Leann, I wasn't trying to capture anyone�s interest. Merely rambling in a half dazed state. It's not like I need to capture anyone�s interest, I'm not making money off of this anyway. This one will be long too, so you may as well stop reading here.
Rick, By no means was I saying you can compare some species to one another. Perhaps I forgot to write that I don't believe you can even compare a pictus gecko to an ape, or even an anole's intelligent to an iguana's. A finch's intelligence to that of a hyacinth macaw.
Everything is situational, or here...depending on species and environment.
I still stand by my belief that there are animal (such as my macaw) that even have an EQ. And not only Dolphins and Apes should be looked at under a different light, they've just grasped enough interest from the public for someone to study them more then other animals. I'm not saying an insect has an EQ, but I'm pretty darn sure that my macaw does. After all, isn't EQ meaning you are aware of your own emotions, as well as those of others? (Which aids in manipulation of those around in some senses. People with High EQ make excellent sales people, waitresses and managers..anything that requires social skills since you know how to respond to your environment and control yourself within it.) And I'll be the first to admit that 'parrot type' birds are highly manipulative of those around them.
Another discussion I had with a friend of mine the other day was about endangered species and funding for rehabilitation programs and such. A point I found during that discussion I believe can somewhat apply here....
It's been agreed that Dolphins and Apes have a more 'advanced' intelligence then other species. But we've studied them more thoroughly then most, people obsess over dolphins and how many monkey stuffed animals do you see in any store? They are obviously popular. So they peek enough interest to BE studied, not just overlooked. You see them in TV shows. (eg Flipper, and the Monkey Marcel from Friends), they are on shirts, in commercials (though now they've got geckos in commercials). Funding to research them will be quite a bit higher and easier to find then it would be to research some other creature out in the middle of nowhere that hardly anyone knows about. Panda's are aesthetically pleasing, so people are much more easily coaxed into donating money to save them, but what about some other endangered lizard somewhere else.
Who knows, who cares, who wants a poster on their wall of some ugly scaled creature (not my opinion, but general population). We've yet to discover the amount of intelligence in other animals, we're just beginning to discover the possibilities in their intelligence (Alex the African grey can talk, and some gorilla's can communicate with sign language)...what else is out there?
No I don't think gecko's are geniuses, though I give them a bit more credit then being purely instinctual creatures. Mostly due to personal experience. As in when I�ve seen them go completely against 'instinctual' behaviour to investigate something interesting. *eg one of my leopard geckos is very much interested in my conure...while instinct would usually tell gecko to get AWAY from a hookbill*
I'm probably defensive here as well because I've done rescues (as numerous others on this list), and I find that often because people disregard animal intelligence and even the possibility of them having anything that may resemble emotions, make it easier for people to abuse them.
I work with rescues still, and you'd be amazed at the amount of abuse people put on an animal because it's "Just a stupid (insert animal type here)..."
A parrot NEEDS mental stimulation, it's not just a pretty bird in a cage. Without mental stimulation, it goes nuts, and begins self mutilation (plucking feathers out till they even go through flesh, I even knew a BUDGIE who was so bored he'd bang his head on the side of the cage till he died one day. Stupid? Perhaps, but then humans slit their wrists and die from accidents that can easily be avoided.). Just like a human being would if locked in a cell with nothing to do for years on end. They'll bite their nails, chew on hair, slowly slip into the realms of insanity etc...
Even a gecko needs a change of its environment once in awhile, needs a variety in its food or else it gets bored and stops eating for awhile (mine do that sometimes).
(BTW, I think the 'egg eating' thing may be lack of calcium....but that's my own personal thought, or she was just hungry -shrugs-)
And a fish's life expectancy plummets when put in a tank with nothing to swim around (stress level spikes up, immunity system drops..and death soon follows). Though I don't think they are the brightest things ever either...
Meh, I rambled again, and if this really bothered you but you read the whole thing...I'm not sorry, after all..you are the one that read it :P
These are just things I like to get off my chest once in awhile...since I'm on the front lines seeing how people like to disregard life just because it isn't human.
I even know a woman who buys animals from pet stores, keeps them for a week, then trades them back so her son can have the experience of the animal. So she even had a veiled chameleon in a tiny critter keeper (barely big enough for you to fit two fists in for this baby chameleon about the length of your finger without tail) for a few weeks. Then wondered why it was sickly just before she traded it in to get the kid a rabbit or something of the like. Now there is a blatant disregard/disrespect for life...and when I told her what was wrong, she shrugged "I don't care, I'll trade it in soon anyway."
....."Nice way to teach your kid how to blatantly disregard life..."
She didn't like that comment....but oh well..at least I can say I'm leading an honest life, and didn't let her think I agreed with her. ...and people wonder why I have so many pets...I much prefer their company then the company of people like that.
-PC
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