Thursday, May 22, 2008

Article Research: The Walrus and It's Under-Estimated Intelligence

When one thinks about the Walrus, the first thoughts that spring to mind are the sheer girth of the animals as well as the inherent clumsiness one would assume a creature that big must possess. Although popularly characterized as fat, ugly, slow, and stupid, one would be surprised to find out that they actually maintain a calm and gentle demeanor, and even more surprisingly, maintain and act in complex social systems and behave as the intelligent mammals many never imagined they were. Many living in the same habitat, learn actions from one another, such as the use of various toys and other objects as instruments of sound. They also work together at times designated for the performance of their ritual mating songs. The males will listen to one another, and alter the tunes as they see fit, and the range of noises is vast, tones and sound effects of all comparisons are made seemingly at random, both in and out of the water. Check out the full article at IHT.

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