Animal Reason

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 44, 14 May 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

Animal Reason

Some Striking Evidence Naturalist’s Conclusions

The nature of the animal mind is 0 of the oldest questions in the worta The accepted view is that animal in telligence does not come within th* sphere of reason, that it is merely herited instinct, and that all the actions of the dumb creation prompted by a blind impulse.

Theologians seem to be unanimo in denying to the lower animals possession of a soul. The lonely however, who has only a dog tar companion, sees more in his eyes th * merely instinct, and it is a pleasu to find some capable naturalists w* claim for the brute creation the high ° thinking powers. One of these? Miss Frances Pitt, the author of •'An** mal Mind.” She holds that in mai!' mals, in birds, and even in invert* brates, there is something which poin-c to reasoning power. 13

Migration, homing, tricks to deceive hunters, nest-building, courting and mating are all described and shown to be shot through with intelligence, > something very different from blind instinctive, emotional reaction. BinS and animals have memories, profit by experience, and show a considerable degree of educability.

Throughout her book. Miss Pitt furnishes evidence, chiefly first-hand, that animals and birds have ’’awareness” and purpose, that there is what she calls the "man at the wheel.”

She had a tame otter which one day caught its first toad and began to play with it as a cat with a mouse. The toad, for its defence, is able to emit a strong acid secretion, which causes extreme pain to its attacker When it defended itself in this way the otter at once showed signs of paia in the mouth, clawed at its teeth, rubbed its muzzle on the grass and wa* evidently very miserable for quite ten minutes. A few days later it found another toad, drew it out of its hole very carefully by the hind leg, carried it off to the pond and proceeded to wash it, throwing it about, diving with it in her paws and coming up to fling it high in the air again. This went on for 10 minutes until it was quite clean, then the otter brought it ashore, laid it on the grass and pawed it, rolling it between her feet as if to rub off the distasteful matter. Here was every appearance of using means to gain a certain end.

Once when about to cross a flooded river in a small boat with his owner, an Irish terrier refused to be taken into the small craft of which he seemed to have a horror, but plunged instead into the yellow flood to follow his master. Despite frantic efforts he was swept down and landed on the same bank.

It was thought that he would give up the attempt: but, no, he ran along the bank again to a point several hundred yards higher up stream than where he had previously entered it and managed to land almost exactly where the boat had just been drawn up. This seems to be a clear exhibition of the power of putting “two and two together,” or in other words of judging of the means to take to achieve a desired end.

That animals look to human beings for protection is sometimes shown in a touching way. A settler in the King Country had a mare with a little foal at foot. One very wild night when it was raining heavily and the creek running through his farm was flooded the mare came neighing outside his window and returned several times when driven away. Next day the settler on walking through his farm found the foal dead at a bend in the creek and the mother standing by it mournfully. Evidently she had appealed to her master for assistance when she found she could not save the foal.

In an article published not long ago in THE SUN, a sheep dog trial was graphically described and from this the most casual reader would gather that every move in the game of bringing the sheep to the pen was understood by the well-trained dog. The safe conclusion seems to be that if .by the word reason one understands the power of adapting means to ends and of drawing inferences, then undoubtedly tor n v animus possess it