As we will see a lot goes on in the mind of this bumble bee and in the minds of other animals RUTH HIGGINSON Cognition comes from a Latin word meaning to know I also learned that no two bees are alike There were big differences between foragers bees that collect food Some were superstars foraging nonstop every day flying lightning fast in a straight line back and forth between the flowers and the nest Others were slower and didn't forage as often Then there were those who left the nest and couldn't find their way back I had to pick them up gently with a long pair of tweezers and place them back in the nest I realized I had assumed all bees were copies of one another and behaved the same way Instead there are individual differences among bees The professor I worked for that summer studied animal cognition how animals learn remember make decisions and solve problems She studied how animals think I had no idea scientists could spend their careers studying that I was hooked I decided to study animal cognition too It opened up a whole new world for me that I want to share with you Although I can't fit the entire world of animal cognition into this book I thought we could explore how scientists tackle questions like Do dolphins have personalities Can lions count So settle in get comfy and let's explore the minds of other animals 2
Humans are animals too In this book humans and animals are referred to separately to keep things clear and simple Have you ever visited an animal in a petting zoo Have you wondered what they could be thinking about as you held them SOLSTOCK GETTY IMAGES
Not all octopuses react the same way This octopus appears quite bold whereas others might be timid and swim away STUART WESTMORLAND GETTY IMAGES
5 1 Same but Different Personality in Animals Scientist Jennifer Mather opened the lid of the aquarium She leaned over the tip of her nose almost touching the surface of the water She peered down and looked straight into the eye of an octopus The octopus's black slit of a pupil grew large The octopus crawled along the bottom of the tank its eight suckered arms stretching curling and uncurling Mather watched until it came to rest in a far corner She lowered a prickly test-tube brush into the water and gently touched one of the octopus's arms POOF An explosion of black ink The dark cloud dissolved and the octopus was nowhere to be seen Mather knew it was hiding in a black plexiglass box on the bottom of the aquarium She set the test tube brush on the table beside her and wrote some notes EIGHT-ARMED INDIVIDUALS What was Mather doing besides annoying an octopus She was giving it a personality test The first part is the alert test As we just saw you open the lid of the aquarium and lean over so the octopus can see you
