatures that bear and rear their offspring think.
In fact I have seen better parenting among sheep in Lagos than in many Nigerian parents.[/size]

dasparrow:

Very nice write up. And for the bolded part, I say oh yes, animals are content and just happy to be alive. They know no jealousy or greed. They will also never bite the hand that feeds them unlike some human beings that will plot the downfall of people who once helped them. I love and admire animals and I agree with your analysis.

dasparrow:

Very nice write up. And for the bolded part, I say oh yes, animals are content and just happy to be alive. They know no jealousy or greed. They will also never bite the hand that feeds them unlike some human beings that will plot the downfall of people who once helped them. I love and admire animals and I agree with your analysis.

valicious1:
Yes they are. When ur dog runs to give u a "HUG", its simply doing that cos its been doing that right from birth & not because it thinks it should give u a hug. NB *note as am constantly using the word "it" instead of "he" or "she". To show u the proximity/nearness of animals to plants.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=instinct:
An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli

omodapson:

Do you know what they call conditioning? Human beings can as well be conditioned to follow a certain pattern that is irreversable. What happens to those who have been brain washed? Can we say they don't think? It has even be proven that mad men think but only in distorted manner.

Animals actions are driven by instincts and 'thinking'. That the actions of dog A will always be similar to that of dog B under same circumstances is not only debatable but leaves much to be imagined. And that notion to the best of my knowledge is wrong.

From documentaries, it has been proven that animals are intelligent. I have seen a documentary of a pig that can identify figures, shapes and can play computer games. It only takes a thinking animal to do this. Even the rats in our houses think. What tells them to avoid the traps set to kill them, instinct? No my friend, it takes more. Their brain tells them!