What do you think?

  • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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    3 months ago

    None of them have language beyond associating a small number of specific sounds or words to objects or events but I would bet my legs just above the knee down that Dolphins monologue “Squee-aww” when they spot a scuba diver. Dogs definitely daydream about you calling their name when you’re away for a long time. If they couldn’t in some way internalize the call then they would not remember it.

    EDIT: To add onto my claim that they don’t have language beyond a certain level, that’s what we’ve been able to prove so far. We know that some of the smarter animals, such as dolphins, crows, and gorillas can understand quite a few words with daily training and even use and pass down taught language to limited capacity, but the longest experiments for complex languages with these animals have all resulted in “failure” to teach them or learn from them to the extent of being able to have conversations or form complex statements.