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LostInParadise's avatar

What animals could pass this simple test?

Asked by LostInParadise (31915points) February 21st, 2018

Show the animal a piece of food and then place it in a large box. See if the animal goes to open the box. A second level would be to move the box to a different room and place the animal in the room.

Care would have to be taken to make sure the animal can’t track the food by its scent. Maybe it could be placed in a small transparent airtight container before being placed in the box.

MY guess is that all mammals would pass and at least some birds, but I am not so sure about lizards and fish.

It seems that going to the box to look for the food requires some minimal level of abstraction. The animal has to imagine the food being in the box without being able to directly perceive it.

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