THE SECRETS OF
INTELLIGENCE
Scientists .rid philosoldwrs ，fi om the time of Aristotle to
A TM animals i，mflli- lhe mid-]Oth century believed that the lives of animals 1)uringashootingdrive two
[ ~ g，，nt? S~ icnfisls partridges were shot simul-
r ~ wh. ~tudx qhcm were guided by instim t alone. Then the Englishman Charh， s /aneously， one killed， the
~ and flw way in other wounded. Ihe injured
which Ibm brhave cammn 1)orwin mode the daring assertion thtll oninlols can reason， bird fluttered away and was
aglcr Ol， art answrr. Solnc ，~ caught by tile retriever， bill
would sa Iha[ a ]lorsl: i~ returning to her master tile
intelligent hecausr it can respond to simple visiting South America， for instance， his dog came across the dead bird. She
(，mm~ands tram it~ rider: others argue thai atlention had been drawn m the behaviour stopped， recalled the colonel， evidently
il a hors~ was really intelligent， il would of a troupe of New World monkeys. The greatly puzzled， and after one or two trials，
no1 consem to bc ridden. And it lhc large- monkeys were given soft-boiled eggs. At finding she could not take it up without
b~ained dolphin is as intelligent as some lira they smashed them， spilling nmch of permitting escape of the winged bird， she
Iwlicve， why does i~ allow itself to bc caughi the conlents in the process. But gradually considered a moment， then deliberately
m nets and fl~en locked up in an aquarium? they learned m hit one end gently against murdered it， by gMng it a severe crunch，
Should a domestic dog be called intelligent something hard and pick off the bits of and aRerwards brought away both together.
because il gains a flee meal and a com%rt- shell with their fingers. They were also This was the only known instance of her
able home Irom humans? oflered lumps ot sugar wrapped in having wilfully injured any game.
Betore the English naturalist ~ paper， some of which contained The action of the dog in killing the
Charles l)arwin wrote and~ live wasps. In their haste to bird was decisive， Darwin re( koned， for it
published The Descenl of get at the sugal; the mon- ran quite contrary to the instincts of the
Man in 1871. scientists . keys were stung. How- breed and its training. It was further evi-
believed that an ani- ever， having experi- dence that animals can call upon higher
mal s entire life was i ~ enced a painful sting mental faculties. At the time， the sugges-
coltrolled by instinctI i .just once， the mon- Lion was tantamount to heresy.
- that is， a series of keys quickly learned Nevertheless， Darwin s views ope.ed
innate instructions to be more cautious， tile floodgates. By the turn of the century，
handed down from Before opening the all kinds of bizarre ways in which animals
geneladon to genera- paper， they would behaved were offered as evidence of theil-
Lion. Animals， they be- hold the packet to the intelligence. Some became legends in their
lieved， showed no signs ear to detect any move.- own time. Greyfi iars Bobby was one.
of true intelligence (an ment inside.
ability to reason); indeed， It was a rather cruel BELOVED BOBBY
it was the possession of this experiment， thought Dandn， q he year after Darwin published his great
quality that separated man from but it supported his theories， work， a dog was buried with considerable
beast. Darwin challenged this view. He Furd/er evidence came to his attention pore1) and ceremony in the Greyfriars dis-
propu~ d tl~at animals possess some pm~，cr from sources closer to home in England， trier of Edinburgh. The dog， called Bobby，
ot reasoning and that the differences in such as a resourcelul gain dog belonging to was a Skye terrier and he belonged to Auld
mind between man and the higher ani- a sportsman (:ailed Colonel Hutdfinson. Jock (]ohn Gray)， all impoverished shel>
reals， great as it is， certainly is one of herd from the Pentland Hills. Jock had
degree and not kind . I，;W，L~ TmN S I mN，.:~.:U (lied in 1858 and had been buried in an
Darwin based his views on obsen，ations CIt，，rb~s Darwin zotts ts I，:een Edinburgh dmrchyard. The event was
aained during his world travels. Whilst ，tud，.nt ql mtimal behaviour， witnessed by the vicar， by a gravedigger
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