The cover story of the March 2008 edition of National Geographic, which, with a circulation of almost eight million, is one of the most widely distributed magazines in the world, is "Inside Animal Minds: Birds, Apes, Dolphins, and a Dog With a World-class Vocabulary."

The story inside, by Virginia Morell, is headed, "Minds of their Own. Animals are smarter than you think."

It tells us:
"We see the love in our dogs' eyes and know that, of course, Spot has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial."

And we read:
"Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others' motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned out to be a surprisingly good talker."

The article describes some of those experiments and results, focusing on Alex the Parrot, a border collie named Betsy, a crow named Betty, and a group of four young dolphins-Akeakamai, Phoenix, Elele, and Hiapo-at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in Hawaii.

After discussing some of the dolphin's feats, the reporter writes, "Akeakamai and Phoenix and the two others died accidentally four years ago."

Actually, news reports suggest all four dolphins died from illnesses, but within such a shockingly short period time that natural causes seem unlikely. You can read Hawaii's Star Bulletin 2004 article on the issue is on line at
http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/26/news/story3.html

You'll find the current full National Geographic article, "Minds of Their Own," on line at:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/featurehub
(Or this link might last longer:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/animal-minds/virginia-morell-text/1 )

The print version of the magazine includes many pictures of animal faces, with descriptions of what we know about their intelligence. You'll find those on line at
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/animal-minds/musi-photography

The article, including the captions with the photographs, is well worth reading. It provides much information about how little we differ from other animals in various ways. Most importantly, as animal advocates, it offers us the opportunity to send letters to the editor, where those letters published will be read by millions of people. The information provided in the article allows us to question the ways in which human society currently treats other species. You may wish to discuss the use of animals in entertainment or product testing, or to expound on the benefits of plant-based diets. You might even question, ironically, keeping animals captive for use in the kinds of experiments described, when most people who live with animals do not need scientific proof to know that their animals' thoughts and emotions are like those of humans.

National Geographic takes letters at ngsforum@nationalgeographic.com and advises,
"Please include name, address, and daytime telephone. Letters may be edited for clarity and space."

Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure not to use any comments or phrases from me or from any other alerts in your letters. Editors are looking for original responses from their readers.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)