THE ANIMAL MIND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20089, 4 May 1927, Page 6

THE ANIMAL MIND.

CAN IT REASON? A NATURALIST'S EVIDENCE. Does a. bird know where it is going? lias it a definite goal in view, or is it merely flying under impulse? Can it make up its mind, or has it a mind to make up? That birds and animals have intelligence we are all satisfied, and can quote illustration and proof from our own obscr ration, but we hesitate to say that this implies “mind.” e prefer to think of their movements as being prompted and directed by instinct. Is it. alter all, merely a question or definition that proverbially delicate and difficult process? What is instinct? What is mind? What is individuality? What is personality? Those questions force themselves upon us when we begin to read the opening pages of Miss Fiances Pitt s "Animal Mind” (states tho_ Melbourne Argus). This lady has written several volumes of nature study which reflect the highest credit on her skill as an observer as well as on hoi- literary gifts, and nee contention in her latest work is that animals have individuality which she regards as equivalent to personality. In mammals, in birds, and oven in invertebrates, there is a something which points to reasoning power. In support of her argument she quotes Hudson in his ‘•Naturalist in La Plata”“lntelligence is, after all, in most cases the guiding principle in life, supplementing and modifying habits to bring them " into closer harmony with the environment, and enlivening every day with countless little acts which result from judgment and experience, and form no part of the inherited complex instincts.” Throughout this book she furnishes evidence, chiefly first hand, that animals end birds have “awareness” and purpose, that there is what she calls the “man at the wheel,” but she wants to know whether he ‘‘is in absolute control, or whether ha is but little more than a passenger, just giving the wheel a slight turn now and again.” ~ , . . She had a tame otter which one day caught its first toad and began to flay with it as a oat with a mouse. _ 'Hie toad, for its defence, is able to emit a strong acid secretion, which causes extreme pam‘ to its attacker. When it defended iteelf in this way the otter at once showed signs of pain in the mouth, clawed at its teeth, rubbed its muzzle on the grass, and was evidently very miserable for quite Id minutes. A tow days later it found another toad, drew it out of its hole very carefully by the hind log, carried it off to the pond and proceeded to wash it, throwing it about, diving with it in her paws and coming up to fling it high in the air again. This went on for 10 minutes until it was quite clean, then the otter brought it ashore, laid it on the grass and pawed it rolling it between her feet as if to rub off the distasteful matter. Hero was every appearance of using means to gain a certain end. , How much animals and birds enjoy fun wo all know from observing kittens and certain young birds. It is not enough, says Miss Pitt, to set these activities down to Nature’s scheme to get the creatures ready for life’s battles. That is true lor the young ones, but how about the adults who long ago learned life's _ business and have proved successful in it? She had two tame ravens, Ben and Joa, which did not like cats. “As soon as a cat appeared one of the ravens stalked forward and took her attention. He would hop toward* her, jump back, dance loand the pump, and sidle towards heir, again—a mixture of impudence and caution most amusing to behold, and very worrying to the cat. She usually eat down, flattened her ears and spat at him. If it .was Ben who was thus engaging her attention, then it would b 6 Joe who was creeping up behind, preparatory to taking her m the rear. A stop a time, one by one, ha would get nearer, moving sideways, with crab-like action, and looking the _ personification of wickedness. “Craw-ah” would say Ben in front, ruffling his feathers and keeping the cat’s eyes fixed on him. Gingerly and gently Joe would get a few stops nearer, nearer, and nearer to tn® cat's outstretched tail.. There it lay, the tip twitching spasmodically as a cat s tail will when she is not too happy about something, and Joe's beak getting closer. A moment Inter that black beak, ttrons* as a pair of steel nippers, closed upon it. Oh! poor puss! With a frantic cry she sprang about, but Joe was away across the yard, and Ben, seizing the opportunity and likewise her tail, had the oat rtonv the other side. So it went on; whichever way the unfortunate cat turned there was a raven ready for her, and at last she had to beat a desperate and .undignified retreat, springing up into the creepers on the wall, and thence, in a storm and spitting, over the top of it.” The raven's’ chuckling. croak sounded for all the world like triumphant laughter. The obvious inference is that they played into each other’s hands (or rather beaks), and displaying not only a joint. purpose, but a keen understanding and enjoyment of it. It looked like a deep-laid scheme, and with some sense of humour in it. Revenge is often taken by birds and beasts. Boys offered an elephant a bun, and whenever he was about to take it they drew it back and enjoyed his disappointment. The animal turned away to tha water tap, collected some water, walked back te the bars and blew it sudden'y into the hove’ eyes and ears and down their necks. The elephant. then stood swaying his trunk, as if he enjoyed paying them out. . What can we make of the destruction of young creature? by the mother? Sous often eat their litter. Rabbits will do the same, and so do ferrets badgers, dormice, and hedgehogs. Miss. Pitts explanation is that the mother is annoyed, frightened or worried, and, under stress of fear, kills her young to make them safe. If this is the true account of tie motive, then the explanation itself demands still greater explanation, or it point* either to an extraordinary instinct or a high power of reasoning. Instinct is immutable, while mteUigenc® is adaptable. Old writers thought that instinct was intelligence crystdhsed into habit and become hereditary, but the truth is that it was evolved long before o°”* sciousness, and must have been one of the earliest manifestations of life. Tina young bird stepping into water for the first time does so not because it has a sudden vision of itself splashing water about and enjoving a good bath.” Something make® it want to go in. but ever after that iha instinct is modified bv the experience of having bathed. Nest time it sees water it knows what it is. Migration, homing, tricks to deceive hunters, nest building, courting and mating are all described and chown to be shot through with intelligence, a something very different from blind, instinctive, emotional reaction. Birds and animals ’ have memories, profit by experience and show a considerable degree ct educability. . The idea of Nature rod in tooth and claw” Miss PHt thinks a grotesque travesty of the normal life of wild creatures. Sickness and ill-health are almost unknown. Death comes quickly and uc A wounded bird is generally put out of ing by hawk or owl. The wild animal leads a happy, care-free existence But has the animal a soul? If so, will it survive the she** of death? cannot toll. The difference between the mmd of animals and men is one of degree rather than kind. Is all life one? It looks so.