The truth about those clever pets

Press, 26 March 1981, Page 17

The truth about those clever pets

By

PAUL WALLACE

Features Internationa]

“He understands every word I say . . .” But he 9 doesn’t. For years, animal J owners have been fooling ft themselves about the intelli- ; gence of their pets, says a • t; team of zoologists from ? America’s Cornell • Univer- ( sity, after a two-year study > of animal intelligence. f They have come to the ! conclusion that if people | want a really bright pet they i will have to choose a mon-. | key; or failing that, an ele--8 phant or a pig. They say that | if people stay with the ordinary cat or dog, they cannot expect to have a very scintillating companion. 4 Dr Gerry Grantley, who 6 led the Cornell survey, re- | ports: “Nearly all owners a choose to believe that their »pets possess near-human a powers of comprehension. In- | deed, more than 80 per cent, |of owners in our studyj * claimed that their own pets i 5 were highly intelligent.” t | So how bright is your pet?; EAn expert at the zoology’ | department of London Uni-5 ? versify says: “The first thing I * to remember is that no ani- j t mal has the capacity to' i j understand the complexities i | of human speech. ’ I “The closest any animal < ’ has come to that ability was i I the case of a monkey Which 5 f was trained to recognise 150 ■ I simple signs as the basis of a s f primitive language. By com-1 |parison, even a very small! fchild will soon develop al I vocabulary of more than J 11000 words. 4 I “The best most animals? - can do is learn what is* i expected of them from a few r i simple commands, like “sit”i; land “heel” — and basically,| 5 the more commands your pet | j learns, the brighter it is.” f s Does this mean that a I ! monkey’s brain-power makes ’ s it the best choice for a pct?' J “Curiously, most attempts to j keep pet monkeys have ’ i failed largely because of the ? s creature’s comparatively £ i high intelligence,” the expert ? ‘ adds. V Most authorities agree that $ i apes come top of the ani- fe •mats’ intelligence league —|; and there is also widespread : agreement about . the next i" four places. These are taken up by the elephant, pig, dog, and cat. Elephants would seem to be out for most people, but the two old favourites, dogs and cats, remain a sensible. choice. | ■ A veterinary surgeon says: | i “I agree that their intelli- i ' gence is often over-rated, but £ : dogs in particular have a | jhigh ability to learn specific? 'skills. / . .f

“The reason many people are misled into believing that they understand speech ; lies in the acute perception : of their hearing, which is ‘ much superior, to a human j; being’s. “They are very sensitive to changes in their owner’s tone - of voice. They learn from ’ experience What these mean ; and react accordingly — so the effect is almost the same as if they understood what the words actually meant.” In one survey, 60 per cent of owners said that they talked regularly to their dog's - — and some even admitted ' that they sought the dog's approval for new ideas, such as changes in interior deco- ■ ration, or the choice of a new. , car. i j However, cat owners are . not to be outdone by the versatility and learning power of dogs. One leading . breeder of championship Manx cats said: "There is no doubt cats are much cleverer .'than dogs. • "The reason they don't learn stupid skills like retrieving sticks, or fetching ' their owners’ slippers, is that . they have got far too much ’ I sense. j i- "Cats have life very well. ! worked out. They are inde-< t pendept, self-confident, and I ' natural, survivors. If you ask i -me they're brighter than a' i lot of people.” i 3 > What of that other leading ; ’ member of the animals’ j Brain Trust — the pig? Ac- • cording to many experts, it 1 has distinct possibilities if you are looking for a clever , pet. . Scientists at Cornell Um- ■ versity, who recently studied * the brain-power of the pig, I say: “Most people seem to go j along with the. opinion ex-j pressed in the song — that ' the pig is Tat, lazy, and

extremely rude.’ It’s a false impression. A "In fact, they are ver}' ;• fastidious eaters and are • careful with their diet.” They are also, apparently, '• remarkably athletic, can swim long distances and climb mountains. When • -trained for the purpose they can evert give horses a close race over long distances. The circus owner, Michael i Hirst, who has trained, a > troupe of pigs to appear in i his Big Top, says: “They are s at least as good as dogs, and | probably better in many rej spects.” Vj, , ■ ■ . Horses come next in the I.’ brightness league. They are r said to be adaptable to a L limited range of tasks but £ are sometimes indiscrimiK nate in their eating habits. Goats, now becoming in- £ creasingly popular as backs garden pets, follow next. Sci- ;■ enlists give them low marks » for brains, “slightly i tempered by the fact that « they can have their own r engaging charm.” ( Sadly, the smaller range of i household pets like rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice s and tortoises mostly fail to k impress. . aj, v One . researcher says: I “Some of them could be | trained to do simple tasks I like walk up. ladders and | inside wheels, but generally they are not kept for their i intelligence.” ] If. despite all this, you still i think your family pet under- ?' stands every word you say, i consider this comment by a i top zoologist: . "With their ’* superior i brains, humans have not yet i worked out how to underi stand animals, so I’ll believe I animals understand humans the day they start answering us back.” , & -