Do Animals Believe In Supernatural Beings?

No.We have firm and conclusive evidence that members of the group Homo have had and many still have beliefs in Supernatural Beings.We do not have that at all for any other species.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

This question has been bobbing around at the back of my mind for a couple of days.
(I originally wrote a longer post - but I think it obscured and not clarified.)Are chimps similar enough to 'early' humans that they develop supernatural beliefs in a similar way?
If so:
Their god would be created because of something that they don't understand by a pattern dependant brain finding patterns where there are none.
Their god would be modelled using a chimpocentric point of view.They would be trying to appease and/or communicate with their god.
This would appear to be irrational to anyone else viewing this behaviour.Do we have any evidence of chimps (as a group) behaving irrationally?
Do we have any evidence of chimps behaving as if there was an invisible chimp?
(These questions are equally relevent to any animal.)Edited by Panda, : No reason given.Edited by Panda, : No reason given.

Studying the psychology of humans is hard-enough the way it is. How do we even begin studying the psychology of animals in order to compare it to human psychology?Jon

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Check out Apollo's Temple!
Ignorance is temporary; you should be able to overcome it. - nwr

If we were seeking "clear and conclusive proof" of animals exhibiting supernatural beliefs you would have an argument clinching point.As it is I am asking if genuinely evidence based speculation of a scientific nature can be applied to this question.

So you dismiss the entire areas of animal psychology or comparative psychology as areas of research?

And my answer is "No."

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Why not?

Because no evidence has been presented that indicates exactly what any critters other than Homo species think.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Given that speciation is by definition a graduated process and that the earliest known homo is Homo Hablis whilst the latest known pre homo species is Australopithecus I think you are making a rather false distinction.Can anyone tell me how I posts any of these images as pictures in a post?

You are, of course, free to think anything.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Would you accept indirect evidence of supernatural belief in homo erectus but not Australopithecus simply because one is "homo" and the other isn't?That is what the distinction you are making suggests. These days jar I often wonder why you bother to post replies at all. You are an interesting and informed poster when you want to be. But these days 90% of your posts are trite and rather pointless.

I would have to examine the specific evidence to see if I would accept the conclusion of supernatural belief even in homo erectus.And yes, I would require even greater evidence to extend that to Australopithecus.And honestly, I really don't much care if you believe my answers are trite, often trite is the best response to pointless questions.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Which implies that the evidence rather than the "homo" tab is what is really important here. Why is this different with regard to animals? Oh so you would extend evidence based speculation beyond the "homo" grouping after all. Despite your previous assertion to the contrary.So why not extend to other species if the evidence is there? The pointlessness or otherwise of both the questions and the answers is best judged by those other than the questioner or the answeree.I suggest you bear that in m ind in your responses.

Good questions. And ones I have sought to raise in more specific terms in Message 7 and Message 70Can we look at these examples and justifiably speculate that there is evidence of animals beliefs of the sort humans have repeatedly demonstrated?

I have not yet seen any evidence that much extends beyond Homo sapiens sapiens quite honestly, and even much that I hve seen that asserts earlier Homo sapiens sapiens might hold supernatural beliefs I find unconvincing. Whatever.If you follow back this conversation you will find that I made a general response in the thread in Message 84.I stand by that post.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!