Read em and weep. (ht A thinking reed)

I had actually heard all of these. Here’s one though I wouldn’t mind researching.

Impulse Control.

ie These chimps choose the food in hand vs their favorite.

For any animal that we work to domesticate, we train impulse control. Dogs – don’t jump up. Don’t chase cars, don’t push me over to get to your food, listen. Horses – don’t go running like an idiot when something scares you, don’t buck when I’m on your back, listen. These are not natural things and for our undomesticated animals that we still use, cows, we force them into routines that help keep the chaos down.

I’m curious what others think. Is “impulse control” the human/animal difference? Obviously there some difference other than opposable thumbs.

UPDATE: A Thinking Reed has a nice follow up post on this subject.