Had a research project where we studied the apes at the zoo. Had to pick one and spend an hour observing it. I picked the orangutan. Big male that was sitting up against the glass. I had a backpack with me and he was super into me just pulling stuff out, flipping through pages of books, showing him how the pencil clicked and stuff. It really felt like sitting down with a person from another culture or something, more than any animal
When I was younger and I would hear stats like this I would think “psh a 6 year old? big deal!” But now that I have a 1 year old kid, it’s fuckin crazy how smart she is already. She was already smarter than the dogs 3-6 months ago, in terms of just like, raw reasoning ability. Now she’s talking, she’s like, working on shapes and the sounds different animals make … even my Dutch shepherd isn’t half as smart as she is even at 1. It’s nuts.
It ultimately comes down to individual differences.
I had two birds.
One was remarkably intelligent, it mimicked the phone to get my attention, solved complex puzzles, and even spoke without any training.
The other... well, it fell off the top of a doorframe and got stuck in a crack, flew straight into a screen door, and failed to catch an ant on the wall.
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u/Rise_Up_And_Resist Mar 03 '25
Had a research project where we studied the apes at the zoo. Had to pick one and spend an hour observing it. I picked the orangutan. Big male that was sitting up against the glass. I had a backpack with me and he was super into me just pulling stuff out, flipping through pages of books, showing him how the pencil clicked and stuff. It really felt like sitting down with a person from another culture or something, more than any animal