One of the biggest questions in animal cognition is whether animals behave with intent.

The standard assumption for centuries has been that their behaviors are driven solely by instincts, drives, or training. Behaviors that don’t fit those templates are often considered coincidental or accidental, as mistakes that occur while an animal is goofing around. In other words, such behaviors might appear (to us misguided humans) to be intentional—but in the old view, they are not.

Over the past 30 or 40 years, science has made fascinating discoveries about what animals can do. Few of our ancestors would have claimed that elephants stand beside their dead for days, that baboons can distinguish real words from nonwords, or that baby birds babble to learn songs just as human infants babble to learn speech. We know now that seagulls drop clams on hard ground to break them open for food, killer whales carry their dead for weeks, magpies recognize their images in mirrors, and mice respond to suffering in other animals. Add to this collection evidence of ticklish rats, humming bears, surfing........

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