I’ve already covered animals who paint. But today I want to talk about other extremely talented animals. And its all in honour of a border collie called Gin.
Any non-UK readers (and to be honest probably quite a few British readers) won’t have the faintest idea who Gin is.
Well, Gin (and owner Kate) are finalists in tomorrow’s Britain’s Got Talent. And if there is any justice in the world they will win the £10 000 prize money and the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance*. So get voting!
But, my all time favourite talented animal was a horse named Clever Hans.
When talking and writing about Clever Hans the first thing animal behaviourists and historians will say is: “Oh, Clever Hans! He turned out not to be so clever after all”.
Read his story and decide if you think Clever Hans was clever or not.
Clever Hans was a popular attraction in Germany, where he appeared to be able to solve maths problems, read and generally demonstrate himself to be smarter than the average horse.
The psychologist Oskar Pfungst was unconvinced, and in his role as a 1900s James Randi he undertook a scientific investigation into Hans and his alleged intelligence.
He found no fraud. But Pfungst concluded that, far from performing these intellectual tasks himself, Hans was in fact responding to subconscious clues from the people around him.
This is the point where people say Hans wasn’t so clever. But I have to say I think he was robbed! He may not have been actually doing maths problems, but he was picking up on subtle clues. Similarly, Gin (much as I love him) is not actually dancing in time to the music – he’s picking up on clues from his owner (who seems a pretty good dancer herself).
Anyway, Pfungst’s research remains important today. Especially, in discussions of Facilitated Communication, a controversial technique sometimes used to communicate with severely disabled children.
*Although, personally, I also have a soft spot Bollywood-Michael Jackson Fusion Dance act Signature.
