R.I.P. Koko

[Godscreated]

I agree and as everything else about animals hasn't always been a known known.
Don't you think that we should have always known that animals can't be conversationalist, nor conceptualize ideas, if it were already possible I believe we would have noticed them doing things that were more human like.

Not at all, and we still don;t know whether they;re conversationalists in their own tongues - as it were.  They seem to chatter an awful lot, we just don;t know what that means..if it means anything, nor would not seeing them do human like things establish they they don;t have species like analogs for humanlike things.

As to the conceptualization of ideas..we;re pretty sure that animals all the way "down" to crocodiles can do that.

You are correct in that they chatter a lot and we do know that they have warning calls that differ from normal soundings, canines and felines speak more by body movement and facial expression. Felines and canines have calls for their young for different situations but without conceptualization I can't see that this is anything more than instinct or a very primitive and limited conversation. If they could conceptualize I would believe they would be capable of a more diverse language.

By more human like I do not mean scientist interpreting animal actions as being human thought or action. It seems that scientist marvel over the idea that some apes and monkeys use tools and I find it silly especially since a crow/raven can use tools in more complicated task than an ape. The orca may be the smartest of all animals because of their seeming ability to vocally communicate and work as a team to kill their prey, some of the things they can accomplish is amazing and I for one am glad they do not live on land.  Like most mammals they teach their young, but it seems that the their young actually learn a language similar to the way humans do, it seems less instinctual as in dogs, cats and other mammals.

GC

Vocality and organization is impressive, but not necessarrily indicative of being "the smartest".  The majority of birds are vocal and organized as all get out and still...well..bird-brained.....however.....it may actually be the case that cetaceans are the smartest of all animals.

Every single one of them has a more impressive brain than any ape, including ourselves.

 That's what I was saying, birds for the most part are less intelligent than apes and monkeys, yet certain birds can problem solve better than apes while using tools. I can see orca conceptualizing to some degree because of the way the work together and their ability to hunt differently from one group to another when situations for their particular area demand a different approach. They amaze me in what they can do and in watching them hunt they do seem to show an intelligence that shows actually thinking to the point of problem solving. They knew long before man that they could immobilize (catatonic state) a shark by holding it belly up, even the great white, which by the way have been shown to fear the orca to the point of abandoning huge areas of the ocean and moving on to less productive hunting ground thousands of miles away.   

GC