animal thoughts

Is Homo sapiens the crown of creation? Possibly, because at some point, our social orientation—communication and cooperation—and not least cooking led to the development of a brain that can crack jokes, explore neurons, and write long sentences—all skills that our ancestors did not need for mere survival in the African savanna. 

But our other fellow players in the course of evolution also display unexpected characteristics that have only really been studied in recent decades: cockatoos dance to the beat of Queen, African grey parrots not only repeat words, but can also assign them meanings and even develop their own word creations. Crows do not trust their fellow crows. But only if they themselves are not really trustworthy. We have long considered monkeys to be clever creatures, but it is becoming increasingly clear that this does not only apply to chimpanzees. And dogs... Dogs don't really count, because their pack consists of us humans. Over the millennia, they have learned a lot from us – and even developed a special eye muscle for the dog stare.

In this focus topic, we examine the minds of animals – together with the Austrian Neuroscience Association (ANA).