Gotta Love Words...

Recently I heard, yet again, someone start a sentence with “As sentient beings…” And I thought to myself “well there’s yet another person who likes to toss out an authoritative term to prove our superiority over other animal species.”

OK, I admit I’ve used that term myself in the aforementioned manner. And a while back I looked up the definition of the word. The root word is “sense”, and the definition actually is:

“adjective: having the power of perception by the senses; conscious”

Thus brings to mind the definition as applied to various animals. Since we have lived with cats for about 21 years now, I’ll start there.

Beemer, for whom this blog is named, was extraordinarily sentient. He was three years old before he learned he was a cat, and then only because we brought another cat into the house - Alyssa, who was the runt of the litter and underdeveloped and was not long in this world. Before she was in the house, it was not uncommon for The Beem to follow our morning routine of getting up, eating, getting cleaned up, dressing and getting ready to go to work. Of course his job was to hold the house down by sleeping in one spot all day. But while we engaged in our morning toilette, Beemer would sit on the bathroom counter and clean himself and talk to us. Thing is, we seemed to understand him, and he us. A few years later after my first surgery, Beemer used to just crawl into my lap after lunch and stare at me until I’d finally recline the Lay-Z-Boy and take a nap. With him curled up in my lap. He sensed what I needed, and took good care of me. And even today, Sadie seems to know when I’m sick and will come and stare at me until I lie down, with her parked right on my hip.

Ever watch a border collie work sheep or cattle? Well, a lot of folks will tell you “oh, they’re just trained to do those things, and it’s part of their breeding anyway.” True to an extent, but… Vali and Miss Patsy Montana work cattle very well, and do follow commands (for the most part). But they’ve never been trained to be aware and react quickly when a cow kicks a hind leg sideways toward them (yes, cattle can kick sideways). They’re aware of what’s going on around them – more so than a lot of people I observe – and act accordingly. “Power of perception of the senses” – take the sense of touch as an example. A dog or cat or just about any other animal knows the difference between a touch as in petting, or a touch as in slapping.

Horses – also well trained animals. Jo and I visited a couple of horses that Chuck & I rode for several years – both of them retired because of injuries. Great horses - couldn’t stand to put them down. I walked up to the fence and greeted them - “Hey guys! Have you missed me?” Both of them came over and just nodded their heads up and down. Aware of who I was. Then there’s a time when Chuck missed a loop on a calf and his horse TJ just came to a stop and looked back at him with a “what in the world was that?” look. To be fair, I’ve missed my share of loops too.

And finally, Chuck is convinced that Texas Longhorns have a sense of humor. (Can you tell that when Chuck and I get together we spend a lot of time with animals? Maybe because animals put up with us easier than most people would…) Chuck had a large stock tank in one of his pastures which was located close to the horse corral. One of the morning chores was to fill the tank to entice the herd to come up to water since that pasture has no stream running through it. One morning, the tank was filling, the herd came up, and one of his barn cats jumped up on the lip if the tank to get a drink as well. One of the cows looked at the cat, then just gave it a nudge with one of her horns and suddenly a barn cat was going for a swim! Chuck still laughs about that one.

Animals do have instincts and genetic abilities and behaviors which we as humans have learned to domesticate and use to our advantage. Some would use the term “exploit”, but that’s another discussion. Hunters use phrases such as “that buck just out-smarted me” or “those ducks coming in somehow knew something wasn’t right”. Probably because they’re aware of their surroundings, and can tell when something is out of place. Their senses let them know that.

It may be that we have been given the ability to reason while other species have not - the scientific community’s jury is still out on that one. But as far as humans being the only sentient species on Earth – I ain’t buying it.