🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <92Dec23.174104.27846@acs.ucalgary.ca> edstrom@hsc.ucalgary.ca (John Edstrom) writes:
>>
>>In my own opinion, I feel that if you placed all of the animals and
>>organisms of the earth on an IQ scale, the cetaceans would run a close
>>second to man... Since they have the greatest IQ besides man, It would
>>be MORALLY unjust to kill them....

	Cetaceans  do notoriously poorly  on IQ tests,  failing   to
acheive   the  rank  an illiterate immigrant (Ignorant of the
language  and culture  of the IQ  test designer) usually   gets.

	Half  the time  the silly beasts  eat the  test papers...

>Really?  This sounds contentious.  I would have nominated the
>chimpanzee as the runner up.  I'm not an expert but my impression is
>that the chimp's intelligence has been underestimated and research
>keeps revealing unsuspected abilities and complexities.
>
>Besides their complex vocal behaviors and the relative ease of
>training some species to perform some arbitrary tasks what evidence is
>there that they have high IQs?  I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm
>curious about their abilities.  I've read Jane Goodall's books and
>know a little about chimps but haven't seen a comparable book about
>whales & dolphins.

	Alsd  see de  waals'  'Chimpanzee Politics' and 'Peacemaking
among Primates'.  I can't help but wonder how meaningful  comparing
a poorly defined attribute like intelligence is when the two  species
(whale and chimp)  compared occupy vasty different niches.

							James  Nicoll