Okay… Well it goes back to my point, you’re looking at this like animals are machines, despite all evidence

Apollo doesn’t know 26 words, he knows dozens, even hundreds. He can identify the composition of novel materials based on the framework taught to him - not always correctly based on our understanding, but there’s an internal logic. He tests the hardness, the sound, the appearance (the primary sense for birds, even more so than humans) and he makes an educated guess based on what he knows

Koko begged for a cat, despite never having seen one outside of picture books. She was offended when they gave her a cat shaped toy. She grieved when they told her the cat was hit by a car, and later articulated understanding the cat was dead

My mom’s dog knew dozens of names, when my mom said “theneverfox is coming over tomorrow” she’d get excited, and wait by the door the next afternoon - not the same day (I was her favorite)

And I was her favorite because I could read her body language, I knew when she had an itch and she could tell me where, and she only trusted me to hold her because I knew when she felt secure and when she wanted to get down

My dad got a cockatoo when I was a child, and she trusted no one - until I started making origami in front of her, and decided to give them to her. She was fascinated by how I folded it, and would try to unfold it when I gave her little boats. Two days of that, and we became friends - she would fly down where I pointed and back onto my shoulder because it amused me…I didn’t train her, I never fed her, we just formed a bond… Except she would attack everyone else, so she was sold soon after

I was dog sitting an abused rescue who would barely let me put the leash on her to walk her - aside from when she needed to go out she wouldn’t be in the same room as me, even when food was involved. Then I sang ave Maria, and she watched from upstairs - and then she came down, and I became the second person she would let pet her

I’ve gotten deer into petting range and seagulls to approach me within inches - no food involved, just mirroring their body language and trying to understand.

You can try to explain it away, but animals are happy to communicate - they just have to be curious and you have to meet them hallway

You can try to explain it ask away, and most do, but that’s pseudoscience - taking the answer and fitting it back to observations

Animals have their own wants. That’s undeniable. The idea that they’re doing it mechanically and humans aren’t is insane