Search Film, Company, People...

INTELLIGENT ANIMALS

By Julia DORDEL, Guido TÖLKE

DORCON FILM UG (HAFTUNGSBESCHRÄNKT) - as PROD

Documentary - Production 2024

Beyond Instinct: A scientific perspective on the unexpected intelligence and emotions of our fellow creatures.

- Year of production
- 2024
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- GERMANY, AUSTRALIA, USA, AUSTRIA, SOUTH AFRICA
- Languages
- GERMAN, ENGLISH
- Budget
- 0 - 0.3 M$
- Duration
- 80 mn
- Director(s)
- Julia DORDEL, Guido TÖLKE
- Synopsis
- Can horses really "talk" to their owners? Do pigs have individual characters, friends and work together toward a common goal? Can fish not only count but even add and subtract numbers? Can ravens read minds and know what their friends and foes are thinking about?
  
  We use them for food production, as sports equipment, for entertainment purposes, and as companions - or we place them in the world of mysticism and fear them as omens of death. This is where the relationship with these animals ends for many of us. But as science shows: We do them more than an injustice.
  
  Behavioral biologists claim that just like us, many non-human animals communicate in complex languages and possess a rich emotional life similar, but different to that of humans. On top of that, many of them are able to solve highly complex cognitive intelligence tests. Yet science has so far failed to educate the public in step with the research about the cognitive achievements of which many animal species are capable, and the complex, emotional inner lives they possess. The image of the animal that prevails in the general public is therefore far removed from today's scientific reality.
  
  In this documentary feature-length film, we are showing leading scientists, animal trainers, and their research subjects around the world and how their research leads current public beliefs ad absurdum.