There is a wide variety of weird news this week. As usual, many are animal-related but in the news this week also are are scams, scares, cults, panics, collapses, conspiracies and more.
Wow! A sun halo not being reported as some weird mystery phenomenon? What gives? Chalk one up for rational thinking.
Peacocks are definitely a bit on the salty side. We had an escaped peacock in our back yard three summers ago. He mostly just wanted to leave but he was not going to let anyone catch him and I wasn’t about to try. Got some nice photos though. He belonged to a neighbor. I have no clue why he has a peacock but I can also confirm that their calls are very loud! I hear it every nigh when the weather is warm enough for it to be outside.
I just read about the "social media parrots" in a news report (NYT?) and while it seems at least somewhat legit, I wonder if it's more like the questionable case of dog owners supposedly communicating with their pets through a large "symbol" rug with 25 items that a dog can "select." The idea is that the dogs learn to express their desires and needs for a whole range of activities from "go for walk" to "water" etc. I watched a video that purported to show a dog using the symbols but it was not a very convincing demo. I've also heard of "buttons" that seem a bit more realistic since one could do some operant conditioning.
Now with the parrots, it's not clear from the videos whether the parrots are really learning and eager to communicate with their friends or if the researchers are doing a sort of Ouija Board thing where they kind of lead the parrot to select something, or perhaps are working with the novelty of the screens, thus using the playtime and rewards to give the impression of parrots interacting.
I've seen the dog buttons in action. I'm also not buying that the dogs are purposefully making short sentences. I don't think their brains can process language, but just sound with an associated behavior/result. It's a mistake to assume animal brains see the world the same as people. It seems reasonable to think that birds enjoy seeing other birds and that is 'fun' for them but I feel like the researchers are reaching too far.
That's pretty much my own view. Dogs (and other critters) can learn amazing behaviors, even "communicating" outside the normal animal parameters of barking, howling, etc. One might even call it "language" if a dog or parrot could purposefully select a symbol or button to "send" and respond to a message. However, one must be careful that the research doesn't slip into the "facilitated communication" trap. In that vein, I'd love to hear further well-structured, double-blinded research being done...as opposed to what some folks call "scientifical" :)
Wow! A sun halo not being reported as some weird mystery phenomenon? What gives? Chalk one up for rational thinking.
Peacocks are definitely a bit on the salty side. We had an escaped peacock in our back yard three summers ago. He mostly just wanted to leave but he was not going to let anyone catch him and I wasn’t about to try. Got some nice photos though. He belonged to a neighbor. I have no clue why he has a peacock but I can also confirm that their calls are very loud! I hear it every nigh when the weather is warm enough for it to be outside.
Good stuff this week!
Good stuff, Kiddo.
I just read about the "social media parrots" in a news report (NYT?) and while it seems at least somewhat legit, I wonder if it's more like the questionable case of dog owners supposedly communicating with their pets through a large "symbol" rug with 25 items that a dog can "select." The idea is that the dogs learn to express their desires and needs for a whole range of activities from "go for walk" to "water" etc. I watched a video that purported to show a dog using the symbols but it was not a very convincing demo. I've also heard of "buttons" that seem a bit more realistic since one could do some operant conditioning.
Now with the parrots, it's not clear from the videos whether the parrots are really learning and eager to communicate with their friends or if the researchers are doing a sort of Ouija Board thing where they kind of lead the parrot to select something, or perhaps are working with the novelty of the screens, thus using the playtime and rewards to give the impression of parrots interacting.
I've seen the dog buttons in action. I'm also not buying that the dogs are purposefully making short sentences. I don't think their brains can process language, but just sound with an associated behavior/result. It's a mistake to assume animal brains see the world the same as people. It seems reasonable to think that birds enjoy seeing other birds and that is 'fun' for them but I feel like the researchers are reaching too far.
That's pretty much my own view. Dogs (and other critters) can learn amazing behaviors, even "communicating" outside the normal animal parameters of barking, howling, etc. One might even call it "language" if a dog or parrot could purposefully select a symbol or button to "send" and respond to a message. However, one must be careful that the research doesn't slip into the "facilitated communication" trap. In that vein, I'd love to hear further well-structured, double-blinded research being done...as opposed to what some folks call "scientifical" :)