{"id":43007,"date":"2024-10-24T12:26:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T10:26:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/da729b26-1be9-4773-8762-dfa0e08bcb36"},"modified":"2024-10-24T13:27:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T11:27:26","slug":"can-animals-lie","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/can-animals-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"Can animals lie?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leoma Williams investigates whether animals can lie <\/p>

By Leoma Williams\n <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 24 October 2024 at 10:26 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Fake news, alternative facts, white lies. Humans are prodigious fibbers, but what about other species? <\/strong><\/p>

Many animals are unconsciously deceitful, in that they fool others via mimicry and camouflage<\/a>. Yet purposeful pretence akin to human lying requires a \u2018theory of mind\u2019 \u2013 an understanding that others\u2019 beliefs and intentions can be different to your own. <\/p>

How do bats deceive predators like birds?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Studies suggest this capability is unique to humans, but that some animals possess elements of it. A study in 2019 discovered great apes demonstrated \u2018Theory of mind\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>
Potential cases of intentional deception have been seen in primates<\/a>, including white-faced capuchins giving false alarm calls and red-capped mangabeys misleading group mates about the location of food. <\/p>
<\/div><\/figure>Meanwhile, a captive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/facts-about-chimpanzees\">chimpanzee<\/a> has been seen hiding stones from his keepers to throw at visitors later. Are these animals employing theory of mind, or simply learning by association? We\u2019re not sure. <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/do-animals-laugh\">Do animals laugh?<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/can-other-species-learn-foreign-languages\/\">Can other species learn \u2018foreign languages\u2019?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/can-animals-get-drunk\">Can animals get drunk?<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/can-animals-teach\">Can animals teach? <\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leoma Williams investigates whether animals can lie <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":43008,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie.jpg",2044,1466,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie-300x215.jpg",300,215,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie-768x551.jpg",768,551,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie-1024x734.jpg",800,573,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie-1536x1102.jpg",1536,1102,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/10\/can-animals-lie.jpg",2044,1466,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Leoma Williams investigates whether animals can lie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/43007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}