Thinking about animal personalities again....

[shadowpony]

I belive without a doubt that animals have feelings. Why does my cat purr whet I scratch her chin? Why does my dog's tail wag when I pet her? Why do my bettas swim up to me?

[Lynntastic]

I have a professor that brought up a point once that I think was interesting. With animals, intelligence and affection are linked. More intelligent species will show more affection because it's a form of mental stimulation beyond just survival. I think it makes sense.
Most fish I've kept hardly even noticed there were humans around at all; bettas not only acknowledge your existence, but they interact as well. Hamsters tend to not care much if you're holding them or not, but rats are very sweet and attach to their owners. The same can be said about finches versus parrots, or dogs versus hermit crabs, etc.
He also brought up herd animals versus pack animals where packs have visible social structures, etc.

[Olympia]

Herd animals have been proven to have more organazation than many may think.
Sheep are stupid followers? Yea right.
Some dudes in like England, took a flock of those all white with no markings sheep. They set up a test. A photo of the face of a fellow herd member, and another photo of a random sheep. All the photos were just plain white sheep. EVERY time the sheep would walk up to the photo of their herd member. No smells, just a full on face photo.
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[Lynntastic]

That's a good point, too. I wasn't trying to say herd animals weren't intelligent at all, I was just mentioning that part of the lecture as an afterthought.

[Olympia]

Animals do what they need to survive.
As I mentioned "personality" comes out more in captive animals, for good reason. If I was running around in the wild trying to eat/not be eaten, I probably wouldn't give other species a second glance. My own kind, sure. xD
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