Donald Michie

Not so dumb

Animal Architects by James R. Gould  and Carol Grant Gould

issue 19 May 2007

Students of ants, wasps, hornets, termites and bees have for more than a century realised that the intricately interlocking teamwork of these insect builders deserves some more respectful characterisation than ‘blind instinct’. Moreover, in certain mammals, as seen in the dams and dens of beavers, the leaps of engineering insight would do credit to human designers.

To explain their feats requires us to credit animals with the ability mentally to map sense-data to objects and processes in the outside world. In some cases the animal first has to recognise the potential of materials and tools, and then to envisage and maintain a sequence of goals so as to determine how the tools are to be manipulated.

Beyond this lies abstract reasoning, concept formation, insight and language. Until recently these propensities were regarded as strictly the preserve of humans.

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