Introduction Contents Eight Armed Individuals 1 Same but Different Personality in Animals What Is Personality Looking for Personality in Animals Dolphins and the Big Five From Tragedy to Opportunity The Big Five and Other Animals How Is Studying Personality Useful 2 Where Did I Put My Banana Remembering Where Things Are A Yummy Memory Test What Is Spatial Memory A Face Off for Hidden Food How Do Animals Remember Putting It All Together Shortcut Specialists 1 6 5 7 11 14 16 18 26 29 31 32 36 39
3 Easy as 1 2 3 Counting in Animals False Alarm Just a Test 1 2 3 in Bees Animals Using Numbers What Does It Mean to Count More or Less What's the Verdict Can Animals Count Innovative Vultures 4 Figure It Out Animals Solving Puzzles Puzzle Boxes The Floating Object Task The Aesop's Fable Task Windows into Other Minds The Future of Animal Cognition Glossary Acknowledgments Index 46 48 50 54 56 60 66 68 70 72 75 79 82 84 86
Bumble bees like to keep to themselves This one is too busy drinking nectar and gathering pollen from flowers to bother with people GARY MAYES GETTY IMAGES
Introduction One summer I got a job working with bumble bees I had to catch wild bumble bees and watch their behavior as they flew in an indoor screened cage I was terrified I thought What am I doing I'll be stung every day But as a university student I was desperate for summer employment I soon realized that bumble bees are not stinging machines ready to pounce on human flesh They are too busy gathering food nectar and pollen from flowers to feed the hundreds of bees in their family looking after all the eggs that will hatch into new bees and keeping their nest tidy They keep to themselves I started to relax Part of my job was to run experiments that involved fake flowers All the flowers looked the same However in some of the flowers there was nectar which was water mixed with table sugar This nectar had no scent so the only way the bees could find the nectar filled flowers was by memorizing their locations Well the bumble bees figured this out fast Their memories were impressive For the rest of the summer every time I gave the bees new tests with the fake flowers they passed with flying colors I had no idea they are little problem-solvers
