Smarter than You Thought

[Simo]

The latest critter whose intelligence was very much underestimated: NYC’s Rat Crisis: A Secret Language?. Not once have these so-called "scientists" ever had to admit: "We erroneously overestimated the intelligence of the _____" Not. Once. At one time, we were told the manatee didn't have the intellectual horsepower to do much more than eat, shit, sleep, and fuck. Then we found out different when real observations were made of their complex play patterns. Kennith S. Norris (author of The Porpoise Watcher whose relationship with intellectual honesty was nonexistent) was notorious for this. How does shit like this happen? It's anthropocentric arrogance, and there are all too many out there that absolutely hate the idea that the non-humans could have intelligence and feelings. You had Rene Descartes' claim that animals were just meat machines without intelligence, feelings, or even sentience. This bullshit infects even those who do science, even if they should know better, but they obviously don't. Being a Furry, it isn't a problem for me. As Heather Thompson sang: "Animals all the same".

Recent scientific research suggests rats may communicate through ultrasonic sounds and scent marking, creating sophisticated warning systems and social hierarchies. Studies in journals like Science Advances and Current Biology document rat “laughter,” distress calls, and social learning behaviors that indicate complex communication networks. This discovery could explain why traditional extermination methods have failed and why rat populations continue thriving despite municipal efforts.

No wonder why the rats are always one step ahead. Once again, we see real life imitating art: the sci-fi flick: Willard from 1971.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

The latest critter whose intelligence was very much underestimated: NYC’s Rat Crisis: A Secret Language?. Not once have these so-called "scientists" ever had to admit: "We erroneously overestimated the intelligence of the _____" Not. Once. At one time, we were told the manatee didn't have the intellectual horsepower to do much more than eat, shit, sleep, and fuck. Then we found out different when real observations were made of their complex play patterns. Kennith S. Norris (author of The Porpoise Watcher whose relationship with intellectual honesty was nonexistent) was notorious for this. How does shit like this happen? It's anthropocentric arrogance, and there are all too many out there that absolutely hate the idea that the non-humans could have intelligence and feelings. You had Rene Descartes' claim that animals were just meat machines without intelligence, feelings, or even sentience. This bullshit infects even those who do science, even if they should know better, but they obviously don't. Being a Furry, it isn't a problem for me. As Heather Thompson sang: "Animals all the same".

No wonder why the rats are always one step ahead. Once again, we see real life imitating art: the sci-fi flick: Willard from 1971.

Hold up, wasn't there also a point where rats were proven to have empathy and possibly even straight-up compassion?

We can bring up anthropocentric arrogance, yes, but I get the feeling many of the observations we're only now making were pretty much chalked up to faith and folklore (from the very peoples that tend to get discrimination from those who exhibit anthropocentric arrogance the most) before we had our population explosion in the 20th century. I feel like we might want to revisit some of those and try them again under actual scientific conditions. I think there were quite a few of them that might prove very high animal intelligence.

 

[Simo]

Hold up, wasn't there also a point where rats were proven to have empathy and possibly even straight-up compassion?

Probably.

Social Structure:​

Rat are very social creatures and live in groups. They are healthier and prefer living in groups. If you separate rats, their stress levels go up. Rats commonly groom each other and sleep together. They form family groups of a mother and her young. Rats are territorial and act aggressively toward unfamiliar rats.

if the individual is to prosper, the pack must prosper, so all higher social animals evolved traits such as empathy, compassion and generosity. Not that hard to see how this has survival value.

Humans aren't so special. If there's one thing I learned from this fandom, that's it.

 

[Marius Merganser]

They look like they drive better than half the state of NJ too.

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[Spilo]

Yeah, and that is why it always makes me cringe inside and maybe a little sad when people compare politicians, thieves, scammers, etc. to these kinds of underrated but amazing animals. Like when someone compares orangutans to whichever politician comes to mind... it's an insult to these animals' intellect, lol!