tarantula intelligence

[Crotalus]

You have to be intelligent to be able to blow up a world...

/Lelle

 

[David Burns]

Actually, it's the white lab mouse. I read all about it in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Th Hitchhikers Guide is a GREAT series of books!!!! It is too bad they're making a movie of it. Douglas Adams was a great author and would, if he was still alive, have had a great time writing about whether or not humans are intelligent. I think he would have guessed "not."

 

[Apocalypstick]

You have to be intelligent to be able to blow up a world...

/Lelle

Yes...intelligence to create the means to do it, but unbelievably insane to even consider doing it.

Intellect breeds insanity... something the supposed "lower lifeforms" do not have to deal with. That's why what's left of those that survive our insanity and destruction will survive long after we have destroyed ourselves.

So that makes 'human intelligence' an oxymoron.

WE are the lowest lifeform on this planet.

Edit: Sheri, why would "delete" or "lock" this topic even enter your mind????

 

[Ishkabibble]

Hey! If a Pigeon can learn to negotiate a 'Skinner Box', then T's can be granted limited amounts of intelligence. I know my T's can associate the opening of their enclosure at night to indicate feeding time and they react to it WHEN HUNGRY. If that's intelligence or just a conditioned reflex... well that can be debated for darn near eternity. If any of you believe in God and grant that he is Omniscient, and you die before me, remember to ask him for us, will you?

 

[Crotalus]

Im not much for the ongoing trend of selfhatred..
I dont find mankind to be so bad acctually and I enjoy be one.
I loathe some of us, and love some of us.
Acctually I dont think a nuclear destruction of the planet will occur. Its more likely we kill our natural resources with pollution from the industry and slowly but steady destroy the planet. Time will tell.

The so called lower lifeforms often eat each other... I dont know if thats any better or to be prefered.
To say "they are better then us" is quite a juvenile statement to make, in my opinion.
There are animals with the ability to fly, live under water, produce venom, have incredible eyesight, have heatdetecting pits etc etc. In that sence we are quite handicapped - except for our brain. And that beat all of these features wheather we like it or not.

/Lelle

Yes...intelligence to create the means to do it, but unbelievably insane to even consider doing it.

Intellect breeds insanity... something the supposed "lower lifeforms" do not have to deal with. That's why what's left of those that survive our insanity and destruction will survive long after we have destroyed ourselves.

So that makes 'human intelligence' an oxymoron.

WE are the lowest lifeform on this planet.

 

[Apocalypstick]

Crotalus,
Your quote "they are better then us" was not said or implied by my statements. Stating that we are the lowest lifeform is not necessarily a negative connotation, nor juvenile. Brainpower is not a prerequisite for survival.
Survival is for the fittest. Our history is proof that intelligence does not make a species the fittest. Other creatures on this earth have been here long before us and will remain long after we are gone.

Survival of the fittest.... something humans will never be

 

[Crotalus]

The ability to adapt is one of the things that make a species successful and makes it survive. Brainpower is very much the basic tool for this when it comes to humans.
I dont really see the necessity to compare us with other animals. Rats are good at what rats do - we are good at what we do.

/Lelle

 

[Crotalus]

this happened to me a long time ago but I diden't have an outlet for my story. About three anda half years ago when my curlyhair was a little less than three inches long and very handleable (I know the opinions on handling T's). I went to pet him before feeding him and he turned so fast I had no time to remve my hand and didet want to whip my hand out possibly paint my wall with him. He diden't bite me though, his pedipalps hit my finger and hi fangs did extend but as if he recognised that I was neither food nor threat he removed his pedipalps from me and even allowed a gentle stroke. I never knew what to think about this was it a sign of intelegence or is there anouther explanation?

Most tarantulas do fake a strike, and slap the legs and pedipals at the aggressor.

/Lelle

 

[Apocalypstick]

Lelle, I guess we could debate this forever (probably be fun too!)

 

[Snipes]

I agree with wat Crotalus says. Every animal is a GENIUS at who being themselves. My point of saying wat i did was that we can't, and i repeat cant, judge other animals as being "higher" or "lower", or "smarter" or "dumber". Humans are not evil and dumb, but it seems that those in power are more likely to be. Those who seek knowledge but not power are likely to get it, and those who seek power and not knowledge will get it. And who do you think influences how the human race is advancing in destroying the beautiful gentile and fragile web that is the environment.

 

[Snipes]

and horseshoe crabs have been virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.

Actually, they've been around much longer than that.

When i was writing that, i was thinking of a part in Walking with Dinosaurs where it was showing horseshoe crabs while showing marine mammals in the Jurassic Period. I had thought that they had been around longer than that, the Devonian Period was prominent in my mind. I just said since the time of dinosaurs b/c people can relate to it more than the Devonian Period, not to mention i am not completely sure it was the Devonian Period. Nice to know someone knows some Paleozoology!

 

[Nerri1029]

I suggest that if you think that raw intelligence is equated with not destroying the planet than humans are the least thought capable species on the planet.

It is a fairytale fantasy argument. Have fun, but that is one trail of breadcrumbs I am not following.

You may as well make the case that the earthworm is the most intelligent...

There seem to be 2 camps of hobbyists.

The romantics, and the realists. I suppose as long as no one starts breeding for character traits, and "cuddleability" I can tolerate these discussions providing I don't really read them.

So please, please people... do not give me cause to come back to this thread to edit, delete, warn, settle or lock it.

Enjoy!

Here here.. or is it Hear Hear ??

 

[mo_2]

WOW, I had no idea what I started. I think now that if Joy (the curly hair) WAS smart he would have opened his cage and smacked me in the face and said "you are about to start a s@#t storm!!!" LOL. I am just kidding mostly. I never knew that we would start up on man, god and nuclear weapons. I was simply putting a situation out so that we could find a scientific basis for it. I was using the word intellegence as a scientific term, my experience was to be used as observations to ask people to study their animals. there is not alot of reaseach done on spiders so it is up to us. they have an anatomy and "brain" structure that is quite different so I wanted to, as my idol Stan Shultz would say, "publish, publish, publish".

 

[Apocalypstick]

Mo, no one can ever convince me that Ts do not have a degree of intelligence. More than that, no one will ever convince me they do not have 'personality' type traits. They have been on this planet for eons.... every creature evolves and that's a really long time to evolve.

As I have said, I have ONE T at a time and thus an added advantage for observing and dissecting thier behavior. You don't have to be a West or Shultz to develope factual conclusions

When I got my first horse, I was told they had a brain the size of a walnut and operate on instinct alone. After raising and riding the same horse for 15 years, this ludicris assumption about thier intelligence is so off the mark it makes you wonder about "educated authorities" opinions on any living creature.

Thank you for attending my lecture and please leave donations at the door.

 

[David_F]

You don't have to be a West or Shultz to develope factual conclusions

No, but you do need to be objective. Using one animal to determine "facts" isn't exactly science either.

As for the topic of the thread, I don't have an opinion one way or the other. My tarantulas act the way they act, intelligent or not. That's enough for me. I don't need to figure out whether it's instinct or intelligence. That's just my opinion though.

 

[Apocalypstick]

David "factual" must be objective.... that's why I used that word ;P

 

[BakuBak]

the tarantulas ( all spiders) anatomy is very interresting and itsnt seen anywhere alse
they have good proportion neuronal cels to size of their body , they can learn and acomodate we cant say anything alse becouse we dont know allmost anything about them - yet

 

[David Burns]

Inteligence is a human abstraction and as such is totally subjective. It is irrelevant on a broad biological spectrum.

 

[Snipes]

Inteligence is a human abstraction and as such is totally subjective. It is irrelevant on a broad biological spectrum.

I second that.

 

[stubby8th]

Intelligence is what we make of it. We think it is smart that we speak to each other and learn things and can make nuclear bombs and advanced computers. On the other hand, we are destroying the environment, which is our life support system and destroying millions of species that are vital to it. Scorpians have been on the earth of millions and millions of years, and horseshoe crabs have been virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. Although i believe the "intelligence" of tarantulas lies somewhere in the middle, i would fight to say that humans dont know the first thing about being "intelligent", therefore my opinion on t intelligence is not important.

Are you serious??
What do you say we keep politics out of THIS discussion? I am thankful you did have a small blirb somewhere in this socialist 'rant' that was at least related to the actual discussion in this thread. We are talking about Tarantulas here, not your world views. Thanks.