Cognitive features in butterflies
Michael Gochfeld
gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu
Thu Jun 14 10:38:33 EDT 2001
Tired of hearing what people think NABA is for or against?
It's time for a new thread.
Mary Beth wrote:
Isn't it nice that butterflies don't think, much less expound on their
"misunderstood lot in life..." Must be why they are so "popular."
How do we know that they don't think?
Don Griffin (of bat sonar fame) wrote a book ON ANIMAL AWARENESS in
which he provided evidence (or was it interpretation) regarding
cognitive capabilities of animals. It aroused a lot of media interest
naturally---imagine imputing higher capacity to lower organisms.
To be sure most (maybe all) of the examples were in vertebrates. But
maybe no one's asked butterflies whether they "think" at any level.
They certainly have to make complex decisions in a hurry.
Maybe thinking would be a serious disadvantage (see future paper on
INDECISIVENESS IN THE LIFE OF BUTTERFLIES).
Mike Gochfeld
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