This creature has the greatest deceptive abilities in the animal kingdom, unless you count humans. The fork-tailed drongo's ability to lie and manipulate other species into doing what they want is nothing short of stunning, and their intelligence is absolutely unbelievable. Today, we learn about why humans lie, why it is usually wrong, and why Darwin might disagree. We address questions, such as:
Summary
Do drongos possess a theory of mind?
Should I skip school and pretend to be sick?
Why do meerkats keep falling for the drongo's trickery?
Could drongos be doing this on autopilot?
Do 8-year-olds lie more often than 3-year-olds?
Are "white lies" a myth?
Learn about all the magnificent trickery of the drongo, and the nature of human dishonesty, on this episode of Species.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The ability to lie is almost like a superpower. Using words, you can divorce someone else's universe |
| 0:09.3 | from reality. You can make someone do something against their will without using force. |
| 0:18.7 | I want you to take a moment to stare lying in the face here, because it is so common |
| 0:23.7 | we tend to forget what it actually is and we fail to realize the power it actually holds. |
| 0:31.2 | Now, I firmly believe that honesty is the best policy. Lying to get out of trouble or to get yourself |
| 0:37.3 | ahead is patently immoral, number |
| 0:38.8 | one. And beyond that, it's always seemed to me to be a short-term strategy, one that's bound |
| 0:44.2 | to fail you. Since I started following politics a few years ago, I've been forced to acknowledge |
| 0:50.0 | that lying can actually work really well in some domains. I've nevertheless maintained my belief that if you want a fulfilling life, |
| 0:57.6 | if you want to have the richest experience possible while you're here on Earth, |
| 1:00.9 | you really do need to keep yourself and those around you tethered to the truth. |
| 1:05.5 | But Darwin might disagree. |
| 1:08.5 | Evolution, in a way, is the ultimate unbiased opinion. We can believe what we want |
| 1:14.6 | about the utility of lying, but evolution will tell us the truth. If those that lie survive and |
| 1:23.8 | reproduce at a higher rate than those who don't, then in future generations, only liars will be left. |
| 1:32.0 | Look out in nature. |
| 1:33.1 | Animals are lying to each other all the time. |
| 1:36.3 | They're puffing up their fur to make themselves look bigger. |
| 1:38.9 | They're mimicking poisonous animals when they know full well that they're perfectly edible. |
| 1:43.1 | They're pretending to be leaves or |
| 1:44.5 | twigs so that nobody will eat them. And some of you are sitting there thinking, well, those aren't |
| 1:48.9 | really lies. And maybe you're right. I've been told I have a tendency to stretch words to their |
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