'[...] in our assessments of other animals, we are consistently surprised. My favorite example of this comes from a headline in Nature a few years ago that announced that “sheep are not so stupid after all.” The reason for the re-evaluation of ovine intelligence was a series of elegant experiments that showed that sheep can recognize and remember other sheep. But sheep are social animals: they live in flocks. It would be astonishing if they could not do this. (A sheep newspaper would no doubt have run the headline, “Humans Amazed Again!”)' Olivia Judson at the NYT

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"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire.
"All your bias are belong to us" Ara Pacis.

Amazement is one of those emotions that we possess in distinction to the others (animals). A cat can catch a fly, who trained her that? A dog can sniff out a vole, dig it up and kill it, who trained her that? (personal observations)

Discovering how and why we apply cognition to a problem (because we can, possibly) rather than following "hard wiring" is an interesting research project for the aliens.

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(By the way, I hate it that so many papers in the areas of planetary science and geology are not easily available to the dreaded "non-subscribers". It is like they are screaming at me: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH". Good, I feel better now.)

"Quaerendo inventis"

THE MERINO REVIEW October 2008

KEEP THE WOOL OVER THEIR EYES
Dyed in the wool paddock leeches are in outrage at younger sheep letting humans get a glimpse of their true intelligence.

"We are onto a good thing here" bleated one resident. "We get the best feed and a good allover body shave before it gets hot".
We've got to keep the wolf from the door ewe know. If the young bucks want to carry on like that, the should flock off and join the goats!"

Apparently, sheep devote most of their intelligence to bad puns. . .

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Don't we all.

http://doctorwhocollector.com/images...en-of-nine.jpg

That was an interesting read thanks for the link.

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This whole internet thing is probably not a passing fad.-Ronald Brak
While speech might be free, consequences cost.-Doodler

That, and mastering the art of karate.

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The dog, the dog, he's at it again!

Dont forget the time they spend up in the trees learning to fly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw2DdoskPY

(Python sketch)

"They don't so much fly as they do plummet"

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Definetly a case of learning to fly from the ground up. We did that.

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(By the way, I hate it that so many papers in the areas of planetary science and geology are not easily available to the dreaded "non-subscribers". It is like they are screaming at me: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH". Good, I feel better now.)

"Quaerendo inventis"

Actually, they are learning from the tree up, with all the associated dangers therein

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... from the tree down ... you mean

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‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

That too.

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