Can animals lie to each other

[Bozo Erectus]

Outside the Human race, other animals lie too.

For instance, monkeys lie. I've read somewhere that they often gives fake signals in order to get the attention of the rest of the tribe out of something they don't want them to know. I've read that very recently I may find a link.

We know now that chimps commit murder. Theyve been filmed killing members of their troop for no reason, not related to mating competition among males, canabalism or anything like, just murder. Sometimes its because of close kinship to a deposed alpha male or female. If chimps are so close to us that they can commit murder, I wouldnt be surprised to find they lie also.

 

[WillJ]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: You just can't trust a monkey.

 

[Marla_Singer]

OK. Check that story from the New Scientist, London.

Some excerpts :

Monkeys and apes who are good at deceiving their peers also have the biggest brains relative to their body size. [...] Richard Byrne and Nadia Corp, psychologists at St Andrews University in the UK, have found more direct evidence for this after studying records of primates deceiving each other for personal gain.

Deception amongst primates is well documented. Sometimes a female gorilla will mate with a male surreptitiously to avoid a beating from a more dominant male. Or monkeys might feign disinterest in tasty food so that others do not come and steal it.

Byrne has himself observed a young baboon dodging a reprimand from its mother by suddenly standing to attention and scanning the horizon, conning the entire troop into panicking about a possible rival group nearby. "We were rather shocked that baboons could do anything quite as subtle as that," he says.

[...]Bush babies and lemurs, which have a relatively small neocortex, were among the least sneaky. The most tactically deceptive primates included macaques and the great apes - gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans - which also have the largest neocortex.

 

[Sims2789]

Koko the gorilla can lie.

 

[Knowze Gungk]

These animals were NOT just eating humans. As such I would never have mentioned them. Indeed it seemed they attacked only because they wanted to kill. They killed both humans and animals without eating them, although they had the chance to do so. They also attacked in such fierce attacks that they killed and killed without eating. Eating was NOT their motive. Just killing. And if we accept animals kill only because of eating or for defense this behaviour is not within the nature´s laws for killing.

Adler

P.S.: I admit there are only very few cases of these deeds and this is the only one I know now. Nevertheless the border from which is human behaviour and which animal is not certain.

After these lions were killed, it was discovered that, due to their age, their dental health was so poor, that it would have been unbearably painful to bite through the tough hide of the wild beasts. So they'd kill, find it too much to chew, then go & kill other things until they found something soft enough to eat. They found it in a species of hairless ape, who's hide was so soft, the lions could lick it off.

 

[Adler17]

Interesting. Nevertheless the behaviour of humans is not so human- only that we believe. So there is the question: What makes a human to a human?

Adler

 

[E-Raser]

I want to know myself. Guess I'll open a new thread now.

 

[stormbind]

Interesting. Nevertheless the behaviour of humans is not so human- only that we believe. So there is the question: What makes a human to a human?

Adler

Humans are fickle, intollerant, and judge primarilly on appearance. Thus, to a human, other humans can be anything that resembles themselves.

This is demonstrated in sci-fi & fantasy artwork where we instinctively depict good guys as looking more like ourselves, than the savage bad guys.

 

[carlosMM]

Animals can communicate to each other, but do you think their level of communication is advance enough that they can tell lies. Lies that involve more than puffing out the hair to make yourself look bigger.

here is scientific proof that animals lie: honey bees, chimapnzees, gorillas, grey parrots ahve all been shown to knowingly tell something not true to gain an advantage.


one example: a young gorilla, around 200 pounds in weight, in company of a female student helper, was discovered by hiw trainer with the washing basin in his room ripped out of the wall. When questioned as to who had done this by his trainer he indicated the student.

Yeah, right, a 200 pound gorilla, significant damage to a heavy object and the wall - and it supposedly was done by the little girl!

 

[King Alexander]

Of course they lie to each other; humans are also animals, although intelligent ones.

 

[Inhalaattori]

Of course they lie to each other; humans are also animals, although intelligent ones.

Are humans really that intelligent? All you "know" is taught to you. If child lives his early years with apes, he/she doesnt differ as a groen up from other monkeys in that pack. We are much more like parrots, we can animate well.

Human intelligence is based upon our larynx, which can make different sounds... also known as language. We can leave our know- how to our descendants.

 

[carlosMM]

Are humans really that intelligent? All you "know" is taught to you. If child lives his early years with apes, he/she doesnt differ as a groen up from other monkeys in that pack. We are much more like parrots, we can animate well.

Human intelligence is based upon our larynx, which can make different sounds... also known as language. We can leave our know- how to our descendants.

that's by far not true: humans are decidedly more intelligent by our superior ability for abstraction, higher capacity of memory and slightly better capability of categorization.

parrots, btw, are extremely good at 'aping' speech - but also extremely intelligent, at least at the level of a chimp. Read 'The Alex Studies' about the latest in parrot intelligence research.