are humans smart enough to know how smart animals are

The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. Set by to determine the usage of service. YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.ĪddThis sets this cookie to track page visits, sources of traffic and share counts. News > Humans Are Dumb At Figuring Out How Smart Animals AreĪnalytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Read the whole story (subscription may be required): FiveThirtyEight More of our Members in the Media > Because when it comes to measuring intelligence, we’re actually a little dumb. So, does a chimpanzee deserve more rights than, say, a pigeon? The logic that leads to “yes” is clear enough, but putting it into practice would be tough, scientists say. The Nonhuman Rights Project, the nonprofit behind the habeas corpus lawsuit, has a stated goal of securing increased, human-like rights for great apes, elephants, dolphins and whales - highly intelligent, charismatic mammals. It’s just one judge, but you hear this kind of thing a lot from animal rights activists. The case for giving the chimps a human right like freedom from unlawful incarceration is based on their similarity to humans - they can think, feel and plan, argue the people bringing the case on behalf of the chimpanzees, so shouldn’t they have some guarantees of liberty? The court declined to hear the case, but one judge did say that some highly intelligent animals probably should be treated more like people and less like property.

A case bidding for consideration by the New York State Court of Appeals sought to extend the legal concept of habeas corpus - which allows a person to petition a court for freedom from unlawful imprisonment - to cover two privately-owned chimpanzees. If an animal is smart enough, should we treat it like a human? An abstract question, but one that found its way into a courtroom recently.

Are humans smart enough to know how smart animals are