Read the passage. Then decide whether each of these statement is TRUE or FALSE.

Write

• T for True

• F for False

What Are They Thinking?

1. As humans, we still think of ourselves as special and different in basic ways from other animals. Over the past half century, though, scientists have found evidence of intelligence in many nonhuman species. For example, some crows use sticks to pull insects from tree trunks, and octopuses solve puzzles and protect their homes by placing rocks at the entrance. We now know that many animals have impressive cognitive abilities. But are these skills only for survival and producing babies?

2. A growing number of studies, combined with observations in the wild, reveal that many species have much more in common with humans than previously thought. Elephants appear to be sad when another dies. Cuttlefish have individual personalities. Many primates, like chimps, form strong friendships. Elder elephants and orca whales share knowledge gained from experience with the younger ones.

3. Until the early 1990s, the minds of animals, especially their emotions, were not considered a topic worth researching. Frans de Waal is an Emory University researcher who has spent a lifetime studying primate behavior. He was one of the earliest voices to argue for the recognition of animal consciousness. Now, some scientists are becoming convinced that “the inner processes of many animals are as complex as those of humans,” de Waal says. “The difference is that we can express them in language; we can talk about our feelings.” This new understanding, if it becomes widely accepted, could cause a complete rethinking of how humans relate to and treat other species.

4. The scientific mission to understand the inner lives of animals, however, is still relatively new. It’s also controversial. In the view of some scientists, knowing the mind of another species is almost impossible. Researchers investigating emotions such as grief and empathy in nonhumans face the criticism that they are giving human characteristics to animals.

5. The way to get closer to the truth is to test inferences made from animal behavior, says David Scheel, a marine biologist at Alaska Pacific University who studies octopuses. “If you look anecdotally through the ages, the notion that dogs have tight bonds to specific individuals is very clear. But they are domesticated. Can a fox do the same thing? Does a wolf have that emotional range? Does an orca feel that level of attachment to the members of its own pod? Can a dolphin become friends with a group of fish or a scuba diver? Our intuitions lead us astray here all the time. You will get people whose intuition is, That’s fake. Whatever it is, that’s not friendship, and other people who think, Well, that’s just silly. You are denying animals their inner lives.”

6. Like human emotions, animal emotions may depend on relationships. Scientists have investigated this link in experiments with rats. In one study by neuroscientist Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, a rat is trapped inside a transparent plastic tube with holes. The tube has a door that can be opened from the outside. The researchers place the tube inside a cage with another rat that is free to move around. The rat inside the tube tries but fails to escape. Its suffering is visible to the other rat. The rat outside circles the tube, bites it, and tries to dig underneath it. After a few sessions, the free rat figures out how to open the door. Once it has learned this trick, the free rat quickly releases the trapped rat. This helpful behavior, though, depends on the rat’s connection with the trapped one. A free rat will help a trapped rat if they are of the same genetic type, even if they are strangers.

Read the passage.

Cultural Brain Hypothesis

A

Why do human beings have such large brains? Scientists used to think that large, intelligent brains evolved so that early people could make tools and solve problems. A more recent version of this idea is related to climate change. At the time that large brains like ours appeared in early humans, global weather patterns were changing a great deal. Some scientists suggest that big brains would help humans plan and adapt to new climates and environments. However, the theory that is the most popular these days is the Cultural Brain Hypothesis. This describes how our large brains are mainly the result of our living in large, complicated social groups.

B

Without a time machine, it is difficult to prove the Cultural Brain Hypothesis. The best evidence comes from comparing humans to animals that have similar social groups. Apes and monkeys live in social groups that are similar to our own in many ways. There is also a clear relationship between brain size and social behavior. Basically, the more complicated their social groups, the larger their relative brain size is. However, these observations do not mean that the Cultural Brain Hypothesis is true. Perhaps large brains come first for other reasons, and complex social relationships only happen later. To really find strong evidence that social relationships lead to large brains, we need to study other intelligent animals that are quite different from humans and other primates. Fortunately, such a group exists: dolphins and whales.

C

Dolphins and whales, known as cetaceans, also have very large brains compared to other animals. However, these large brains appeared in an ocean environment very different from the dry land where humans and apes evolved. As a result, the structure of their brains is noticeably different from that of humans. In the past, many scientists believed that, despite their obvious intelligence and complex behaviors, cetaceans did not have the same kind of social intelligence as humans. However, recent studies suggest that cetacean social relationships are surprisingly similar to our own. And now it is believed that it is indeed these complex social relationships that are the main reason why large brains evolved in the first place.

D

It is now known that many cetaceans show social behavior that was previously thought only to exist in humans and other primates. For example, scientists now realize that cetacean communication is both rich and expressive, and studies show some species have individual names for different members of the group. Additionally, different groups have their own individual sounds, just as people from different areas have their own accents or special vocabulary. The relationships between adult cetaceans and young members of the group are also surprisingly familiar. Adult cetaceans will often look after the young of other members of the group in the same way human uncles, aunts, or grandparents might babysit for absent parents. Young cetaceans also learn by watching and copying adult members of the group just as humans learn from adult teachers. Finally, like any collection of humans, cetaceans have friends and enemies among the members of their social group. They will act in a friendly way when hunting or defending their group from danger but may fight with "enemies" for various reasons.

E

More importantly for the Cultural Brain Hypothesis, there is also a close relationship between brain size in cetaceans and how complex their social behavior is. Whales and dolphins that live in smaller groups or by themselves have both smaller brains and simpler social behavior. Therefore, the same relationship between brain size and social behavior is seen in two very different groups of animals—primates and cetaceans. This supports the idea that social behavior may be one of the main factors driving larger brain size and higher intelligence.

Read the passage.

Otters, when gathered in groups, display fascinating behavior that demonstrates cooperation. Otters are very social animals that engage in remarkable work as a team, which contributes toward their survival and well-being.

One significant behavior displayed by groups of otters is their cooperative hunting technique. Working together, they form a tight circle around the fish they are trying to catch. By working as a team, they can maximize their hunting success rate. Furthermore, otters take turns diving underwater to find potential food, signaling to others when they find something suitable. This cooperative hunting behavior shows their ability to communicate and work together effectively within the group.

Another interesting aspect of otter group behavior is their social bonding. They engage in activities with other otters and like to play, such as sliding down the sides of rivers or playing water games. Through this, otters establish a sense of trust. Group members also groom and clean each other and spend almost half of their day doing so. They remove bugs, brush each other’s fur, and make sure their partner is clean. This allows otters to strengthen relationships.