Do Animals Think?

Explores whether animals have consciousness like human beings. Connection that is strong enough to warrant special treatment of animals; Effort of the Great Ape Project to provide human rights to apes; Definition of consciousness. INSET: How Human Is Enough?

By Clive Wynne, published on November 01, 1999

I was 13 when Benji came into our lives. With his deep brown eyes, floppyears and cheerful disposition, he was my constant companion throughout my teen-age years. We would play together in the garden, and take long walks over the hills behind the house and on the beach. Benji would hang on my every word with his head tilted to one side. Despite being a dog, he seemed to have a sympathy for my problems that went deeper than words could express. He was my best friend.

Benji left us about 15 years ago for that great kennel in the sky. But recently I've been thinking about him a lot. Was he really conscious? Could any animal have consciousness like we do? Does it matter whether animals are conscious or not?

For many, it is a matter of life and death. On the one hand, animal research has helped prevent some of the most pressing human diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, "mad cow" disease, malaria, cystic fibrosis and emphysema. On the other hand, this research is performed largely on chimps, our closest nonhuman relatives, with whom we share 98.4% of our genetic material, and on the other great apes, with whom we are similarly biologically close.

Some people feel this connection is strong enough to warrant special treatment. An international group called the Great Ape Project is pushing the government of New Zealand to adopt a bill that would give some human rights to chimpanzees, gorillas and the rest of the great apes. The Great Ape Project is lobbying the United Nations to adopt a declaration on the rights of great apes modeled on the UN declaration On the Rights of Man. The group believes that apes are "conscious" and so deserve legal protection of their right to life and freedom from imprisonment and torture.

If great apes were shown to have consciousness something like our own, I would consider it among the scientific discoveries of the century. I would then agree with the Australian philosopher and founder of the animal rights movement, Peter Singer, that performing medical experiments on chimps would be like experimenting on orphan children. That's a pretty chilling thought, and no amount of human suffering saved could justify such an action. But before we close down the laboratories and stop searching for a vaccine against AIDS, we had better take a long hard look at the evidence for ape consciousness.

What is Consciousness?

The definition of consciousness has eluded us for over a century, but many psychologists as well as supporters of the Great Ape Project agree on three classes of evidence: language, self-awareness and "theory of mind."

LANGUAGE: The mutual possession of language is surely one of the strongest indications that the being you are talking to is conscious like you. Through their work teaching language to chimpanzees, many researchers have found glimmers of "conscious" light in animals' ability to communicate:

o Washoe, a chimpanzee, has been taught to use American Sign Language. Today, she is enjoying a boat ride on a lake with her trainers when a swan comes into view. Washoe has never seen a swan before and has no sign in her vocabulary for such a thing. "Waterbird," she signs excitedly to her human companions.

o Kanzi, a pygmy chimpanzee, first learned to communicate with symbols by watching his mother's lessons. His trainer, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, is testing him for his comprehension of sentences. "Would you please carry the straw?" she asks him. Kanzi picks up a straw. "Give the trash to Jeanine"--Kanzi picks up the trash and brings it to the other trainer. Koko, a gorilla, has been learning American Sign Language from her trainer, Francine Patterson, for over 20 years. In April 1998, Koko was the first nonhuman to go live on the Internet. She answered questions about her life and hopes, her desire for a baby and her dreams of freedom.

SELF-AWARENESS: Self-awareness is another key ability of conscious beings. To be conscious is, firstly, to be conscious of one's self--to be aware that 'T' am a being separate from others and the world around "me."

o Megan, a chimpanzee, is in training with Daniel Povinelli. She has had a mirror in her quarters for several months. Today, Povinelli is testing her self-awareness with a method developed by Gordon Gallup. This morning, Megan was anesthetized. While she was unconscious, a spot of bright red nontoxic ink was daubed on her forehead. Now it is afternoon and she is fully recovered from the anesthetic Sure enough, the chimp looks in the mirror and then scratches at the spot on her forehead. To some, this proves that Megan has recognized herself and is consciously self-aware.

THEORY OF MIND: Theory of mind is an awareness that others have minds as well: "I am not the only conscious being. Others are conscious and I take this into account in my dealings with them."

o Sheba is another chimpanzee being trained by Daniel Povinelli, but in quite a different experiment. Sheba has been watching one trainer put food into one of four cups. She can't see which cup because they are hidden from her view--but she can clearly see that this trainer (we'll call him the "knower") had some food and put it in a cup. Now the knower comes back into the room together with another trainer (the "guesser"). If Sheba has a theory of mind--an awareness that the trainers have a conscious awareness of their own--she should know that the guesser did not see where the knower put the food.