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The Learned Animal

The learned Animals area group of animals who throughout history have shown above average scholarly, or cosmic, aptitude.

Content

I.	Horses   
II.    Toby the Pig  
III.	Learned Animals Today  
IV.	External Links  
V.	References 

1. Horses

For some, when they think of the most popular learned animal or even the first learned animal, they will think of the Learned Pig Toby. This is reasonable considering the learned pig has been one of the most documented learned animals. However, most of the first learned animals or even trained trick animals were horses. 

•Marocco

Marocco (b.1586 - d.1606) was one of the first documented show horses and one    of the first “learned animals”.  He was obtained at a young age by a young showman and soon to be prominent horse trainer, William Banks. Banks named the horse after morocco leather which is what all the saddles of the time were made out of. 

File:Marocco

Marocco

Marocco and Banks moved to London where their act was performed at the Cross Keys Inn. Marocco was known as the “dancing horse” and the “thinking horse”. As part of his act he would walk on two legs, play dead and was able to distinguish between color. One of his most popular tricks was to urinate on the command of Banks after guzzling water.Marocco was known to be very easy to work with and to educate. He was taught to bow and bare his teeth as a sing of respect to those of power, like the Queen and such. As far as intelligence went, Marocco was also very well known for his ability to count. He would stomp his hoof as a way of indicating how many coins or people he had counted. The act became very well known throughout all London and soon all of Europe. The two toured to Paris, Lisbon, Rome and many more places with his act and with the their earnings Banks created an arena in London just for them. Other animal trainers caught on to the success and the competition built. One of the Marocco’s last and most famous performances in 1601 on the roof of St. Pauls Cathedral.

• Marocoo died in 1606 and after his death Banks shared his training secrets with Gervase Markham , who wrote a book about Marocco’s training.

•Clever Hans

Clever Hans was an orlov trotter horse that was known for his unbelievable intelligence and ability to understand arithmetic. His owner was Wilhelm von Osten and the two lived in Germany. The horse was said to be able to add, subtract, multiply, divide, work with fractions, tell time, spell and read as well as understanding German. As Clever Hans began to pick up a lot of attention, the German Board of Education stated the Hans Commission in 1907 and consisted of a veterinarian, circus manager, Calvary officer, a school teacher, and a Berlin zoological garden director. They determined no tricks were “no actual tricks” within Hans’ routine. The information was given to psychologist Oskar Pfungst who was asked to further investigate the reality of the horses intelligence.

File:Clever hans

Clever Hans.jpg|The Clever Hans

File:Mr.Oskar

Mr.Oskar

• Investigation/ Experiments

Pfungst believed that the best way to get the most accurate answers regarding the horse’s intelligence would be in an extremely controlled testing environment. The purpose of this was to make sure the experiments could not and would not be interrupted. Pfungst decided to erect large canvas tents for his experiments in Mr. von Osten’s courtyard. These tents proved the proper amount of isolation and gave the horse space to move freely.Since von Osten had to be excluded from the greater part of the experiment, others had to be carefully selected to work with the horse. These individuals had to be taught and trusted to work with the horse and essentially become friends with the horse. After a series of test and Hans answering successfully, Pfungst decided to blindfold the horse to see if the results remained the same. After some time Pfungst established the Clever Hans Effect. The Clever Hans Effect Oskar Pfungst through his experiments was able to demonstrate that the horse was not actually performing these intellectual tasks independently, but in fact was actually responding to the involuntary cues given to him from his trainer who had the knowledge to solve each problem. The trainer was unaware that he was giving such hints to the horse.The Clever Hans Effect is still used today with specially trained animals like drug sniffing dogs and more.

File:Clever Hans & Pfungst during experiments

Clever Hans & Pfungst during experiments

• Beautiful Jim Keys

Born in 1889. Beautiful Jim Key was a famous performing horse whose fame reached its height around the turn of the twentieth century. Promoters of the horse claimed he could, read and write, make change, do arithmetic for “numbers below thirty” and cite Bible passages “where horse is mentioned.” Dr. William Key, a former slave, self trained veterinarian, and patent medicine salesman, was Jim’s trainer. Dr. Key and Jim had a known rapport. Dr. Key preached that the way to teach an animal was to “embody the great American values that seek to end cruelty and violence while promoting kindness, tolerance, literacy, equality, and justice.” He was also known to be a “horse whisperer.” Not much is known about Jim’s father, but it is known that his mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and the colt insisted of being near his owner (Dr. Key) at all times. A mixed-breed (Hambletonian and Arabian), Beautiful Jim was bred to become a racehorse but was born “spindle-legged” and could not stand by himself as a youngster. Dr. Key happened upon Jim’s aptitude when, on multiple occasions, he noticed Jim gallop inside the house, and steal apples from his desk drawer, and in attempt to hide the fact that he stole the apple, close the desk drawer before he left the room. Jim began touring the United States demonstrating his inexplicable ability to read, write, spell, do mathematics, tell time, sort male, cite Biblical passages, and debate politics. He even predicated the future when he identified Alice Roosevelt and added the name Longworth to her name two years before her marriage to Nicholas Longworth!

• Muhamed

Muhamed was a trick horse also very popular during the early 1900’s. He was also a German bread horse that was well known for his ability to mentally extract a cube roots of a number. He would tap out the answer with his hooves. He was called one of most intelligent horses of the time. He was also supposedly able to perform music and distinguish between different notes. The horse used the tapping of his hooves as a way to communicate. He would tap his hoof for counting, spelling, determining the square root of a number. Muhamed’s popularity was at its prime around the same time as Clever Hans and considering the investigation around Clever Hans the people of Germany also found it appropriate to investigate the reality of Muhamed actual intelligence. There was no solid evidence to prove that the horse was not thinking independently. Muhamed owner and trainer, Karl Krall argued the horse was purely just naturally intelligent.

• Lady Wonder
Lady Wonder was a famous horse born in 1924, the offspring of siblings. Her owners, Clarence and Claudia Fonda, acquired Lady when she was a few weeks old and named her. Upon buying her they noticed that Lady followed them almost everywhere. Claudia saw the horses potential scholarly aptitude and began using child’s blocks in an attempt to teach the horse the alphabet. Lady responded the lessons, so Clarence Fonda constructed a makeshift “typewriter” resembling a xylophone with letters and keys. Lady used her nose to hit the padded keys which lifted letters or numbers painted on rectangular pieces of tin. The horse communicated by spelling words or selecting numbers to answer questions. As her reputation as a psychic horse grew, so did her loyal band of followers. The Fonda’s showcased Lady’s abilities to friends and neighbors, and by 1928, she was known to the public as Lady Wonder. Ivey Stone, a neighbor of Clarence and Claudia Fonda during Lady Wonder’s heyday, had this to say about Lady Wonder: “Well, it was, just how did she learn her ABC’s? Everybody said it seemed like she knew what you were thinking. I remember that before she’d answer, she’d look you in the eyes. Like human eyes, I’d say.” Lady Wonder answered the questions put to her — at the rate of three questions for $1.. The horse communicated by using her nose to nudge two rows of keys capped with sponge rubber. When a key was tapped, it released a bracket, and a tin card emblazoned with a letter or digit flipped up. The Fondas never disclosed profit figures, and no accurate estimate exists of how many people came to their door. But Stone said sometimes hundreds appeared in a single week, many of them seeking help from the horse in playing illegal numbers games. “They had an old shed up there, and that’s where you went in,” Stone said. She noted that Lady Wonder correctly had predicted the gender of Stone’s sister’s unborn child and had helped her resolve a personal problem. In her own mind, Stone believes that Fonda, who would stand by the horse whenever anyone asked questions, had a psychic gift. “I think she passed it through the horse. That’s what I think,” Stone said. However, Lady Wonder had her doubters. Her proclaimed abilities caught the attention of researcher, Dr. Jb. Rhine* at Duke University, who at his time, was the nations leading authority on extrasensory perception. He conducted over five hundred tests on lady wonder, and at first, declared the horses ability to be no hoax, and that Lady Wonder was in fact a psychic horse. However, years later, Fonda admitted that Lady Wonder may have been taking signals from her trainers. Lady Wonder died March 19, 1957 at age 33. Her hometown newspaper, The Richmond News paid appropriate homage to his life by giving her the cover of the newspaper.

• Training

    I.	Trick Training
 

Contrary to that popular belief when it came to training these trick animals the training methods were far from abusive. A well trained trick horse was worth a great deal of money if the trainer had done his job well and was also a solid promoter and salesman. The key to successfully training a trick horse lies within the relationship between the horse and his trainer. The animal and the trainer must work very closely with one another and all parts of the horse are handled. When the horse/trainer relationship is of quality and trust then the horse will be more accustomed to being touched in various places and not getting scared or jumpy when something unexpected happens. When in the midst of training it is important for the trainer to make his signals clear and direct so as to keep the horse from getting confused and frustrated. Location is also very important when training a trick horse. The horse must be trained in a place that is isolated so the horse’s attention can not be taken away. It is also key to work in a place where the ground is bedded down with sand or sawdust; even a well plowed feild.This will limit the amount of pressure put on the horses feet and legs and will minimize the risk of any injury in the leg or feet. The horses are mostly trained through constant repetition. The first and most important trick for any trick animal to learn is to come when called by their master and then stand quietly which while their master walks around them.5 This establishes who has the dominant role in the relationship and a sense of trust before moving to the harder tricks.

    II.	Restraining devices

To be able to train a horse, you must know the proper and safe restraining methods incase of an emergency. The lasso or lariat is the first article needed to properly and safely restrain the unbroken range of the horse. The rope must be strong enough to hold a large horse but light enough to be thrown by the trainer when needed. The use of the lasso is an exhibition of power and skill and is a leading feature in the trick animal entertainment area. Now if a horse starts to kick or react badly to a training method then a lasso wouldn’t be enough to hold the horse down or restrain it. The Scotch Hobble is another rope trick where the rope is passed over the horse’s neck, in front of its shoulders and tying a loosely fitting rope collar. There is enough excess rope to be wrapped around under the horse’s hind pastern and back through a loop. This gives enough slack to pull up the horses leg(s) from the ground until the horse stops kicking. This method is less likely to produce rope burn and harm the animal. The key in restraining a horse when it misbehaves is not to actually harm the horse in any way shape or form. The trainer is meant to aggressively restrain the horse from harming anyone or anything but should do so while still maintaining their trusting and gentle bond.

File:The Scotch Hobble

The Scotch Hobble

    III.	Traveling
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Some of the more famous horses like Marocco, became so popular that their skills and performance were desired in other places. Many trainers had to use a lot of the funding made from the trick horses in travel expenses to bring the horse on tour. Horse’s did most of their travels by train. 26,956 horses were shipped from distances of 1000 miles or more. The horses would be loaded into trains, some of full feed (meaning their feed during the trip would be decreased) and some not fully fed so they would get substantial meals when needed. The horses would be fed hay and water within a few hours of loading so they wouldn’t be too hungry or thirsty once unloaded.All shoes would be removed from the horses to prevent any sort of injuries by kicking or stepping on other horses.The trains at sometimes had little room so the horses would have to stand for the duration of their trip. If the trainer wanted to pay that extra buck, a horse could be driven or trucked which had much more range for movement. When shipping the horses would be split up by bread.Whether it be a train or a car, the carts should be reasonably full so horses will have freedom to move but not lay down or get trampled on. It was very important for trainers to seek safe conditions for their performance horse’s when traveling to minimize the risk of injury.

The Learned Pig: Toby Toby the Learned Pig was first noted making a stir in London during the 1780‘s. The Learned Pig Toby was trained by his owner, a Mr. Hoare, a former magician who turned trainer of animal acts (Toby would later appear in company with a Learned Goose.) Toby was often billed as the billed as “the greatest curiosity of the present day.” He wowed audiences with his abilities to “spell, read, cast accounts, play cars, tell any person what o’clock it is to a minute by their own watch, tell the age of any one in company, and discover a persons thoughts. Before Toby there were other learned, performing pigs, but Toby was the most renown. Toby quickly became the generic names for all learned pigs in an attempt to recreate the magic of the original. Poems were written comparing Toby to famous actors of his day, like Edmund Kean. Toby even wrote an autobiography, and claimed to have said that he was “the first of my race that ever wielded the pen.” His book was called The Life and Adventures of Toby, the Sapient Pig; with his opinions on men and manners. Written by himself. In his book, Toby describes his father as an “independent gentleman, who roamed at large,” and depicted his mother as a “spinster... of a prolific nature.” Toby claimed that his name derived from the famous Hamlet soliloquy, that his owner was musing at whether to name him “To-by or not To-by.” He obviously did. Toby, being on of the earlier learned animals, and few learned pigs, paved the way for animals being respected for their wit. His presence caused a commotion from the onset and started an animal/human relations dialogue that many would argue is still ongoing today. A children’s writer of Toby’s day, Sarah Trimmed, reported in 1788: “I have been for a long time accustomed to consider animals as mere machines, actuated by the uttering hand of Providence... but the sight of the Learned Pig, which has lately been shown in London, has deranged these ideas and I know not what to think.” Another Londoner of the day and witness of Toby’s greatness, Samuel Johnson, said “the pigs are a race unjustly calumniated. Pig has, it seems, not been wanting to man, but man to pig. We do not allow time for his education, we kill him at a year old.”

"The Learned Animal:TODAY

The learned animal is a concept that is still alive and well today. There are still animals with outstanding abilities and intelligence. The main difference is today, an animal of such caliber is not used for performance and entertainment purposes but more for scientific research.

• Betsy the Dog Betsy is a black and white longhaired border collie. She is well known amongst animal cognitions for being one of the most intelligent dogs. At ten weeks old Betsy was able to sit on command and knew numerous objects by name and could fetch them when verbally commanded to do so. Betsy has a vocabulary of more than 340 words8, which is a direct competitor with that of the great ape in terms of intelligence. She is also capable of identifying at least 15 people with their name alone.8 Betsy was discovered when her owner was requested by National Geographic Magazine to submit to an intelligent animal study.

• Alex the Parrot Alex was an African grey parrot and the main subject of an experiment by animal psychologist at the University of Arizona, Harvard University and Brandeis University. Birds are not known for their intelligence. In fact their only form of communication was through mimicking or repetition. Psychologist experimented with Alex’s intelligence using model/rival technique. This basically a method of competition for the student (Alex) to want to compete with a “model student” for their teachers attention. Alex’s experimental results proved that birds could reason on a basic level. He was able to identify up to fifty different objects and could recognize quantities up to six, could single out seven colors and five shapes as well as understanding the concept of “bigger”, “smaller”, “same” and “different”. His progress only grew from their with more time and work.

Rogers, Albert R. (1901). The Story of Beautiful Jim Key</ref>