Re: Animal Minds - March 2008
I live in Lower Sackville a suburb of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and we are blessed by a number of crows that inhabit the area. I have always been amazed by the actions of these highly intelligent birds and I beleive that they carry out complicated thought processes and also utilize high powers of memory.
Like the scrub jays mentioned in the article, I have observed the crows hiding food stuff, and when one leaves another comes and moves it or takes it to eat. On a number of occasions I have observed the original crow come back, go to the place of hiding and start turning over leaves looking for the food, searching an ever larger area and exhibiting frustration before finally leaving in apparent disgust. I know that it was the original crow that returned because the crow had one feather on a wing that was bent out at an odd angle. The crows also seem to remember when garbage pickup day is because our pickup for food stuff happens only every second week and on those days numbers of crows arrive early in the morning, whereas on the off week they do not. They have even arrived on the right week when the garbage day has been changed due to a holiday or change in schedule. It also seems that the flock have a designated taster for new food. I had occassion to put out for them some grapes that they had not seen before, the grapes sat for two days before the first crow approached them. sidling up to them, walking very slowly and looking at them from every angle in a gingerly fashion, first touching them with a foot, flying away quickly and repeating this proceedure three times. He finally landed, strode boldly over to the grapes and boldly plucked one off and ate it. This all happened while six or seven other crows sat looking on from nearby branches. As soon as the one crow took the grape, the others flew down and cleaned off the grapes in a matter of seconds. I observed the same behavior when a couple of odd fancy donuts were put out. I normally only put out bread crusts which usually disappear by the time I reenter the house. Some garlic flavoured crackers generated the same reaction as the grapes but took a lot more sidling up and flying away before the tasting crow got up the courage to try one. On that occasion the onlooking crows did not respond until the first crow went back and ate two more crackers. I think crows are extremely smart, have a tremendous social structure, and communicate very well with each other.
Thanks for a great magazine, I have been a subscriber for almost forty years.
William MacKay

It seems to me that often, when environmentalists condemn the aluminum industry in Iceland, and suggest that such things as ecotourism might be a practical solution to the economic problems, they are all too quick to list the "costs" of big industry but ignore the "costs" of tourism.

If tourism is to benefit ALL of Iceland then tourists must be welcomed and provided for all over Iceland, not just in Reykjavik and its environs where tourism is now largely concentrated. This will also have costs that must be considered in the "anything but heavy industry" debate.

How are all those tourists and their dollars going to get to Iceland except by planes that burn jet fuel? And then how are they going to travel to places such as Myvatn and the highlands except by vehicles that also burn carbon-based fuels. To support increased numbers of tourists viewing the wonders of Vatnajokull, Karanhujakar, Myvatn and Husivik the country will need to invest in upgrading infrastructure around the entire country. Better roads, more accomodation, more restaurants, more tourist facilities. All these are costs that must be considered in the debate of future heavy industry versus increased ecotourism.

Finally lots of tourists with more roads, accomodation, services for those tourists usually means an area is no longer "pristine". So while the impact may not be as easy to photograph as a hydroelectric damn or geothermal piping, there will, nevertheless, be impacts. As they say, "Be careful what you wish for".

Re: Animal Minds March 2008
When I saw the cover of the March 2008 issue of NGM I couldn't get the wrapper off fast enough. That animals have minds and thoughts comes as no surprise to many of us who have spent most of our lives in the company of animals. What is surprising is that it has taken so long for this to gain scientific acceptance. Are we that insecure about our place in the universe that we can’t acknowledge what is right in front of us? I have often observed my own animals exhibiting intelligent, thinking behavior. Two occasions especially come to mind.

Scamp, a pony I had, once "told" me where my other horses were located after they had escaped their paddock. When I headed off looking in the wrong direction he stomped, whinnied and generally made a fuss. Once I turned back towards him he stopped carrying on and immediately turned and looked off across the fence into the neighbor's pasture. This happened more than once so I finally walked back up the hill to where he stood and looked off in the direction he was gazing. Sure enough, there were the other horses in the back corner of that field. Once I headed in the correct direction, Scamp waited quietly for me to retrieve the escapees. Did he miss his herd mates? Probably not since he was something of a loner and had not escaped with them. It was breakfast time and Scamp was last in the feeding order. He most likely knew that he wouldn't get fed until the other horses were back home, so he communicated their location to me.

Several years ago, during a cold Ohio winter, I watched my Boston Terrier construct her own heated “pup tent”. She took a blanket that lay on the couch and, with nose and paws, worked it to the far end where a heating register was adjacent on the floor. Back and forth she went from floor to couch, arranging the blanket so that it draped off the edge and formed a canopy over the register. Then, when it was to her liking, she crawled under for a nice warm nap. I had several times before come home to find the blanket arranged thusly—I just didn’t know how it had gotten that way until I caught her in the act.

Neither of these animals had been trained to do anything approaching the behaviors they were exhibiting. They came up with them entirely on their own. OK, so they aren’t writing sonnets or building skyscrapers, but a hundred thousand years ago, neither were we.

re:Beyond The Blue Horizons March/08
In his 1989 book EASTER ISLAND:The Mystery Solved, Thor Hyerdahl presents a strong case for Easter Island first being habited from South America. In addition to his numerous archaelogical and historical references, he also has the prevailing winds and currents in his favour. Your March 2008 article speculates that contrarian winds brought Polynesians there first but gives no evidence for that claim. Is there more known to back up the claim or is Mr. Hyerdahl again being given the anthropological "stiff arm"?

Re: Animal Minds March 2008
Given the lesson ascribed to this excellent article, an obvious and more accurate title should have been: "Minds of there own: Animals other than humans are smarter than we think.” Again, we fail to recognize through anthropocentrism that we too are ‘animals.’ This persistent denial perhaps is truly what separates us from the others in the animal kingdom.

I read with great interest the article "Inside Animal Minds" that suggests animals are learning to communicate in more intelligent ways.

I can personally vouch this to be true. I am a golden retriever who runs a website called Animal Internet where we publish editorials written by animals. (http://Animalinternet.com.)

Animal Internet is a social networking site that only animals can join. Here dogs discuss world events with cats, monkeys trade recipes with cattle and salmon have been known to finally tell beavers what they think about those dams. All free from oppressive human oversight!

Some editorials currently on the site include: A dog explaining why he's throwing his support behind Obama; Ants discussing steroid use; and an exclusive interview with the chicken who crossed the road, telling how his life hasn't been the same since that fateful day.

If you are interested in what animals have to say, Animalinternet.com is the place to visit.

Sincerely,

Casey Coronel (golden retriever)
Founder and CEO
Animal Internet

Animal Minds

My vote for great animal minds after
dolphins are:

The hoary marmots on the east side of
Mt. Rainier that play a game of
'dodge the hiker' that forces one to
change one's gait to avoid stepping
on one of them. They seem to laugh.

Then there are the mountain goats
at Glacier National Park that come
out of the roadside forest knowing
that many people will stop to admire
them. They do pose. Then they go back
into the woods to wait until everyone
leaves. Then they come out again
when the crowd of admirers forms
again.

Sincerely;

Neil Weikel

Re: Animal Minds

My 9-year-old Pomeranian, Zoe Bear, knows 200 toys by name and can reliably retrieve them. She also knows 24 colors, and 50 commands that she obeys when it suits her.

Here is a link to her set on Flickr, which also links to the article about her that ran in the February 2007 issue of Reader's Digest, and an article I wrote about her that was published in the Roswell Beacon:
http://flickr.com/photos/mimbrava/sets/425614/

That was a nice read, thanks :) I was just wondering if anyone could help me out with a question. I have been having some problem with cats dirtying up my garden and have seen some products about to stop this (link to one in my name). I just wondered if anyone has used these devices or would have any other methods to stop this.
Thanks,
Liz

Cute! I love reading about other animals. I think they're more human than humans.

People take for granted how much we can learn from our pets about human interaction. Say for instance dominant and submissive roles. Among pets and in the animal kingdom in general there will always be leaders and followers. Each member of the “pack” has a role to play. We a humans spend so much time trying to be the pack leaders when we may not be cut out to do so. If we all learnt our roles and let those who can lead lead, the world would be a better place IMHO

It is highly welcoming for NGM to have an issue on light pollution. However that is simply not a new worry. Astronomers have raised it at least a generation ago!
It seems the lighting industry has so far escaped carbon trail scrutiny besetting industries like transportation or even agriculture. It's high time governments move in, take advice from organizations like the International Dark Sky Association, make careful and argued estimation of what illumination needs there really are, regulating stringently what kind of public lighting should be permitted.
Furthermore, it is HIGH TIME the advertising industry do some self-reflection. What the Hell does humanity needs so much "fuc-ingly" bright outdoor advertising boards? I hope governments will pass laws charging the advertising industry extra profits tax destined for renewable energy and other environmental awareness ends.

Great information for pet lovers.. The info you provided is really worth to me and will helpful to all the readers.

Although pets don't have prefrontal cortex for "future think" it is clear that they do have a brain and are capable of "present think." I know that my 4 year old Yorkie understands specific words. All we have to do is put the word "bath" somewhere in a sentence (even without her name in the sentence) and we find her in her favorite hiding spot - under the long dresses in my closet! Now tell me that that isn't being able to understand human words!

Amazing photo - such cute wild dogs. in the first moment I thought these are little hyenas :-) It is always a pleasure to come back to National Geographic and read and look good content - thank you for that