While watching some domesticated sheep on my Aunt’s farm, I was struck by how stupid they were. The sheep pen had two feed troughs. After the two troughs had been filled with sheep chow, the sheep quickly ate their food. What happened next was bizarre. The sheep would run to trough #1, looking for food. After realizing that trough #1 was bare, they would run to trough #2. After realizing that trough #2 was bare, they ran back to trough #1. This loop continued for quite a while, until they very slowly realized that there was no food left in either trough.
Do biologists have a scale/test to measure the intelligence of animals?
One of the old Cecil question is whether dogs or cats are smarter. He said that it’s hard enough to define and test intelligence in humans, much less compare different species with different niches in the ecosystem. If dogs don’t catch rodents as well, does that mean they’re dumber? Are cats unable to learn as many tricks, or do they just not care as much, being solo hunter types without a large need for pack socialization?
But I’ve heard similar things about sheep being pretty dumb.
Smarter animals tend to break out of pens, figure out that the collie is not a wolf, and generally not hang around to be eaten. We have been dumbing sheep down for millenia. Pigs are still pretty smart, but we have made them lazy. Pigs know why we feed them well, though, which is why you cannot trust a hog.
Years ago when I was surveying we used to have frequent arguments about whether cows or sheep ere the dumbest animals on earth.
One of the guys on my survey team was a country boy. He could lay down for a sleep whenever he wanted and wake up the designated number of minutes later. We often used this ability after lunch to have a nap in the field in which we we were marking out future subusrban roads. When Dave woke us we were usually surrounded by a herd of inquisitive, yet cowlike, cows.
However when we were marking out sheep farms we used to laugh at the way the sheep would play follow the leader and if the leader jumped over some phantom object every sheep did. But since then I have noticed that flocks of birds and schools of fish perform similar acts with no communication - every member just does in spontaneously, so maybe sheep are smart…real smart.
I should have mentioned that I had minted lamb leg steaks for dinner last night. I think that lamb is beef’s smarter brother. If I had to give up one at the point of a gun it would be beef, there are to many ethnic lamb dishes I adore.
Oh, sssuuurrree. That’s what you all say now. But what if in 20 years (or so) they take over the world and then we find out they’ve been planning their world domination for years, then what?
Animals can’t count. You are expecting the sheep to know that there are only 2 troughs in their pen. They don’t. That’s why they go back and forth. They can only identify the object, not how many there are. After a while they get the idea that there is no more food in those things.
Cats and dogs can’t count either. Ever watch a new mother move her brood to a new nest? After they take the last one, they go back to check for another. They are not finished until they observe an empty nest.
