smart monkeys

[Tiay]

watch a bonobo ape light a fire with a firelighter:

[url]http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/76[/url]

[Junket]

Dude, that's ****in' awesome.

[Tiay]

bonobos are so much cooler than chimps, anyway. much less violent, and they have sex all the damn time. explains why they're always so happy..

[anachronistic]

bonobos are so much cooler than chimps, anyway. much less violent, and they have sex all the damn time. explains why they're always so happy..

much less violent???? that monkey just lit a ****ing fire! and you're saying less violent.

[Tiay]

.. fire isn't in itself violent! weren't you the one saying guns don't kill people, people kill people? You're saying weapons aren't in themselves dangerous, it's the intentions with which they are used. and fire isn't even solely a weapon.

[Gribble]

This is why monkeys are the second coolest animals around. Possibly why so many species are endangered, too...

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=55aNY2jKBMQ[/url]

By the way, Tiay, that video was awesome. I loved seeing the bonobo play Pacman.

[anachronistic]

.. fire isn't in itself violent! weren't you the one saying guns don't kill people, people kill people? You're saying weapons aren't in themselves dangerous, it's the intentions with which they are used. and fire isn't even solely a weapon.

i was talking about the monkeys. not the fire.

[Junket]

i was talking about the monkeys. not the fire.

What does a monkey lighting a fire have anything to do with violence?

[Gribble]

Fire can be used to burn down houses and kill people. We should ban it!

[Tiay]

This is why monkeys are the second coolest animals around. Possibly why so many species are endangered, too...

what's the coolest?

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=55aNY2jKBMQ[/url]

that was hilarious!

[Gribble]

Parrots! Duh. I searched and searched, but there are next to no videos on this. I found one, but it's pretty crappy. There was a special on TV years ago that was simply amazing.

Anyway, here's a crappy video on Alex. Doesn't really show you much of what makes him awesome. He can call for specific things, for example a peanut. If you bring him the wrong item he'll get upset. He can even make up his own words to describe things. Nobody told him what corn was called, so he dubbed it long yellow. It's a shame there aren't any good videos on Youtube.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZrk6bSz3Ro&mode=related&search=[/url]

My parrot isn't trained at all, but even he is disturbingly intelligent. Just last week he learned how to call my sister's puppy. And then he learned that if he screamed really loud the puppy would piss himself and run in terror. The bird kept it up all afternoon until the dog was so terrified it wouldn't come out from behind the couch. Heheheh. That's my boy. Best of all, though, he'd crack up laughing every time. I know that was just him mimicking me, but still. So damn funny.