Comments on: Think Like an Animal

By: Julien

Julien — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:03:16 +0000

And thank you, Gorilla Bananas, for giving us the great ape perspective on the issue!

By: Julien

Julien — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:49:43 +0000

I’m sure you’re right, Damian. My experience with octopi is very limited. But that’s really what makes that photo so interesting. I feel like I can read its expression despite my unfamiliarity with the species.

It’s also true, of course, that our assumption that we can read human emotions accurately is problematic. There’s lots of room for misinterpretation there, too, for which generations of arty European filmmakers must be grateful.

By: Gorilla Bananas

Gorilla Bananas — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:22:59 +0000

I feel the same way when humans looks at me.

By: Damian

Damian — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:53:23 +0000

You’ve got to figure, too, that over our millennia of association with dogs, we (and they) have picked up a thing or two about body movements, postures, tone of voice and so on. Social animals like dogs and primates have a great deal of their brain devoted to just this kind of thing, and I don’t think it’s a huge leap for one intelligent social species to learn some of the basic cues from another.

I would go so far as to say that if one spent a bit of time observing an octopus and getting a read on its baseline behavior in different situations, a human might be able to infer a few things about its mental state — whether it feels threatened, or hungry, or territorial.