many people believe animals can't reason. certainly animals can perceive. is reasoning, thinking, and...?
402369
I think animals are way more intelligent than we can imagine, but certainly they are not as intelligent as us, but that's not like a reason to be dead or whatever, because they have a porpouse here you know, and it's how it's meant to be, they don't care that they aren't intelligent they just do what they are supposed to do, and it's not to think. Of course I wouldn't like to be a deer and the only thing that i could do was wait until I get killed by other animal. thanks god I'm a human
1070889
Yes.  I think that the animals were here first, and just because their brains aren't as developed doesn't mean they don't have feelings.  Animals have every right to be here, if not more.
260793
Well it really depends on your definition of animal,\n\nAnts would be a pretty good answer,\nbut if you are looking at all animals, then certain people believe that there are more species of nematodes (round worms) than any other group.
229515
If people admit that animals are worth being in relationships with, it calls up all the other problems. People have trouble morally with all that they do to animals and they don't want to be reminded of it.
349380
We don't know that humans are the only creatures that can think deeper.  There's evidence that whales are quite intelligent.  Not to mention there's an awful lot of universe out there to contimplate.
132871
No, not at all, although reason is an important part of the way people think. We tend to conflate reason with thinking because of Western civilization's philosophical traditions.\n\nHowever other kinds of thought certainly exist. An interesting one is the use of similitude - drawing conclusions because one sentence phonetically resembles another, or evokes similar imagery. Just like logic, those thoughts then chain together, in a way similar to logic, but not strictly speaking based on it. \n\nThis tends to be most apparent in religious systems, where symbolic numbers might repeat in various scenarios so that new situations can be tied to old ones, because of the presence of the symbolic number in both.
829525
Our minds usually accept the dogmas and myths of our culture. Most peoples' minds become programmed with the beliefs of their era and society. They don't think for themselves but let their parents, their friends, their favorite TV show, or what cultural beliefs  implant  in them. To be able to form sound opinions and make effective decisions, you must know how to think critically.  Enlightened thinking involves the careful consideration of multiple points of view and keeping our minds open to alternative sources of information. Unless we work at becoming critical thinkers, there is a natural tendency is to limit our ideas to only those that are easily available, never really discovering or considering alternative sources of information.  Christians and most people following dogma and never think to question what they are learning.  Sheep - humanity is in reality a herd of sheep.
589606
I believe in God. But that has no relevance on a dogs intelligence. I know that when I say lay down they understand me. When they bark I have no clue of what they are saying. So in a sense they may have one up on me.
830369
Animals is a fairly broad category.  Coral and Sea sponges are animals, but I would hesitate to say that you can insult one and hurt its feelings.  As we go into more evolved animals, we get to social insects, such as honey bees, which appear to not have highly developed emotional feelings, but they certainly do think.  They will carry their dead far out of the hive and drop them in the woods.  When a forager finds food, she comes back to the hive and does a complicated little dance involving distance traveled and the angle of the sun related to the hive.  \n\nNow when a lot of people think of the question "Do animals have feelings?"  dogs and cats are the first animals that come to mind.  When it comes to them, the answer is unquestionably yes.  if you are mean to a dog, it is going to be afraid of you for a long time.  After my dog would misbehave and I had to growl at him he would come to me an hour later and lightly lick my hand to appologize.  So yes, dogs and most likely cats have feelings.\n\nNow on to the least thought about animal, humans.  All humans do in fact have feelings.  Some seem to not have any, but all people have feelings at some level.
323111
Highest form of mind doesn't think. Thinking (information processing) is for finite minds.
477607
Disagree. "Gallop" is a word to describe motion in horses which could be applied to other quadrupeds.\n\nMoths fly... Bumblebees fly, even though their physics and physicality is all wrong.\n\nHumans think, but even mice have been shown to have rudimentary problem-solving abilities which involve thought.\n\nTherefore, I suggest that your proposition is false.
1052713
Studies how people /animals react to certain situations.
701597
No animals do not hate, they are incapable of it. The may dislike the presence of a rival of thier own kind but it is because of competition not hatred. Hatred is a human concept and does not exist in nature.
3834
They do, but some animals have a higher tolerance than humans.  Think about it, how would you feel after you eat a rotten carcass or plants off the ground.
39
It's clear that humans and animals (especially those close to us in the evolutionary tree), share similar chemical responses in their brain when faced with highly emotional situations.  Whether it be fear, contentment, mating urges, we have a lot of analogous mechanisms going on.  On this basis alone, there is a pretty strong argument that animals have feelings.\nOne possible counter-argument, however, is based on the definition that for certain chemical responses to be called feelings, that the being in question needs to have a conscious awareness of their state.  With this defition, it becomes much harder to say whether animals experience feelings in the same conscious manner even though the neurochemical signatures are similar.\nMy opinion is that this definition based on conscious understanding is a little specious, as it's based on an ongoing desire by some to try to define humans out of the context of the natural world... and to claim that we are categorically better than the other animals.  \nIf the neurochemical basis for consciousness is ever discovered we'll be able to quickly check which animals have this, and I suspect we'll find that many are conscious.  If this is so, then their feelings will be as real as human ones in all senses.
760211
I have just read some of the answers and some are unbelievable. Animals don't think?? Now that is really silly.  As to the question there are recorded incidents of animals with higher intelligence such as the great ape species taking some sort of retaliatory actions as acts of revenge and I have heard that elephants will do so and they do have excellent memories.  Dolphins are also very intelligent so maybe they do so as well but I don't think anyone has recorded this
472788
actually that is a widely believed myth, they are able to jump. as for animals that can't jump, there are many: worms, sloths, turtles....