The fact that the time to come exists is second nature to us , but few animal share our awareness of events yet to happen . So let ’s play the tayra , the first animal external primates and birds to plan for the future tense .
Tayras are large , bushy - tailed relatives of the weasel , and they are found throughout South and Central America . life scientist in Costa Rica have picked up on a highly unusual behavior from these animate being . The tayras will plunk Musa paradisiaca that still are n’t ripe , hide them by , and then come back for them when they ’re right . It ’s not just that they ’re blot out forth solid food for later use – it ’s that they ’re picking food that they would only need to eat in the futurity , when it has ripen .
That separates the taira from most other animal that conceal out food . Take a squirrel hive away nuts for the winter . Those orchis are strictly leftovers that the squirrel could just as well have eaten then and there . The tayra are unique because they blot out intellectual nourishment that is n’t edible to them yet . When the biologists put the local ecosystem to the test , the tayra were the only ones who found a exercise for the unripe yield , as the other animal were solely interested in food that was by all odds ready to eat .
That tell , the idea that creature can suppose in advance , even in a special way , continue hugely controversial . We ’ve reach the point where most research worker take over that our primate relatives own this ability , and there ’s a decent amount of evidence for hiss too , but not all are convinced that the Eira barbara ’ behavior is grounds of next sentience . Mathias Osvath of Sweden ’s Lund University , for instance , is unbelieving of these answer , and his arguments give some idea just how finical figuring this out really can be :
“ One of the signs … is being able to plan for a demand that you ’re currently not experiencing . For lesson , we do n’t sleep with if the tayras are really hungry when they are squirrel away … True planning is when you shut your eye and you think about what you will have for dejeuner tomorrow . ”
So for now , all we can really say is that you should n’t leave your unripe plantains near a tayra . Not if you ’re planning on eating it sometime later , that is .
NaturwissenschaftenviaScienceNOW .
animal cognitionBiologyCognitionScienceZoology
Daily Newsletter
Get the proficient tech , science , and finish news in your inbox daily .
News from the hereafter , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
