Oh and since PDFs can learn, that suggests at least some degree of intellect. What is more, this is a quote from the book Frogs by Ellin Beltz: "A breathtaking study of frog and toad visual abilities looked at how often the tongue actually hit a televised image of a cricket...additionally, when the program ended, they looked behind the screen to see if the crickets were still lurking back there".
Yes, but remember you are talking about an animal that doesn't consider a bug that is not moving as a food item. Hunting/Exploring is one thing, but wouldn't "intelligence" inform a recognition of a prey item, still or not?
I think the argument is pretty nebulous. Groundhog had some really good comments in a previous thread about this, but it all really depends on how we perceive and define intelligence. It's hard enough to define what it means in a person, let alone a frog. As Ed points out, much of what is ascribed as intelligence is actually conditioning. Personally I don't see the distinction as clearly as he (and the literature) make it. I am firmly convinced that there are people I know that have learned very little outside of conditioning their entire lives.
Case in point: I raise many froglets to adulthood. When they are very small I pack 10 of them in a 10 gallon tank. As frogs get larger, I move them to larger, less populated tanks. Bottom line, I move frogs around occasionally. The other day I caught and moved 5 froglets to a new, previously uninhabited, densely planted tank. These frogs had lived their entire 6 months of existence in one place, and now were dropped into a new tank. Naturally they were completely FREAKED OUT and hid immediately.
They had been in the tank only about 5 minutes when I decided to feed. As soon as they heard me shake the flies over the tank they immediately rushed out...apparently snapped out of their distress. Now that is clearly conditioning, but... what would it indicate if they hadn't come out. Would that be intelligence because they overcame their conditioning with caution. Or are they intelligent enough to know that there is no threat. Or does that behavior indicate ANYTHING at all about intelligence? For that matter, is there any behavior that can indisputably indicate anything about intelligence vs. conditioning in something as alien as a amphibian? Nebulous, says I.
Conditoned? Yes. Intelligent? I don't know. Amazing either way? Definitely.
