wsmith: (Default)
wsmith ([personal profile] wsmith) wrote2008-04-03 01:29 am

Elephant painting.

Interesting implications on self-awareness if true.

[identity profile] benndragon.livejournal.com 2008-04-03 07:32 am (UTC)(link)
I'd need a hell of a lot more info about how this elephant learned to paint to determine if there are implications for self-awareness. Parrots can speak in full sentences if they hear them often enough, but that doesn't mean they know what they're saying. . . (it doesn't mean they don't either - like I said, insufficient data)

[identity profile] lepidosiren.livejournal.com 2008-04-03 07:37 am (UTC)(link)
I was gonna flip out about how you never see the rest of the elephant again once the trunk reaches the canvas, but then they zoomed out. Still, I believe this was a carefully trained, impressive stunt, not a spontaneous self-portrait. :)

[identity profile] julishka.livejournal.com 2008-04-03 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
snopes seems to say it's true, but a trained act not self awareness.

here's a link to the site in the article:
http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=63

[identity profile] spitcurl.livejournal.com 2008-04-03 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
awesome. even if trained.
alonewiththemoon: Drumlin Farm Banding Station 2016 (Default)

[personal profile] alonewiththemoon 2008-04-03 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I was going to repeat what Julishka said about it being a trained act, not a spontaneous act of self-awareness. That said, though, I read an article recently (of course, I don't remember where) that said we are really having to re-examine our assumptions about animals' self-awareness. One experiment I remember from the article was that researchers kept dolphins in a tank with a mirror. They painted spots on the dolphins' heads, and when a dolphin saw its reflection, it would peer at itself and then go try to rub off the spot on something, checking again to see if it had been successful. It had been widely accepted wisdom that animals don't understand reflections, but clearly the dolphins not only understood it, but understood how to use the phenomenon as well.

[identity profile] julishka.livejournal.com 2008-04-03 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
do they go up to each other after eating a tasty fish and say eeEEeeE EEEee EE EE EEEEeeeEE? (translation: do i have anything in my teeth?)

hehe.

[identity profile] tygerwillow.livejournal.com 2008-04-03 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
not at all related, but you wanted me to remind you about the iron pour. it's friday april 25th, roughly 6-9pm, in the massart courtyard (621 huntington ave.)

[identity profile] ccarina671.livejournal.com 2008-05-16 11:27 am (UTC)(link)
Will look into it...thanks!

[identity profile] trudy7879.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
Nice userpic!

[identity profile] wsmith.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
I thank you. The state thanks you. Big brother thanks no one. He only watches. :)

[identity profile] dyllan684.livejournal.com 2008-05-25 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Well