- Duration: 1 hour
- Location/Format: Online
- Presenter: Dr Michael Leach
- Suitable for 14+
There has been an upsurge in detailed research into animal intelligence and it turns out that most species are way more complex and subtle than anyone suspected. Science is revealing that it’s not just humans who are tempted to tell untruths, animals do too! This allows them to be remarkably creative in their solutions to everyday problems. People fib to hide something they’ve done wrong or to win a reward. For a long time, scientists believed this kind of behaviour was unique to us but now we’re coming to understand that many animals are just as devious and have learned the art of deception. Other species have adopted behaviour that has little to do with survival and – again just like us – let their hair down and party when the opportunity arises.
In this beautifully illustrated talk, Dr Michael Leach introduced us to drunken monkeys, psychotic magpies, spaced-out lemurs and smooth-talking con-birds and helps us discover just why, bad behaviour and intelligence are often very closely connected.
