Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action

Re:Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action by Sebb767 on Sunday September 05, 2021 @07:38AM (#28423508)

We _are_ exceptional in quite a few areas. Our communication skills are unmatched anywhere in the animal kingdom and even the best animals fail at anything higher than primary school math. We also constantly see animals failing to adapt to the modern world with things like cars, screens and sometimes even glass.

So I do think it's newsworthy that animals are able to parse complex human action and intent.

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Re:Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action by postalrat on Sunday September 05, 2021 @03:53PM (#28427215)

Humans are good at human things. I think the mistake is equating human things to exceptionalism or intelligence.

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Re:Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action by true_religion on Sunday September 05, 2021 @06:23PM (#28428367)

I agree. We can all be exceptional in our own ways.

Sharks are exceptionally good at maintaining their species (self cloning for large animals is amazing). Dogs (and wolves) have exceptional senses of smell. The hearts of most bird species are exceptionally better than those of mere mammals.

However, when it comes to the characteristics where we think humans are exceptional, I’ll only allow another animal to take the top spot if they start an argument.

To date, no animal has even started the argument… much less won it.

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