Are they just cute little animals that sorta resemble humans or are they intelligent beings that we need to think [...]]]> What does a monkey symbolize to you? Sure, we’ve all seen funny monkeys and cute monkeys and even hilarious videos of monkeys playing around. But what I want to know is how do you see them.

Are they just cute little animals that sorta resemble humans or are they intelligent beings that we need to think more about. Do you have feelings about monkeys? Why? What do they mean to you.

To me they were just another animal that was cute, funny and sometimes even acted intelligent yet still an animal. Even tho they sometimes walk upright and can do things we as humnas can do they still aren’t human according to most people because they aren’t self aware or can’t think.

What about dolphins, pigs and trained dogs. What about birds that talk? Do animals think and do they have intelligence? Ever seen a dog or a cat work out a problem? Cats are among the shrewest animals I’ve been around. From videos I’ve seen monkeys are even smarter and able to figure out more things for themselves. Hell, even rats can learn a maze.

Learning anything requires a memory. Memory and recall means having some ability to think. Yet scientists say animals act on instinct and can’t think. If that were true then animals couldn’t learn anything new.

Anyway, I’m not an animal activist or anything even close to that. I eat meat and I’m not ashamed of it. However I am curious about animals. What promted this was a news item on TV this morning about a monkey using a new prosthetic.

Big deal, you say. Lol, well yes, it is because the monkey was using it’s mind to run the prosthetic limb. It’s MIND! Say what? Monkeys are smart enough to be able to use a artifical limb just with the power of it’s mind. No way.

The scientist being interviewed said it takes the monkey 3-4 days to learn to use the device effectively and it will probably take humans as long to learn to use it when it becomes available. Now I watched the monkey reach out, grab some food and feed itself with the prosthetic.

Simply amazing is all I can say. That lead me to wondering about animals and intelligence in general. I suspect that most animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Maybe some are even a lot smarter than us. However until someone invents a translator that lets us talk to animals we’ll never know. Maybe we humans are the dunces of the world and the animals are the smart ones.