Hey weird question, you know humans are all different

[LaurieFairyCake]

Facially (and obviously everywhere else)

Are animals the same amount of different?

So if you lined up a 100 Pugs or Puffer fish and got AI to pick out the differences (definitely AI as I couldn't tell one puffer fish from the other - clearly I have species blindness ) would they be AS DIFFERENT as humans ?

Yes I think so

Apparently baby zebra can recognise their mum by her stripe pattern.

Yes, sexual reproduction creates variation which is important for species survival.

It depends on how wide the gene pool is. Animals that are inbred look very similar to each other (but not identical). Those that aren't look more different, like humans do.

Pugs or puffer fish probably wouldn’t be able to tell one random human from another. Not just using sight anyway.

Mmmm interesting. I knew a pug from Norfolk. It did look a bit like a puffer fish

Yes. There was a study done which proved babies are far better than older children and adults at distinguishing facial differences. They were able to tell individual monkeys of the same species apart.

Full disclosure, I remember reading about this approximately 17 years ago, I may have some or all of the details wrong.

@TheCultureHusks 🤣🤣

Well they must be, if a penguin can fuck off for 2+months and come back and know which if the thousands of penguins has her egg.

The OP clearly explained the pugs and pufferfish would have access to AI technology to help them.

This is really interesting.

Reminds me of when my friend had identical twins . Her two year old DD never ever got them confused. I can’t tell them apart 20 years later!!

Friend would say to DD, how do you know which one is Charlie and which one is Liam? DD would look at her as if she were insane and say “because that one’s Charlie and that one is Liam!”

Maybe it's a survival/instinct thing, absolutely having to know which adult is the mother or which is the safe male or the one that might kill you to make way for their own?

Well pugs are the same species as poodles and pointers so you have your variation right there.

I thought all cats looked the same until I got one. They definitely all have different faces. And the boys look different to the girls.

I was thinking that too the other day. I was sat in assembly and looked at all the children who are all different and wondered if a sheep would look at a 500 sheep and know which was which.

That said every year I have children in my class that are destined to be confused with each other by me. Last year I had two boys who were similar in looks and personality and had almost identical names. I knew each child but if I was asked which name belonged to which one I’d be stuck. This year I have two girls, same looks, similar personality same sound at the start of their names.

Maybe they will have their names on a list. Or is that cheating?

I think that would be cheating!! !

Sorry, I meant to quote…doh.

@EmpressaurusDeiGatti

I think they will be as different, but animals might be using scent and sound as well as sight to distinguish them. Also some species see different than us, like different colour ranges with ultra violet in it. So animals we think look boring g have really colourful patterns on them.

I have always wondered similar. If you were a parent of identical twins would you know with absolute certainty that you hadn’t swapped them over at some point? That the one you named Charlie at birth wasn’t actually Liam by the time you got to age 2?

It must have happened.

There was a thread on here once where this problem was discussed and parents of twins mentioned putting nail varnish on one toe of one of the twins to differentiate them, or a tiny tattooed dot somewhere inconspicuous.

I had a huge crush on an identical twin in my school when I was a teen. I could tell him apart from his brother from a hundred yards away. The next year I got over it and moved onto another crush. Six months later I couldn't have told them apart unless they had actual name tags on.

I often wonder how birds manage to recognise their mate. Mammals do have differences, but you can't tell me that crows or jackdaws look different from other crows or jackdaws.

I heard a news report on the radio that some fish can even recognise themselves in a mirror so I’m sure they can tell each other apart.