Animal minds

Normally I avoid getting heavy-handed here. For one, I love being snarky and sarcastic and I think other people like it too. Also, I'm not looking to write a political blog or a blog that makes sweeping social generalizations. I want people to read and know that they won't have to read about my politics or views on abortion.

But, with that being said, I am going to blog about something that won't be very snarky. I just finished a great article in National Geographic and I'm going to share it with you all. It was called "Animal Minds" and you can find the full text of the article here. I'm also going to shamelessly plug National Geographic right now. If you don't get it you should. It costs $15 a year and is worth every single penny. Between the articles and the pictures you'll never want to throw them away and you'll be able to enjoy them forever.

Anyway, back to the article I was talking about. It's an article about cognitive research that's been conducted on various species. The studies are not related but they've all found that animals as varied as octopi to scrub jays have the ability to learn, reason and use language. I really wish that I could post the pictures and blurbs from the animals referenced in the study but I can't, so I really hope you'll take the time to look on the website.

Obviously the article only references studies where there were results that showed how animal are able to reason and no studies where cognitive ability wasn't found, but never mind that. I think most people know that animals have some ability to understand. If you've ever owned a pet you probably believe that it is able to understand you. You also probably think that it's capable of learning, at least simple tasks, and of recognizing its name. So doubt the veracity of these studies if you want, but don't ignore what you've experienced.

In relation to reading about the intellectual capabilities of animals I'm forced to think about how we, as a society, and how I, as an individual, view animals. I think most of us take for granted the hamburger we eat or the research that's done on animals. We don't have to think about it and we don't. We lead busy lives and frankly, who wants to think about how the cow died when it might impede our ability to enjoy our meal? However, since we (by "we" I mean we as a society) raise millions of animals for the purpose of consumption and since I can think of no other species that does that I have to wonder what obligation we have to the animals we slaughter. Now I'm no PETA activist, I don't think we should all be vegans or even vegetarians. I simply think that we should be appreciative towards the animals we raise and eat. I think that we all ought to question the morality of keeping animals in pens, unable to move around and in such close quarters that feeding them antibiotics is necessary to ward off inevitable infection. Not only does it make the animal unhealthy, by extension we become more unhealthy as well.

I'm not trying to convert anyone and I'm certainly not saying we should all give up meat or anything like that. I only want to encourage people to give a little more thought to where our meat starts. So I'm going to step down off my soapbox, thanks for listening.