by invitation
Prof Aliza le Roux, head
of the Department of
Zoology and Entomology
at the University of the
Free State’s QwaQwa
campus, says the
latest ideas in animal
behaviour hold far-
reaching implications
forlivestockfarmers.
Theviewsexpressedinourweekly
opinionpiecedonotnecessarily
reflectthoseofFarmer’sWeekly.
- Email Prof le Roux at lerouxa3@
ufs.ac.za/[email protected]. - Sources:csmonitor.com/Science/
2019/0402/Have-you-herd-it-turns-
out-cows-have-feelings-too;
Nagel,T. 1974. ‘Whatis it like to be
a bat?’ Retrievedfrom warwick.
ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/study/
ugmodules/humananimalstudies/
lectures/32/nagel_bat.pdf.
New thoughts on
animal thinking
We are learning more and more about
how animals experience their unique
worlds. My own studies have focused mainly
on cognition in mammals such as bat-eared
foxes and primates. For example, bat-eared
foxes carry cow dung to their dens so that
their offspring can feed on the insects and
larvae in it, a brilliant feeding solution for
a species that usually doesn’t eat anything
bigger than a termite. I’ve also looked at how
geladamonkeyscheatoneanotherbyhiding
theirinfidelitiesfromothersinthetroop.
Thesefindingsareapplicabletobehaviour
inotherspecies.Onecanwritevolumes
aboutwhatweknow,butthereis justas
muchwedon’tknow.Fortoolong,we
believedinbehaviourism,ortheidea
thatbecausewecannotmeasureanimal
cognitionoremotions,theysimplydonot
exist.Thisnegateswhatpeoplewhokeep
animalshavealwaysknown.Anyone
whohasa favouritedog,cat,horseoreven
sheepknowsthattheanimalhassome
personality,emotionsandintelligence.Measuringtheinvisible
Overtheyears,researchershave
developedtechniquesthatenablethem
tomeasurethe‘invisible’sideofanimals.
Wenowknowforcertainthattheyhave
individualpersonalities,areintelligent,
andexperienceemotions,althoughthese
arenotexactlythesameasours.We
cannolongeracceptthatemotionand
intelligencearetotallyabsentinanimals.
Whenherchilddies,a baboonmother
willcarryit aroundfordaysandsometimes
behaveasthoughsheis grieving.The
chancesaregoodthatthehormones
actingonherbodyarethesameasours
whenwearesad.Whileheroffspring
wasalive,shenursedit inthesameway
a humanparentwouldcarefora child,
withthesametypeofhormonesguiding
herbehaviour.Tous,it lookslikelove,and
it probablyfeelsratherlikelovetoher.
Buttherearesomeobviousdifferences
tohumans:whenthemotherbaboontries
toescapea predatorbywadingthrougha
riverwithherbabyclingingtoherbelly,she
doesnotrealiseit coulddrown.Shedoes
nothavetheability(theoryofmind)tosee
somethingfromthebaby’sperspective.It is true that we are, to a degree, just
guessing about what is going on in the
brains of animals, but this is true of people
as well. We still cannot accurately measure
the thoughts of our own species. All we can
do is believe that others have more or less the
same thoughts as we do. But our guessing is
becoming more accurate. In animals, too, we
can measure emotion according to hormones
and behaviour. We can also measure
intelligenceviacleverlydesignedtests.Asalreadymentioned,thehormonesthat
causeemotioninanimalsarethesame
asthoseinhumans.Ouremotionsare
physicalandphysiological,notsome
immeasurablemysticalforcethatcomes
outoftheblue.Animalscanrecogniseone
another’svoicesandodours,andrecognise
familymembers.Theycanremember,
sometimesfora verylongtime.Theycan
count,andthereis increasingevidence
thattheyunderstandfairnessand
co-operation.Theirintelligenceis often
adaptedtospecificlifestyles.Indeed,
theycansometimesappearclevererthan
weare.Chimpanzees,forexample,can
recognisecertainpatternsfasterand
rememberthemforlongerthanhumans;
thishelpsthemintheirsearchforfood.siMilarities in learning
and understanding
Every animal learns throughout its
life. We can see this in new behaviour
and even new connections in the brain.
Whether it is to understand the sounds
of their own species, learn whose family
is boss in the larger group, or get to
know that ‘well done’ means the master
is pleased, animals learn all the time.
From the smallest bee to the biggest whale,
all animals learn (albeit at different rates).
Learning is part of the fight for survival.
Of course, we humans can learn more
complex things because we have language6 farmer’sweekly 9 august 2019
We can no longer
accept that animals
have little emotion
or intelligence