There has always been a debate whether non-human animals have reason. We defined ourselves as rational animals, not permitting non-human animals to have this reason. Everyone admits that they have intelligence. But do they have reason? Some say they have reason. Which would mean that they are rational. Some people would say that they only have instincts and learned behaviors. I think they also have reason. May not be in the same level and quantity as we humans have.

Animals (birds included) make use of things as tools. We have seen elephants felling trees on to electrified wire-fences and walking over the fallen tree to cross the fence-area. We have seen crows making use of sticks and bent-wires to take out food from a cage. We have seen crows picking little pebbles and putting in a jar that has water up to half to bring up the water level, so that it can drink. We have seen herons using tiny dead fish to bait bigger fish. We have seen stray dogs calculatedly crossing two-way streets that has heavy flow of traffic.

We are able to train our dogs and cats, right? Which means we are able to condition them. Even conditioning is not a mechanical response. The animal thinks that 'if I act this way - which is what s/he wants me to - I get paid'. Even the animals in the wild know when to sneak in and steal something from our kitchen. Animals learn these things through their experience and observation. A raven that descends in our backyard is actually experimenting with us, to test what our reaction would be. A squirrel does the same.

And what do we do? Our reasoning also is based upon experience and observation, right? And what is the basis of science? Experience, experimention, observation and inference! Animals do all these in their own way, please.

Now, why did I get to think in this line? A friend of mine sent me a quote by Jacques Cousteau.

"If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But, we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith and we have hope, and we can work"

I think there is a great wisdom in this line by this French oceanographer, film maker, inventor and author.

Faith is certainly above logic and reason. (Faith is the belief that there's more than our logic and reason, and that our reason is limited). Hope also is above logic and reason. And as human beings we can also intentionally work and make a difference. Therefore if you have only logic and reason, and you only live by it, life must be very bleak and hard for you.