Do animals have a sense of time?

[_____V_____]

Just wondering.

[Posher778]

Probably...

[_____V_____]

I mean, of course they dont know about hours, days, weeks, months, years etc. But they realise the "day" and "night" parts of a day, right? So in their own little way, do they have any sort of a concept of time in their brains?

Hmm...

[hammerfan]

They definitely do. My sister told me since she's been home (she lost her job in February) that right around the time I usually get home from work, Lucy and Cherokee are sitting at the front door, waiting for me. And, they know what time my nephew gets home from work and sit in front of the door waiting for him, too.

[Noah]

Absolutely agree, my cats know when I will be home. When I'm not there around the time they are, they get a little upset.

Same thing about being fed, they have certain times they wanna eat every single day, at those exact times.

Plus, they sit in the window and can see the sky throughout the different times of day.

[urgeok2]

Originally Posted by _____V_____

Just wondering.

no they dont.

every fucking party i have - the animals are always late, holding the dinner up for everyone else.

no sense of time havin furry assholes.

[Papillon Noir]

Originally Posted by Noah

Absolutely agree, my cats know when I will be home. When I'm not there around the time they are, they get a little upset.

Same thing about being fed, they have certain times they wanna eat every single day, at those exact times.

Plus, they sit in the window and can see the sky throughout the different times of day.

My cats do that too.

[milktoaste]

Many species understand time, many live life according to migratory scheduals and spawning cycles. Predatory animals usually know what times are best to hunt certain prey.

[_____V_____]

Originally Posted by hammerfan

They definitely do. My sister told me since she's been home (she lost her job in February) that right around the time I usually get home from work, Lucy and Cherokee are sitting at the front door, waiting for me. And, they know what time my nephew gets home from work and sit in front of the door waiting for him, too.

Hmm...isnt that some sort of a Pavlovian reaction though?

For example, if I leave home and return back every 2-3 hours, and my dog keeps noticing this, he would be ready to welcome me by the 3rd or 4th time I ll return back. Of course, how he interprets the 2-3 hours gap would be interesting to know.

Originally Posted by Noah

Same thing about being fed, they have certain times they wanna eat every single day, at those exact times.

Plus, they sit in the window and can see the sky throughout the different times of day.

Very interesting. Thats what I want to know - how do they get fixated on the time?

Originally Posted by urgeok2

no they dont.

every fucking party i have - the animals are always late, holding the dinner up for everyone else.

no sense of time havin furry assholes.

rofl...gotta hate those Alice in Wonderland rabbits.

Originally Posted by milktoaste

Many species understand time, many live life according to migratory scheduals and spawning cycles. Predatory animals usually know what times are best to hunt certain prey.

Very true. Migration and hibernation are usually more about adaptability than time concepts though.

But do they have a primitive sense of time inside their thought processes, is what I am wondering.

[cheebacheeba]

From what I've learned Id say yes they do.

Observation has showed us that animals that are effected by seperation anxiety disorder will display a gradual buildup of symptomatic behaviour when their "object" or person/persons are gone, getting progressively worse or more withdrawn/inactive as more time passes.

True, this only happens when they have said condition but it does show an ongoing awareness of the length of time.

Animals actually like to keep better routine than us humans also, in terms of feeding, sleeping and even mating times - whether or not this comes down to "instinct", part of them knows when, is when even if upon a more primal level than ourselves.