![]() Ganea said attributing human-like intentions and beliefs is a “very natural way to explain certain animal behaviors” and can be useful in generating empathy for mistreated animals. ‘Anthropomorphism can lead to an inaccurate understanding of biological processes.’ Photograph: AP She found that the children were likely to attribute human characteristics to other animals and were less likely to retain factual information about them when told they lived their lives as furry humans. Last year, Patricia Ganea, a psychologist at Toronto University, ran a series of experiments on three- to five-year-olds in which they were given information about animals in straight factual form and then in a more fantastical anthropomorphized way. “We can explain behavior separate from the way humans think.”Īn unconscious belief that bears, horses and dolphins possess human desires and thoughts wrapped up in odd costumes can be detrimental for children, some psychologists have argued. “Other animals are more complex than purely being driven by instinct, but I’m very comfortable with the explanation that they don’t need abstract reasoning to do these complex behaviors,” she said. There’s a key difference between “signals” and understanding and expanding upon ideas and abstract concepts, Dunsworth said. While Koko’s grasp of language is astonishing, it lacks the nuance and complexity of the way humans communicate with each other. We can’t say they think that abstractly.” No one has shown that animals understand dying or where babies come from. “Humans aren’t the only animals capable of forming strong bonds, but to say that the kangaroo even knew the other kangaroo was dying is beyond anything we know. “It’s almost like the internet was built for anthropomorphizing animals,” said Holly Dunsworth, an anthropologist at the University of Rhode Island. Some warn that anthropomorphism, now regularly demonstrated through the online sharing of videos of pandas having tantrums or orangutans having a laugh, can be harmful. She has called herself “Queen” – evidence, her head caretaker claims, that she understands her celebrity status.īut many scientists are still keen to draw stark lines of difference between humans and other animals. ![]() A 44-year-old gorilla called Koko has the vocabulary of a three-year-old child after learning 1,000 words of American sign language. ![]() This kind of anthropomorphism isn’t new of course – some of the oldest known deities combine human and beast – but it has only been since Charles Darwin’s description of joy and love among animals that the debate has evolved on whether humans hold exclusivity over certain traits.Īnimals such as apes and crows have been seen using tools, previously thought a human preserve.
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