Many animals are much more similar to us than we think. Some can feel sadness or grief as powerfully as we can, some can solve puzzles just as easily as we can, and some are simply more polite than we are. We’re learning more about their lives all the time, while also learning how they can drastically affect our lives. We inhabit this single planet, so we might as well learn to appreciate our neighbors – mammalian, insect, or otherwise – for all they are and for all they can lend to us.
1. Your mom probably had to tell you to wait for everyone to be seated to dig into dinner, but elephants wait for each other instinctively.
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Other animals are equally as considerate. Rats will open each others’ cage doors even when there is a treat to be eaten elsewhere, so you can hold off on those mashed potatoes ’til everyone’s seated.
2. It’s not the full moon that causes wolves to howl, it’s grief.
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Wolves cry when they suffer a loss just like you and me, so pour one out for the fallen pack-member instead of hiding under the covers next time you hear that famous cry.
3. Pigs are smarter than your toddler.
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Sure your kid will always be the smartest in the kindergarten class, no matter what the teacher says, but these two Babes have been proven to have a higher cognitive function than 3-year-old human children.
4. Some birds are ALSO smarter than your toddler.
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Seriously, I’m sure your kid is great, but chickens won’t fall for a game of peek-a-boo, because they can understand that even though they can’t see your face behind your hands, it’s still there. Crows are also incredibly intelligent, and are able to use one tool to get another tool to get a reward. That’s two levels of tools. Get back to me when your kid can fit that square peg into that round hole.
5. A bird smarter than a toddler? What’s next, a cuddly pit bull?
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Actually yes, pit bulls are only mean when their humans force them into situations that turn them mean, such as making them fight for their lives or chaining them up outside. If you love a pit and treat her right she’ll love you right back just like any other pup. Look at that face!
6. Q: What’s stronger, an ant or a komodo dragon?
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A: An ant. Their strength is so amazing that humans used their bite power to help close wounds before some smarty pants invented stitches. They can also lift fifty times their body weight.
7. Komodo dragons, on the other hand, can’t even bite with as much power as Mittens, your neighbor’s house cat.
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They are however super venomous, so still beware of these prehistoric monsters. While they’re relatively weaker than an ant they will still win a fight against your toddler.
8. But what’s more deadly than a komodo dragon?
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Yep, a mosquito. They kill up to 3 million a year, from diseases like West Nile and malaria. But don’t wish on their extinction yet, because scientists are studying them to find a less painful way to give injections.
9. Scared of sharks?
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I’m not going to tell you to not be afraid of sharks, but let’s all appreciate scientists’ research on shark skin that has led to the most effective racing swimsuits ever. So effective that they’ve been banned from competition.
10. A chicken’s eye ball is also going to be huge for science.
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These precious peepers contain an entirely new state of matter called disordered hyperuniformity, and despite the slightly hypocritical name, it turns out that this material can transmit light as efficiently as a crystal yet as flexibly as liquid. While it sounds like some Interstellar-level-scifi-nonsense, it’s real, and it’ll all be possible thanks to this little farmhouse creature.
Hopefully we can live peacefully amongst each other and embrace both our similarities and our differences to the animal kingdom; hopefully, you parents won’t take it personally that some animals we used to think of as dim-witted and dirty are actually smarter than your Children. Don’t worry, your babies will catch up soon.
