In Greek mythology – Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration and is also a shrewd companion of heroes. A Little Owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom and because of such association, the bird — often referred to as the "owl of Athena" or the "owl of Minerva" — is considered as a a symbol of knowledge, wisdom in Western world.
Horses are considered to be intelligent ! ~ they are studied to perform a number of cognitive tasks on a daily basis, meeting mental challenges that include food procurement and identification of individuals within a social system. Studies have assessed equine intelligence in areas such as problem solving, speed of learning, and memory. Horses excel at simple learning, but also also able to use more advanced cognitive abilities that involve categorization and concept learning. There is this cliché:
‘horse sense’ – which only means ordinary practical knowledge of the best way to deal with people and situations or at best the ability to make good judgments or decisions ~ more of a ‘common sense’.
Over a long evolved history, some animals are considered to possess intelligence; have a complex inner life and are able to distinguish things, especially predicting hazardous situations. Some years back - saw a big fat somewhat ugly looking fish displayed in a big tank in a friend's place…. and the person claimed that this fish has the knack of distinguishing ‘friends and foes’ – not for the fish but for the person who keeps it ? It was a fish considered to be ‘vasthu fish’ – the Arowana, considered to be lucky charm and guileful too. The price tag was stated to be a lakh and more too and one believed that when a business deal is done – the fish in the tank would rightly indicate the genuiness of the person !!! Arowana fish will often swim in the top of the aquarium, and people provide other fish as food to it….
Here is an interesting newsitem that appeared in Times of India of date captioned ‘Pet parrot helps Agra cops arrest killer of its owner’Agra: In a case that seems straight out of an Agatha Christie potboiler, a parrot turned detective and helped nab its owner’s killer. The question of who murdered Neelam Sharma, 45, and her pet dog, had been baffling the city police for almost a week till they got a clue provided by Hercule, the parrot.
Neelam, wife of Vijay Sharma, the editor of a Hindi daily, was found murdered at her residence on February 20. Her husband noticed a change in the behavior of the parrot whenever his nephew Ashutosh visited their house after the murder. “During discussions too, whenever Ashutosh’s name was mentioned, the parrot would start screeching. This raised my suspicion and I informed the police,” said Sharma. SSP Agra, Shalabh Mathur, said that Ashutosh has confessed to the crime.
“We checked his call details and took him into custody. He accepted his crime and informed us that he was accompanied by a friend. They had entered the house with the intention of taking away cash and other valuables,” he said. Afraid that his aunt might recognize him, he stabbed her and the dog when it started barking. But he hadn’t accounted for the parrot who was watching.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
27th Feb 2014.