Aug 15 2009
Squirrel See, Squirrel Do
News flash: Add squirrels to the list of animals capable of learning by observation. New research out of the University of Exeter has shown -
how squirrels can quickly learn from watching their peers, particularly if it relates to stealing food.
So that’s how those tree-rats foil my bird-seed-theft-prevention measures en masse!
Actually, I like squirrels. But not when they figure out how to commit grand larceny.
Hmm. Makes me wonder if squirrels have mirror neurons in their corn-kernel-sized brains.
A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another animal (especially by another animal of the same species). Thus, the neuron “mirrors” the behavior of another animal, as though the observer were itself acting. [Wikipedia]
Will we next discover that these arboreal rodents are capable of empathy? I kind of doubt it, but who knows!
