Humans are supposed to possess the highest intelligence on the planet. We are on top of the food chain and many scientists believe that only a human has the ability to reason and that wild animals operate mostly on instinct.
After years of studying wildlife and domestic animals, I don”t necessarily buy into this theory. Whereas I don”t believe other animals are as a smart as a human, they do have a lot more intelligence than we often give them credit for. Actually, scientists are only now finding out just how animals think and they have been surprised.
While a dog is not a wild animal, it”s an excellent animal to study. They seem to have a sixth sense about when their owner is leaving and even know in advance when company is due to arrive.
One scientist couldn”t figure out why his dog knew at least 30 minutes before he left for work. Just before the man would leave, the dog would go the entrance of his small kennel and lie down. Because the scientist wore the same suit every day, he thought the dog was picking up on the type of suit, but when he purposely changed to a different suit the dog still went to the kennel. He finally figured out that the dog was keying in on his shoes, which were a unique style. He changed shoes and the dog no longer went to the kennel. My little house dog knows when I”m about to leave her and go shopping, long before I actually leave. She will curl up in her bed and won”t move until I return. She also senses when my wife is sick and will snuggle up tight to her to provide comfort.
Just about every hunter will tell you his/her dog knows hours before they are going on a hunting trip. How they know this is a mystery.
It has been proven time and again that animals have a sixth sense. Dogs can be trained to sense when a person is about to have a seizure and warn the person to take their medicine or call for help. Scientists have recently learned that turtles can forecast when an earthquake will occur, hours before it actually happens.
Wild animals such as deer have the ability to know hours in advance before a catastrophe strikes. For example, a huge wildfire swept Cow Mountain in 1982. It burned more than 20,000 acres and the fire was reported to have traveled at speeds of more than 40 mph. After the fire I toured the burned area with Department of Fish and Game (DFG) biologists and we found only a few deer carcasses. The main deer population had fled to safer ground. Even reptiles such as snakes know in advance that a fire or a flood is about to hit and will seek their holes or high ground for shelter.
A number of years ago I was deer hunting with a friend in the high country in the Sierra. The day was warm and sunny with not a cloud in sight. At noon we suddenly saw deer migrating down to the lower elevations in droves. In a period of two hours we counted more than 200 deer. Late that night a massive blizzard hit and we were stuck in camp for three days. For some reason the deer knew in advance the storm was on the way and fled to safety.
Most deer hunters are convinced that deer know when the hunting season opens. The day before the season there will be bucks everywhere, but they disappear come opening morning.
The more we study wild animals the more amazing things we learn. Recently, scientists discovered that birds migrating long distances actually sleep while they are flying. They discovered this through the use of telemetry, which allowed the scientists to measure the birds” brain waves.
Ducks and geese annually migrate from the Arctic to the same wintering grounds in the Sacramento Valley. Studies of banded birds show they return to the same wildlife refuges year after year. How they can locate these refuges after a 3,000-mile trip has puzzled scientists for years.
Studying wild animals has always been one of my favorite hobbies and the more I observe these creatures the more I”m amazed at their abilities.
