"They found that, like humans, animals can think about places and objects that aren't right in front of them, using their thoughts to imagine walking to a location or moving a remote object to a specific spot."
"This ability to imagine locations away from one's current position is fundamental to remembering past events and imagining possible future scenarios. Therefore, the new work shows that animals, like humans, possess a form of imagination, according to the study's authors."
"This thought process is something humans experience regularly. For example, when we're asked to pick up groceries at a familiar store, we might imagine the locations we will pass along the way before we ever leave the house."
"The team found that rats can precisely and flexibly control their hippocampal activity, in the same way humans likely do. The animals are also able to sustain this hippocampal activity, holding their thoughts on a given location for many seconds—a timeframe similar to the one at which humans relive past events or imagine new scenarios."
Aaaaaaah! I love it. Of course rats have imagination; look at their bright eyes and sweet little faces. (Tee hee) How awesome that we can see it happening. Next step: mind controlled race cars for...
Aaaaaaah! I love it. Of course rats have imagination; look at their bright eyes and sweet little faces. (Tee hee) How awesome that we can see it happening. Next step: mind controlled race cars for rats. Who’s with me?
I mean, scientists made tiny cars that rats could drive with their little paws and they found that the rats learned to enjoy driving. How hard could it be to add mind control?
I mean, scientists made tiny cars that rats could drive with their little paws and they found that the rats learned to enjoy driving. How hard could it be to add mind control?
This was pretty awesome to find out so i looked it up BBC Article and it lowers their stress because they enjoy the activity of learning a new skill which is just charming as hell.
This was pretty awesome to find out so i looked it up BBC Article and it lowers their stress because they enjoy the activity of learning a new skill which is just charming as hell.
They can be trained to all kinds of amazing tasks. Another I can think of is there's a nonprofit called APOPO that uses pouched rats to safely detect & remove landmines from former warzones. The...
They can be trained to all kinds of amazing tasks. Another I can think of is there's a nonprofit called APOPO that uses pouched rats to safely detect & remove landmines from former warzones. The rats are trained like sniffer dogs to locate by smell, but their small size means they can walk around safely without triggering the mines
Rats and so adorable and intelligent that it really makes me sad how short their little lives are. I'd love to have pet rats but (in addition to the obvious conflict with the cats I also own and...
Rats and so adorable and intelligent that it really makes me sad how short their little lives are. I'd love to have pet rats but (in addition to the obvious conflict with the cats I also own and love) I don't think I could handle how quickly they grow old...
Don't worry, they'll probably die of cancer before old age sets in. Joking aside, they're still great pets. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the little buggers, short as it may be. They're not...
Don't worry, they'll probably die of cancer before old age sets in.
Joking aside, they're still great pets. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the little buggers, short as it may be. They're not only clever, they're really sociable and emotionally developed. They can really bond to you.
I've looked into degus for this reason! https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/resource/degu-care Typical life expectancy is 5-8 years, up to 13. Chinchillas have an expectancy of 10, but can live up...
Naked mole rats have an average life expectancy of 30 years! Though they aren’t very easy to keep and you would probably have to adopt the whole colony and give them a huge terrarium network to...
Naked mole rats have an average life expectancy of 30 years! Though they aren’t very easy to keep and you would probably have to adopt the whole colony and give them a huge terrarium network to burrow in as you would an ant colony.
I've also wanted a rodent pet. But I suspect they would mess everywhere and that my chiweenie would probably try to kill them at every opportunity. Even if she failed regularly, I'm sure that...
I've also wanted a rodent pet. But I suspect they would mess everywhere and that my chiweenie would probably try to kill them at every opportunity. Even if she failed regularly, I'm sure that would be incredibly stressful for them.
Maybe someday when I have a dog that gets along better with other animals.
Yeah I suspect my cats wouldn't be ideal companions for any rodents... though the woman who fostered them before I adopted them had a nice big mouse enclosure so ig it's more how well I could...
Yeah I suspect my cats wouldn't be ideal companions for any rodents... though the woman who fostered them before I adopted them had a nice big mouse enclosure so ig it's more how well I could protect them lol
I just worry that, even if their physical safety was assured, it would be incredibly stressful to have a deadly predator looming nearby all the time. My chiweenie is incredibly obsessive when she...
I just worry that, even if their physical safety was assured, it would be incredibly stressful to have a deadly predator looming nearby all the time. My chiweenie is incredibly obsessive when she has something she wants to play with/attack. (If she sees birds in the backyard, she's very insistent about wanting to go out and chase them.)
Does this mean they also have episodic memory? And would that mean other animals like dogs also have episodic memory potentially? I had always heard that they did not.
Does this mean they also have episodic memory? And would that mean other animals like dogs also have episodic memory potentially? I had always heard that they did not.
Not my field, just a personal interest, but the study of non human intelligence is really growing and challenging past assumptions. I read Alex and me by Pepperberg. This scientist was the first...
Not my field, just a personal interest, but the study of non human intelligence is really growing and challenging past assumptions.
I read Alex and me by Pepperberg. This scientist was the first to demonstrate intelligence in birds and many experts doubted her results.
I don't know re episodic memory in dogs, but many assumptions were made that are proving to be untrue re the difference between humans and animals.
Heck, degus can be given ADHD through social trauma! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-016-1244-7 While I do hesitate to project thoughts and emotions towards others, since while...
While I do hesitate to project thoughts and emotions towards others, since while you can always speculate wildly different scenarios upon others with little to no negative feedback, I feel like this is overall a boon to our understanding of ourselves as well.
Think about this - when did hands evolve? And I'm not talking about specifically human hands. There are a number of species with arms that are suspiciously good at gripping and manipulating objects. Primates, racoons, possums, rats, all use 'hands' in similar ways. From eating, grooming, transportation, and just what have you, these are not just paws! But wait, possums aren't even placental animals, they're marsupials...
Rats have imagination - that has HUGE implications for literally every branch of mammalian ancestry, and possibly beyond that! Did synapsids dream and fantasize? Can insects?!
What if everything has a rich inner world we yet barely understand?
Ants form teacher and pupil relationships, and it has even been found that teacher ants will help pupil ants to memorize landmarks and take things slowly so that pupils can digest information before moving on - https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10806078
All of this to say - if animals are this intelligent, shouldn't they all be able to imagine? Imagination is simply entertaining notions of what may be - a form of abstract pattern recognition.
We know that all these species can learn, play, communicate, problem solve, and build complex societies.
Shouldn't we view them as siblings worthy of respect?
I've been enjoying books by primatologist Frans de Waal recently. He definitely shows intelligence and emotions. I have no problem extending this to other mammals and birds and reptiles and insects.
I've been enjoying books by primatologist Frans de Waal recently. He definitely shows intelligence and emotions. I have no problem extending this to other mammals and birds and reptiles and insects.
Some interesting highlights from the article:
Aaaaaaah! I love it. Of course rats have imagination; look at their bright eyes and sweet little faces. (Tee hee) How awesome that we can see it happening. Next step: mind controlled race cars for rats. Who’s with me?
I mean, scientists made tiny cars that rats could drive with their little paws and they found that the rats learned to enjoy driving. How hard could it be to add mind control?
This was pretty awesome to find out so i looked it up BBC Article and it lowers their stress because they enjoy the activity of learning a new skill which is just charming as hell.
They can be trained to all kinds of amazing tasks. Another I can think of is there's a nonprofit called APOPO that uses pouched rats to safely detect & remove landmines from former warzones. The rats are trained like sniffer dogs to locate by smell, but their small size means they can walk around safely without triggering the mines
Rats and so adorable and intelligent that it really makes me sad how short their little lives are. I'd love to have pet rats but (in addition to the obvious conflict with the cats I also own and love) I don't think I could handle how quickly they grow old...
Don't worry, they'll probably die of cancer before old age sets in.
Joking aside, they're still great pets. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the little buggers, short as it may be. They're not only clever, they're really sociable and emotionally developed. They can really bond to you.
Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Promise me a couple of rats that can live 20 years and I'm all in.
I've looked into degus for this reason! https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/resource/degu-care
Typical life expectancy is 5-8 years, up to 13.
Chinchillas have an expectancy of 10, but can live up to 20!
Naked mole rats have an average life expectancy of 30 years! Though they aren’t very easy to keep and you would probably have to adopt the whole colony and give them a huge terrarium network to burrow in as you would an ant colony.
I think my problem with a lot of these it that they're a lot more expensive to take care of.
I've also wanted a rodent pet. But I suspect they would mess everywhere and that my chiweenie would probably try to kill them at every opportunity. Even if she failed regularly, I'm sure that would be incredibly stressful for them.
Maybe someday when I have a dog that gets along better with other animals.
Yeah I suspect my cats wouldn't be ideal companions for any rodents... though the woman who fostered them before I adopted them had a nice big mouse enclosure so ig it's more how well I could protect them lol
I just worry that, even if their physical safety was assured, it would be incredibly stressful to have a deadly predator looming nearby all the time. My chiweenie is incredibly obsessive when she has something she wants to play with/attack. (If she sees birds in the backyard, she's very insistent about wanting to go out and chase them.)
oh yeah my girls love watching birds from our balcony, I think they'd terrorize any rodents.
Does this mean they also have episodic memory? And would that mean other animals like dogs also have episodic memory potentially? I had always heard that they did not.
Not my field, just a personal interest, but the study of non human intelligence is really growing and challenging past assumptions.
I read Alex and me by Pepperberg. This scientist was the first to demonstrate intelligence in birds and many experts doubted her results.
I don't know re episodic memory in dogs, but many assumptions were made that are proving to be untrue re the difference between humans and animals.
Am I the only one not surprised when people realize (yet again) that animals are like us? They can get mental/mood disorders too. Get that!
Heck, degus can be given ADHD through social trauma! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-016-1244-7
While I do hesitate to project thoughts and emotions towards others, since while you can always speculate wildly different scenarios upon others with little to no negative feedback, I feel like this is overall a boon to our understanding of ourselves as well.
Think about this - when did hands evolve? And I'm not talking about specifically human hands. There are a number of species with arms that are suspiciously good at gripping and manipulating objects. Primates, racoons, possums, rats, all use 'hands' in similar ways. From eating, grooming, transportation, and just what have you, these are not just paws! But wait, possums aren't even placental animals, they're marsupials...
In fact, we've had hands the whole time! Paws with footpads and hooves may be the name of the game today, but paws didn't evolve into hands, synapsid and mammalian appendages were more hand-like from the get go - https://science.time.com/2013/02/08/found-humanitys-great-grand-rat/
https://www.ucdavis.edu/curiosity/news/revealing-genome-common-ancestor-all-mammals
Rats have imagination - that has HUGE implications for literally every branch of mammalian ancestry, and possibly beyond that! Did synapsids dream and fantasize? Can insects?!
What if everything has a rich inner world we yet barely understand?
While I can be prone to wild speculation, the fact that we know magpies and ravens are wicked smart - already able to problem solve to such points that we've observed tool use - I feel points to imagination on their ends as well. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/common-raven#:~:text=They%20have%20a%20deep%20voice,aid%20in%20defending%20their%20territories
And ravens can talk! https://youtube.com/shorts/YsBHcMbcO3M?si=b_Rv5rS8xLeP6SIb
We know they have speech, and can communicate threats effectively enough they can put out warrants for public enemies. I didn't know until just now that they can also use hand gestures as well! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ravens-use-hand-gestures/
Bumblebees play - engaging with objects with no value, and we see similar patterns of play reduction in immature and mature bumblebees that we do with humans - https://www.science.org/content/article/are-these-bumble-bees-playing-toys
Ants form teacher and pupil relationships, and it has even been found that teacher ants will help pupil ants to memorize landmarks and take things slowly so that pupils can digest information before moving on - https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10806078
All of this to say - if animals are this intelligent, shouldn't they all be able to imagine? Imagination is simply entertaining notions of what may be - a form of abstract pattern recognition.
We know that all these species can learn, play, communicate, problem solve, and build complex societies.
Shouldn't we view them as siblings worthy of respect?
I've been enjoying books by primatologist Frans de Waal recently. He definitely shows intelligence and emotions. I have no problem extending this to other mammals and birds and reptiles and insects.