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Scientists are rethinking animal cognition


Kittens Are Jerks

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For many scientists, the resonant mystery is no longer which animals are conscious, but which are not.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/what-the-crow-knows/580726/

A long article, but really quite interesting. Several animal species are discussed. The following are a couple of excerpts on fish pain:

Fish have many more kinds of sensors than bacteria do. Their sensors flare when the water temperature spikes, when they come into contact with corrosive chemicals, when a hook rips through their scales and into their flesh. In the lab, when trout lips are injected with acid, the fish do not merely respond at the site. They rock their entire bodies back and forth, hyperventilating, rubbing their mouths against their tanks’ sides or gravel bottoms. These behaviors cease when the fish are given morphine.

Fish pain is something different from our own pain. In the elaborate mirrored hall that is human consciousness, pain takes on existential dimensions. Because we know that death looms, and grieve for the loss of richly imagined futures, it’s tempting to imagine that our pain is the most profound of all suffering. But we would do well to remember that our perspective can make our pain easier to bear, if only by giving it an expiration date. When we pull a less cognitively blessed fish up from the pressured depths too quickly, and barometric trauma fills its bloodstream with tissue-burning acid, its on-deck thrashing might be a silent scream, born of the fish’s belief that it has entered a permanent state of extreme suffering.

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Between you and my wife, I'm going to starve to death.  I haven't been able to look a cow in the eye for decades and since I typically don't eat pigs anyway, fish has been my friend...til now...   This reminds me of an old favorite from long-gone years.  

 

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12 hours ago, and then said:

Between you and my wife, I'm going to starve to death.  I haven't been able to look a cow in the eye for decades and since I typically don't eat pigs anyway, fish has been my friend...til now... 

I know the feeling. I've been off meat for a while, but do eat seafood. I was planning on having salmon for dinner last night, but after this article, I had lemon tarts instead.

Fish are not as cognitively impaired as they were once thought to be. The article provides some interesting examples, such as grouper fish teaming up with eels to scare prey out of reefs, coordinating their actions with sophisticated head signals, or female trout faking orgasms to rid themselves of unwanted males.

We've been aware of the cognitive abilities of some mammals, birds and insects, but as studies expand, it is utterly amazing what some species are capable of.

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17 minutes ago, Kittens Are Jerks said:

That was really quite an interesting story. Thank you for posting it.

I think this is the documentary on it. I watched something similar to this a few years ago and it definitely fascinated me.

Killers in Eden.

 

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10 hours ago, Buzz_Light_Year said:

I think this is the documentary on it. I watched something similar to this a few years ago and it definitely fascinated me.

Killers in Eden.

I was disappointed to see that the video was no longer active in the article. Thank you for finding it.

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20 hours ago, Impedancer said:

Love howard jones

I always have but when I actually stopped to listen to these lyrics it near gutted me.  I grew up as a meat eater and still do eat beef from time to time.  I stick mostly with chicken and fish but now I'll be thinking about the potential pain my dietary habit causes living things.  I wouldn't mind going vegetarian if I knew how to cook and had the time.  I just don't and I'm not likely to change that anytime soon... :( 

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