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One and All -
I am starting this thread as an extension of the Ping Pong Balls thread. But I have an ulterior motive. I am still working on the fourth edition of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide (a.k.a., TKG4. And yes, it's been a long time coming), and am trying to amass enough scientific and anecdotal content to include a chapter on tarantula intelligence. What started out as a ping pong ball curiosity (actually several decades ago) is beginning to look more and more like a new and completely unexpected property of these amazing spiders.
This basic question is, "Are tarantulas intelligent?" (detecting its existence in the first place). And this opens up a whole bunch of supplementary questions and concerns like, "What is intelligence?" (a basic, working definition), "How can we detect or measure different kinds of intelligence?" (a qualitative assessment), and "How can we detect and compare different levels of intelligence?" (a quantitative assessment). But these questions probably have already been discussed, maybe even answered, ad nauseam in the scientific or professional literature.
Here are a few examples to whet your interest:
1) The ping pong ball phenomenon responsible for starting this thread suggests some level of intelligence, and has been proposed to explain why the tarantula "plays" with the ping pong ball.
But the naysayers insist that this behavior is just instinct. The tarantula is merely attempting to rid its environment of this foreign object. However, that still implies that the tarantula is perceiving a difference between a foreign object and a non-foreign object (e.g., a decorative pebble or rock). And there is still the strong argument that the ability to discern such a difference and make a choice of several options (e.g., move it or ignore it) strongly suggests some level of intelligence.
2) Handling ("manipulation" in TKG3). In the wild, when something reaches out to pick up or grab a tarantula, it's usually in an attempt to eat it. Thus, evolution has bestowed an instinctive "flight or fight" reaction to most multicellular organisms under most such circumstances, tarantulas included.
But enter the tarantula! It turns out that a truly surprising number of kinds of tarantulas will learn to overcome that instinctive response, and substitute a very benign, submissive reaction, especially if it's accompanied by a nice, gentle, belly rub! The point here is that the spider has LEARNED a completely counterintuitive reaction, and that strongly suggests intelligence at some level.
3) A few enthusiasts have reported that their tarantulas actually learned to come to the front of their cages either by sensing vibrations or the tapping made by their keepers on the cages, or by sight (even though the common wisdom insists that tarantulas can't see that well) when the enthusiast enters the room, turns on the lights, or otherwise makes their presence known.
So, I need several things from you:
1) Examples of tarantulas' behaviors that you can personally vouch for that might strongly suggest the existence of some level of tarantula intelligence, however meager. For instance, have you noticed that your little wonder-pet performs the same activity repeatedly under similar conditions, perhaps that would otherwise not be unexpected?
2) GENTLY experiment with some of your tarantulas to see if you can teach them to do some very elementary tricks like raising their front legs in acknowledgement or greetings if you gently tap their cages or flash a light at them. (Hint: The word on the street is that tarantulas will respond to a little food incentive. Bribery apparently works in their world the same as in ours!)
There is one important caution here: I STRONGLY urge you to NOT try any of this on any of the Old World species for at least two reasons:
1) Many of these tarantulas have strong "negative" personalities that would make your teaching them or their learning difficult or nearly impossible. At the level at which we're doing these experiments we don't need to stack the cards that badly in our disfavor.
2) Many of the Old World tarantulas have potent, even "medically significant" venoms. There is no advantage to risking your health and safety in the pursuit I've outlined here.
And one last point: Please do not beleaguer us with idle fairy tales! There's already too much objectionable "stuff" floating around the Internet and elsewhere. We really don't need any more.
Now we get to do something meaningful and fun with our little buddies!
Stan
I am starting this thread as an extension of the Ping Pong Balls thread. But I have an ulterior motive. I am still working on the fourth edition of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide (a.k.a., TKG4. And yes, it's been a long time coming), and am trying to amass enough scientific and anecdotal content to include a chapter on tarantula intelligence. What started out as a ping pong ball curiosity (actually several decades ago) is beginning to look more and more like a new and completely unexpected property of these amazing spiders.
This basic question is, "Are tarantulas intelligent?" (detecting its existence in the first place). And this opens up a whole bunch of supplementary questions and concerns like, "What is intelligence?" (a basic, working definition), "How can we detect or measure different kinds of intelligence?" (a qualitative assessment), and "How can we detect and compare different levels of intelligence?" (a quantitative assessment). But these questions probably have already been discussed, maybe even answered, ad nauseam in the scientific or professional literature.
Here are a few examples to whet your interest:
1) The ping pong ball phenomenon responsible for starting this thread suggests some level of intelligence, and has been proposed to explain why the tarantula "plays" with the ping pong ball.
But the naysayers insist that this behavior is just instinct. The tarantula is merely attempting to rid its environment of this foreign object. However, that still implies that the tarantula is perceiving a difference between a foreign object and a non-foreign object (e.g., a decorative pebble or rock). And there is still the strong argument that the ability to discern such a difference and make a choice of several options (e.g., move it or ignore it) strongly suggests some level of intelligence.
2) Handling ("manipulation" in TKG3). In the wild, when something reaches out to pick up or grab a tarantula, it's usually in an attempt to eat it. Thus, evolution has bestowed an instinctive "flight or fight" reaction to most multicellular organisms under most such circumstances, tarantulas included.
But enter the tarantula! It turns out that a truly surprising number of kinds of tarantulas will learn to overcome that instinctive response, and substitute a very benign, submissive reaction, especially if it's accompanied by a nice, gentle, belly rub! The point here is that the spider has LEARNED a completely counterintuitive reaction, and that strongly suggests intelligence at some level.
3) A few enthusiasts have reported that their tarantulas actually learned to come to the front of their cages either by sensing vibrations or the tapping made by their keepers on the cages, or by sight (even though the common wisdom insists that tarantulas can't see that well) when the enthusiast enters the room, turns on the lights, or otherwise makes their presence known.
So, I need several things from you:
1) Examples of tarantulas' behaviors that you can personally vouch for that might strongly suggest the existence of some level of tarantula intelligence, however meager. For instance, have you noticed that your little wonder-pet performs the same activity repeatedly under similar conditions, perhaps that would otherwise not be unexpected?
2) GENTLY experiment with some of your tarantulas to see if you can teach them to do some very elementary tricks like raising their front legs in acknowledgement or greetings if you gently tap their cages or flash a light at them. (Hint: The word on the street is that tarantulas will respond to a little food incentive. Bribery apparently works in their world the same as in ours!)
There is one important caution here: I STRONGLY urge you to NOT try any of this on any of the Old World species for at least two reasons:
1) Many of these tarantulas have strong "negative" personalities that would make your teaching them or their learning difficult or nearly impossible. At the level at which we're doing these experiments we don't need to stack the cards that badly in our disfavor.
2) Many of the Old World tarantulas have potent, even "medically significant" venoms. There is no advantage to risking your health and safety in the pursuit I've outlined here.
And one last point: Please do not beleaguer us with idle fairy tales! There's already too much objectionable "stuff" floating around the Internet and elsewhere. We really don't need any more.
Now we get to do something meaningful and fun with our little buddies!
Stan
