Due to some of the discussions/debates this site has held on the whole "cognitive inferiority" of "lesser life-forms," I thought this article might be found pretty interesting, here. :-?
Honeybees Might Have Emotions | Wired Science | Wired.com
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Due to some of the discussions/debates this site has held on the whole "cognitive inferiority" of "lesser life-forms," I thought this article might be found pretty interesting, here. :-?
Honeybees Might Have Emotions | Wired Science | Wired.com
Don't worry bee happy.
I was actually thinking about this yesterday. I'll be sure to read the article when I get home from work.
I definitely think we're generally ignorant of the ability which certain life forms have for complex emotional and cognitive abstraction. I was convinced when I observed a butterfly exhibit actions that seemed like they could only be the product of something like sympathy, caring, and selfless bravery.
I was walking around a state park by a lake when I saw a group of butterflies on the beach doing something very strange to me. They were all clung to the ground, wings closed, swaying the the wind as if they were asleep. It looked like they we're in some kind of group meditation or something lol. I thought this was really cool so I got closer and knelt down to take a picture.
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I made a little too much noise and they woke up, flustered all around, and scattered away... except one. One was still stuck in the trace-like state, or whatever it was doing. One of the butterflies flying away saw this and hesitatingly flew back to it's friend, then away again, then back, undecided to fly away or help it's friend. It flew to the sleeping one and rapidly bumped into it, trying to wake it up but it wouldn't. It flew toward me, I suppose trying to evaluate my danger. It flew around me for a few seconds, got closer, then went back to the sleeping butterfly. It tried to wake it up again but it wouldn't, so it landed next to it and went into the trace thing with it.
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By now I'm completely in awe of the "humanity" of this butterfly lol. After about a minute the butterfly woke up and tried to wake up it's friend again, it did and they flew away together.
I'll take your insect story, and raise you a plant story. Plants Can Recognize and Prefer Their Kin « Windstar Wildlife Institute
