Birds May Do It, Bees May Do It

A group of scientists consider whether animals really think

Though humans are understandably loath to relinquish their monopoly on intelligence, observers have long believed that a good case can be made for the animal mind. At a weekend symposium at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., a group of scientists put their brains together to decide whether or not animals think. Their conclusion: an unequivocal maybe.

The central problem in arriving at an answer is how to measure intelligence. Homo sapiens has a hard time devising IQ tests for its own species, much less trying to assess the brains of others. One trap: interpreting animal behavior in human terms. Notes Theodore Reed, former director of the National Zoo: "The public perception of animal intelligence abounds with anthropomorphic fantasies."

One of the most widely held misconceptions, for example, is that dolphins have an authentic language. The mammals do exchange clicks and whistles in isolated laboratory tanks. But Sheri Lynn Gish, a Smithsonian research associate, points out that although the calls made by dolphins in captivity show definite patterns, it is not known if the patterns constitute a language. Moreover, says Gish, dolphins have not been studied in the open sea, where they may really communicate by nudges and scrapes.

Animal Behaviorist Benjamin Beck of the University of Illinois at Chicago calls attention to still another human delusion, the species bias. Says he jokingly: "On tests for giraffes, where intelligence might be equated with neck length, humans test out below horses and ostriches."

Despite the difficulties, scientists have been trying to devise ways of evaluating animal intelligence. So far, none of them works perfectly. One theory holds that the bigger the brain size in proportion to the body and the more creased the cerebrum portion, the brighter the animal. But, notes Beck, "the human cerebral cortex occupies no greater a proportion in the human brain than in any other primate."

Current research has focused on the use of tools by animals as a signal of intelligence. Chimpanzees, for example, get at termites by jabbing their nests with twigs. The assassin bug of South America, also a termite fancier, approaches its prey by gluing nest material on its back to serve as camouflage. But, says Beck, the bug's behavior is probably "innate or genetically prewired." Another scientific index is the ability of animals to transmit information through so-called language behavior. Bees, foraging for pollen, return to the hive and perform an intricate figure-eight dance to map the route for other bees. Biologist James Gould of Princeton University says, however, that the dance is in the bees' genes, not their minds.

Nevertheless, there are examples of behavior suggesting that animals can process information and make judgments. Gould points out that honey bees, fed sugar water that is gradually moved away from the hive, anticipate where the food will be placed. Seagulls break open shellfish by dropping them on hard surfaces, flying low when their target is small. At the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta, chimpanzees have been conditioned to communicate through symbols and are able to distinguish between signs that mean food and those that refer to nonedible items. Says Duane Rumbaugh: "Apes have the capacity to use symbols that represent things not present in time and space--the essence of semantics, in human parlance." The chimps also have demonstrated self-awareness. One, while watching itself on a television monitor, directed a flashlight beam into its mouth, apparently curious about what its throat looked like.

Still, no animal species is likely to prove more intelligent than Homo sapiens. However, as Psychologist Colin Beer of Rutgers University puts it, "Human intelligence has made us dominant, but has also brought us great suffering. The balance sheet of the costs and benefits of intelligence has yet to be tallied." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.