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Extraordinary Creative and Psychic Powers of Animals

  • September 11, 2008
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This is an older article that may not reflect Dr. Mercola’s current view on this topic. Use our search engine to find Dr. Mercola’s latest position on any health topic.

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake is the author of more than 75 scientific papers and ten books. In controlled double-blind experiments, he has found compelling evidence of "interspecies telepathy," including the uncanny (yet familiar to many pet owners) ability of dogs to anticipate when their owners are returning home.
 
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
I have recently become more interested in animal health as I have started watching The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan. He is a gifted animal trainer, and it seems he can correct just about any dog in the world.

There's a lot left to be uncovered when it comes to humans' relationships with animals, but it’s clear that animals know a lot more than we often give them credit for.

The African grey parrot, N’kisi, that the video mentions, for instance, has a vocabulary of 950 words, shows signs of a sense of humor and is able to come up with new words and phrases to explain novel ideas (just as human children do).

Among some of N'kisi's stunning examples of intellect:

• Inventing the phrase "pretty smell medicine" to describe aromatherapy
• Saying "Got a chimp?" upon meeting chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane Goodall for the first time (after viewing photos of her with apes)
• Saying "You got to put this bird on the camera," when another parrot hung upside down on his perch

Stories like these are not rare either; they’re quite common. For instance, one researcher found that rats actually laugh when they’re tickled (you can see it for yourself here). And you may remember the incredible story of Oscar the cat that I wrote about last year.

Oscar has an uncanny ability to predict when a nursing home’s residents are going to die. In at least 25 different cases, Oscar has accurately chosen who is about to die, usually within four hours, by curling up on their bed, nuzzling the person and purring until they pass away.

Are Animals “Psychic” or Just Really Smart?

There’s been some debate in the Community Comments section below about whether or not animals are really psychic. Feel free to weigh in with your own opinions, but I do think they show some uncanny abilities. Whether or not you want to call them “psychic” or “supernatural” is up to you. Perhaps “sixth sense” is a better description.

A study published in the journal Biology Letters found, for instance, that dogs can "catch" human yawns, which provides evidence that dogs may be able to “read the mind” of their owners.

And according to National Geographic, in 373 B.C. historians noted that rats, snakes, weasels and other animals left the Greek city of Helice a few days before a major earthquake hit the area.

More recently, it was said that a herd of buffalo grazing on a beach in Bang Koey, Thailand suddenly stopped what they were doing, looked out to sea, then stampeded to the top of a hill. Just minutes later, the 2004 Asian tsunami struck. Some pet owners also reported that their dogs refused to go for their usual walks on the beach that morning.

Even earlier this year, just hours before the devastating earthquake in China, zoo animals reportedly began to act strangely. The U.S. Geological Survey maintains that “changes in animal behavior cannot be used to predict earthquakes,” but perhaps that’s because, as Dr. Sheldrake has suggested, more research needs to be done to understand the relationship and the nature of animals’ cognitive abilities.

But either way, animals can be an excellent companion and source of unconditional love, devotion and friendship, and studies have shown they can actually reduce your levels of anxiety and stress. So even if it turns out that they can’t predict the next big natural disaster, living with an animal will still bring great value to your life.

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