STRANGE BUT TRUE

Q: For a quick wise-up on the subject of epistemology, the science of knowledge, what are some fascinating facts about what animals know?

A: Though difficult to assess, the ability to know what others are aware of has been observed in nonhuman animals such as elephants, chimps, parrots, dolphins and ravens, says Michael Brooks in New Scientist magazine. For example, elephants that have never been at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya, but know others who have, often turn up with injuries that need attention, report workers at the rescue center. It’s almost as if the elephants know they will be looked after there, suggesting not only abstract knowledge but relatively sophisticated communication of the knowledge.

Dolphins are even aware of lacking knowledge. When trained to answer a question such as “Was that a high or low-frequency tone you just heard?” they offer sensible answers, even giving a “don’t know” when the right response isn’t clear. And great apes instinctively know that, of two identical cups on a seesaw, the lower one is more likely to contain food.

Then there was Santino, a chimpanzee at Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo, who “knew” he’d want to throw objects at visitors and began breaking the concrete in his enclosure into pieces suitable for hurling and then putting them in a pile. Chimps in the wild are also planners, having been observed “sorting out in advance what they’ll eat for breakfast, where they’ll get it and when they’ll have it.”

So now you know: Don’t dismiss animal abilities. Q: Of the 6,200 languages currently spoken as a mother tongue, the 16 with the most speakers account for fully half of the world population. To what extent are languages with few speakers being abandoned in favor of dominant ones?

A: Economist David Clingingsmith collected and analyzed data from 15 countries covering 334 languages and found that only languages with fewer than 35,000 speakers are in decline (The Economist Journal). Some 4,300 languages (69 percent of the total) fall below this size, and Clingingsmith’s analysis suggests that about 1,700 will be extinct in 100 years — actually a smaller number than many scholars expected.

— Bill Sones and Rich Sones, For The Oklahoman

Send questions to brothers Bill and Rich Sones at sbtcolumn@gmail.com.