Photo: Human Descent
Another concept that often arises in the animal intelligence debate is the role of instinct. Unfortunately and like a lot related to animal behavior, there’s little agreement regarding what the term means and whether all animals or only non-human animals display instinctive behaviors. Consequently I’ve adopted a basic rule that’s simplified my life greatly: If an animal displays a behavior comparable to one a human displays under comparable circumstances or vice versa, then both should be given the same label. I see no logical reason to attribute an animal’s behavior to instinct and a comparable one in a human to intelligence.
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