So this is hearsay, but a zoologist friend of mine has a zoologist friend of hers :) and that person has spent a while observing cows. She says cows are “smart” but kind of live in a different timescale than we do, a “longer” one. I have no idea what this means for any particular cow, yet what I find interesting is the notion of different timescales and how it affects ethology research.
OTOH, I have geese, and I do wonder about that Hans thing. Geese are 1) super fun, 2) variable in aggression, maternal instinct strength, shyness etc. Sure they can’t communicate many things, but.
They do expect me to behave predictably, to cooperate or to interfere. And I view this mutual expectation as a solid sign of smartness. For example, when I stand in their way, they would politely wait for me to pass, making it clear what they intend to do. They know they shouldn’t get into the vegetable garden, so they do not do it when they could be seen. One goose tugs open the little door to their house to get back on her eggs when she thinks she has us fooled. (Unfortunately, we have to shoo her away from them to get her to eat and drink. But it’s alright now, she became Mother Goose to this year’s crop and does go out to the pasture. We can mostly leave the little ones under her supervision.) My husband fixed some solar-powered streetlights on trees, to play football with the kid in the evening. The lights are triggered by movement. So now the birds take advantage of them. If we don’t lock them in their enclosure, they steal out to enjoy their nighttime swims and grazes (we call it “geese are clubbing again”.)
And yes, I am reading things into things, I do know that)
Different timescale is an important part of it. In a lot of those pet buttons videos you can see that the pet takes an uncomfortably long time to respond. They would often go away from the board to “pace” and then after a solid minute come back to finally respond. In Bunny videos this part gets fast-forwarded to make it watchable, in Billi vids you can see the cat go away and sit with her tail swishing, you can practically see the gears turning in her head.
So this is hearsay, but a zoologist friend of mine has a zoologist friend of hers :) and that person has spent a while observing cows. She says cows are “smart” but kind of live in a different timescale than we do, a “longer” one. I have no idea what this means for any particular cow, yet what I find interesting is the notion of different timescales and how it affects ethology research.
OTOH, I have geese, and I do wonder about that Hans thing. Geese are 1) super fun, 2) variable in aggression, maternal instinct strength, shyness etc. Sure they can’t communicate many things, but.
They do expect me to behave predictably, to cooperate or to interfere. And I view this mutual expectation as a solid sign of smartness. For example, when I stand in their way, they would politely wait for me to pass, making it clear what they intend to do. They know they shouldn’t get into the vegetable garden, so they do not do it when they could be seen. One goose tugs open the little door to their house to get back on her eggs when she thinks she has us fooled. (Unfortunately, we have to shoo her away from them to get her to eat and drink. But it’s alright now, she became Mother Goose to this year’s crop and does go out to the pasture. We can mostly leave the little ones under her supervision.) My husband fixed some solar-powered streetlights on trees, to play football with the kid in the evening. The lights are triggered by movement. So now the birds take advantage of them. If we don’t lock them in their enclosure, they steal out to enjoy their nighttime swims and grazes (we call it “geese are clubbing again”.)
And yes, I am reading things into things, I do know that)
Different timescale is an important part of it. In a lot of those pet buttons videos you can see that the pet takes an uncomfortably long time to respond. They would often go away from the board to “pace” and then after a solid minute come back to finally respond. In Bunny videos this part gets fast-forwarded to make it watchable, in Billi vids you can see the cat go away and sit with her tail swishing, you can practically see the gears turning in her head.