We owe it all to the dog.

[xelasnave]

I heard of an interesting view that our species developed speech because we had the dog.

The part of our brain we use for speech is the part the Neandathals had to use for their sence of smell...In the wild you need all the sences you can muster and the sence of smell is perhaps as important as the ability to see or to hear... they had no dog so never had room in their brain to develope the power of speech.

We did not need to be able to smell out dangerous things as we had our little friend...mans best friend in fact..the dog...who took over that task so as to release part of our brain our next stage of development...speech.

So we beat the Neandathals.. wiped them out I bet ... we could discuss their weaknesses and sleep at night not worrying they would creep up upon us..as our little friends would tell us if we needed to be awake.

Without speech where would we be... and because we had speech we needed the telephone which enabled the net to become a reality.

So pat your dog and thank him for giving us the power to rule the world.
alex

[Jarrod]

that's very interesting. I find it impressive that we have been able to breed dogs to take advantage of specific features, and get more uses out of them. smell is just one of many features that dogs now provide for us.

I also understand the Neanderthals lacked the ability to understand facial expressions and things like simple hand gestures. so they had almost no way to communicate with one another. although, I understand that they were in many ways the more intelligent species. they made better use of there resources, and were more efficient. if they had found an effective way to communicate, they would proberly have ended up being the dominant species.

Jarrod

[leon]

Gee Alex you come up with some interesting stuff.

leon

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by leon

Gee Alex you come up with some interesting stuff.

leon

Thank you Leon... would you like to hear my ideas on why the female spider often eats her lover after mating and how that is far more advanced than our system of taking years to be consumed by our mate?

You would I know.

Well it makes so much sence when you think about it... and they have had some twenty million more years to think about it than have we.

We mate and then seek to provide a future for our offspring.. yet they convert the energy of the male much more readily ... lets face it the males job is done as far as mating goes ... all he now needs to do is put food on the table... so in that act of surrendering himself to be devoured I say that the spider shows more love for his off spring than any human demonstrates.
alex

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Jarrod

that's very interesting. I find it impressive that we have been able to breed dogs to take advantage of specific features, and get more uses out of them. smell is just one of many features that dogs now provide for us.

I also understand the Neanderthals lacked the ability to understand facial expressions and things like simple hand gestures. so they had almost no way to communicate with one another. although, I understand that they were in many ways the more intelligent species. they made better use of there resources, and were more efficient. if they had found an effective way to communicate, they would proberly have ended up being the dominant species.

Jarrod

It is the belief that they lived in smaller groups..did they live in smaller groups because they could not communicate easily or did they not communicate easily because they lived in small groups.
Maybe they did not have enough left overs to feed a dog whereas humans because they lived (presumably) in larger groups had left overs.

The source that put forward the view I offer suggested that it was perhaps the dog that took us on not the other way about... maybe we followed dog packs at first because they were able to herd beasts over cliffs... maybe they in effect taught us how to hunt.

When you think of the erly hunting prctices which involved running herds over cliffs one would think that dogs developed that style of hunting and we came along to pick up their scraps.
alex

[CoombellKid]

Maybe it was the Dog that was the smarter one, by attaching itself to
humans. It was able to develop a sense of laying around in the afternoon
sun as it didn't to hunt anymore because the human in the big house/rock
cave regularly threw out the odd bone lol

regards,CS

[xelasnave]

I think if one was realistic one would see (except for our stuffing up the place) that animals have it wired.

They do not waste energy on providing clothes, they take what is there rather than go thru a middle man. They concentrate on the meaning of life..sending your genes into the future... and dont worry if gravity sucks or not.
They dont hunt for other animals or fight for the belief in an entity that we invented to invent us.... one can only wonder...and there again they do not waste time on such matters..well I dont think they do anyways...maybe they have and know the answers we still seek.
alex

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Dogs aren't too smart.
Give one a can of food and a can opener. I bet he starves to death

Also, I can just imagine Neanderthal learning to speak when he met a dog for the first time: "Ugg, grunt, ug, uggg, sit!"

[xelasnave]

My dogs cant open a can thats for sure but they can catch fresh meat.
I left them for a couple of days and was worried that they would have to fend for themselves (plus they miss me and I miss them) but when I got home found they had dragged one bag of dog food out and ripped it open.
I though that was smart because I doubt if they could smell the food thru the plastic bag and must have read the outside.
alex

[JimmyH155]

Talking about cave men, I just love that Gary Larson cartoon where the wild dogs are looking into a cave man encampment, and there by the fire is one of their number looking really humble, and the caption is one of the wild dogs speaking..."That's Rodney all right. I tell you he's been Domesticated!" Magic stuff

[acropolite (Phil)]

Remember also, it wasn't man that was first in space it was the humble dog...

[xelasnave]

I live with dogs, we are a pack, and it is then you really understand so much about them... most folk talk to them far to loud, you just speak quietly to them and they go along with you but speak harshly and they lose respect and dont show anything of themselves to you.
I can imagine they may well have complimented out ancestors such that that handles th haring and sniffing such that we could evolve to where we are today.
alex