Has humans interactions with animals,

made animals smarter?

On what scale and compared to what?

Has humans interactions with animals, made animals smarter?

No, not animals in general.

But those particular animals, the domesticated ones, the ones who do interact with humans, are, in my opinion, smarter.

But just so you know, I think they're also lazier!

And, no, I don't think the smartness or laziness is passed on to offspring.

You should have worded your question a bit different/better.

Baron Max

Sure we made them smarter. 3000 years ago no gorilla knew how to use signlanguage...

DNA analysis has determined that dogs and wolves are a single species. Dogs are just the descendants of the wolves who were curious enough and tolerant enough to create a multi-species community. (We did not domesticate dogs, this occurred in the Mesolithic Era several thousand years before we knew anything about animal husbandry.)

However, since joining us, dogs have adapted from the carnivorous diet of a hunter to the omnivorous diet of a camp-following scavenger. Brain tissue requires massive amounts of protein for maintenance, so the lower-protein diet of dogs results in their brains being measurably smaller than wolves of comparable size. (This from the National Geographic report on the DNA research about four years ago.)

So I guess you could say we made dogs dumber.

In my opinion, there propbably hasn't been enough time in evolutionary terms for humans to have had any effect on the basic intelligence of animals.

Animals which have a brain designed for 'learning' will become 'more intelligent' with the more stimuli they have in the same way humans do. Humans do not develop intelligence if left to stagnate in a wood mixing with dogs.

They have the capacity to do so, but it is their environemnt which facilitates this and does not appear by magic. It also seems time dependant as ferral children once discovered remain incapable of aquiring certain advanced language development.

There is no reason to assume animals with 'learning' capabilities are any different.


But this is on case by case basis not evolutionary.

In my opinion, there propbably hasn't been enough time in evolutionary terms for humans to have had any effect on the basic intelligence of animals.

Hmm, that might be true except that humans have intervened in the evolutionary norm by selective breeding for dogs and some other animals. Thus they might well have changed all that in record time.

Baron Max

also, better nutrition in domesticated animals would probably improve their overall intelligence.

No, but human interaction and observation of animals has made humans smarter.

No, but human interaction and observation of animals has made humans smarter.

Hmm, I think ye're confusing the terms - smart, and intelligent.

Just because humans learn things from the animals (or anything else), don't make them "smarter", just that they now know something that they didn't before. But it hasn't changed our basic capacity to learn or to think - which is a measure of human intelligence.

Baron Max

In my opinion, there propbably hasn't been enough time in evolutionary terms for humans to have had any effect on the basic intelligence of animals.
What about dogs used to herd animals? They seem pretty damn smart adn were breed to be so.

If humans have helped other humans to be more intelligent.

Why would it be so hard to believe that humans have helped animals to be more intelligent?

DNA analysis has determined that dogs and wolves are a single species. Dogs are just the descendants of the wolves who were curious enough and tolerant enough to create a multi-species community. (We did not domesticate dogs, this occurred in the Mesolithic Era several thousand years before we knew anything about animal husbandry.)

However, since joining us, dogs have adapted from the carnivorous diet of a hunter to the omnivorous diet of a camp-following scavenger. Brain tissue requires massive amounts of protein for maintenance, so the lower-protein diet of dogs results in their brains being measurably smaller than wolves of comparable size. (This from the National Geographic report on the DNA research about four years ago.)

So I guess you could say we made dogs dumber.

This is very interesting. I always thought that brains require a lot of fat to run.

So far I haven't voted.

http://joi.ito.com/images2/dogcartoon.jpg

In my opinion, there propbably hasn't been enough time in evolutionary terms for humans to have had any effect on the basic intelligence of animals.

I tend to agree: I think our training for the little critters has gotten more efficient, that's all.

Has humans interactions with animals,

made animals smarter?

Smarter how?
Made them more useful to us? Sure. But smarter for survival without us? Not at all. We've handicapped our domestic animals.

Humans made animals smarter, because humans are the animals, they made themselves smarter