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Mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and insects all demonstrate communication, problem solving skills, and social behaviors that strongly suggest they have minds that experience their environment and engage with other lifeforms. Consciousness pervades the animal kingdom.
Electromagnetic Magic in Worms & Tadpoles
Studies of worms and tadpoles suggest that cells communicate and coordinate their activities electromagnetically

Mike Rowen
Apr 196 min read
Evolution Does Not Require Natural Selection
A Tufts University experiment on worms directly challenges modern evolution theory.

Mike Rowen
Jan 295 min read
Lizards Aren’t Supposed To Be This Smart
The four recently hatched iguanas formed a group and a leader emerged. When walking in single file the leader looks back to check if everyone is there and okay. Now, after several months, they are going to leave the nesting island and swim back to their homeland. The leader swims out first. When all of the others didn’t follow he circles back checking and waiting for those who are anxious about swimming. Finally, when everyone is able to go, they swim on as a group. Reptiles

Jon Lieff
Oct 15, 20206 min read
Elephant Culture
How can we not appreciate the intelligence, empathy, and wisdom of elephants?How can we allow them to be murdered for their ivory? For generations, those who have known elephants have witnessed their very complex society with highly evolved social capabilities and wise, loving behavior. Legends for a thousand years have described their extraordinary memory and cleverness in their natural surroundings. In captivity, some elephants have become artists. Science is just now provi

Jon Lieff
Mar 9, 202010 min read
The Uniquely Talented and Intelligent Octopus
The octopus has advanced intelligence despite 500 million years of separate evolution from mammals, birds, insects and reptiles. Octopus ancestors are, perhaps, the first intelligent beings on Earth. Recent research is beginning to describe their very unusual talents, behavior and brain, as well as their unique genetic makeup. The fact that such an intelligent creature has no bones or spine has upended theories of animal intelligence. This post will describe recent research a

Jon Lieff
Sep 6, 201914 min read
Only Crows and Humans Can Do It
Many birds have remarkable abilities, far greater than has been considered possible with their small brains. Songbirds are a large category of thousands of species of birds that have advanced vocal learning ability, similar to humans. (See post on vocal learning similarities between humans and songbirds). Some of these bird species are among the most remarkable intelligent animals on earth—crows, jays, magpies, parrots and ravens. Recently, it has become clear that crows are

Jon Lieff
Jun 28, 201911 min read
The Remarkable Bee Brain
Bees use abstract thought and symbolic language. Bees routinely solve the advanced mathematical problem of the travelling salesman. Bees mix medications for their hive and know when a fungus is dangerous. Bees distinguish landscapes scenes, types of flowers, shapes and patterns. Bees forage for information.Bees learn categories, sequences, combinations, and the changes of future rewards.All of these are accomplished by INDIVIDUAL bees, not hives.How can such a small insect be

Jon Lieff
Nov 12, 20187 min read
Wise Animals: Animal Studies Need to Be In Natural Settings, Not Lab
Previous posts discussed the increased scientific awareness of advanced cognitive abilities in animals both large and small, on land and in water. Although animals other than humans have many intelligent qualities, can they really think, and do they have a complex inner life? Currently, it is not possible to study the subjective inner experience of human beings. How much more difficult is it to understand the inner life of animals with vastly different sensory, and motor sy

Jon Lieff
Apr 30, 20186 min read
Termite Intelligence Update
Termites are the oldest social animals, starting elaborate societies 200 million years ago—50 million years before ants and bees. They began agriculture with fungus farming before ants. Like ants and bees (described in previous posts Remarkable Bee Brain and Ant Intelligence Update), termites exhibit remarkable individual and group intelligence. The amazing behavior of termites is described in this termite intelligence update. Insect intelligence has been described in other p

Jon Lieff
Mar 15, 201812 min read
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