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August 6, 2010

Strange But True!

Q. As researchers study Earth's creatures more and more, what adjective might they be tempted to append to “the wild kingdom”?

A. Make that the BRAINY wild kingdom, affirms David G. Myers in “Psychology: Ninth Edition.” A baboon knows the voices of every other baboon within its 80-member troop. Sheep can recognize and remember individual faces. Great apes and even monkeys can form concepts. When monkeys learn to classify cats and dogs, certain frontal-lobe neurons fire in predictable cat or dog regions. Even “birdbrain” pigeons can sort pictures of cars, cats, chairs, flowers; when shown a picture of a never-before-seen chair, pigeons will reliably peck a “chair” key.


 
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