Can other Animals be Autistic?

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Because that's exactly what autism is?

I presume some animals are 'Asperger's animals' and have differing personalities to each other but it probably matters to them less as they have less complicated lifestyles and certainly most humans don't care enough to bother finding out how to diagnose them, it's not exactly like you can tell them and their kind about it.

Not really. The herd as a metaphor has limits. There are many other traits that make people not part of the herd - other disabilities, too fat, too ugly, not enough money, wrong social class, etc, etc.

Some with autism find ways to be part of the herd. Some people without autism are just as isolated as any autistic.

Yes. In my case, I pointed out specifically that I had not attacked them personally, I was disagreeing with their statements. That started out a round of even fiercer attacks. Their premise wast that you cannot make that distinction, that any criticism of their words was automatically a personal attack.



This reminds me of a different incident. I was once in a situation in which the official rules were very rigid and said one thing. In practice, most of the rules were bent or completely ignored. I said that was very confusing, and asked that the rules be changed to be closer to reality. I also pointed out that it was really impossible to enforce the rules, if I was determined to break them. That brought the response that the rules had to be followed to the letter, and nothing else was acceptable. I ended up acknowledging their statement and continued to ignore the rules that I found to be more odious.



I can believe that. I actually think that the illusion that cats own their people is quite amusing, but I am not offended if someone points out that this is only an illusion. Unfortunately, some people do seem to hold on to their illusions with great ferocity, even if it is obviously untrue.

I wonder why people don't care more? There are some detectable differences between the autistic brain and the NT brain. It seems like examining the behavior of animals with the same differences would tell us something interesting about autism.

I've done the same thing. Attacking an argument = attacking the person. How does that even work? If I say your argument is invalid, what does this have to do with you or any of your other arguments?



Yeah, I've had this experience too, although not quite as extreme. One support forum I read has a rule about not using medicalized terms to attack people's bodies, but they never ever ever enforce it.



I should say I do not understand why people cling to this notion with great ferocity. I can actually see why people think it's funny.

I don't really care for it myself, it feels like a disservice.

Yes, exactly.



Hey, that's your right. I don't agree with it, but I have no idea why anybody would find it offensive.

Bonobo shows autistic traits... but more on this in a moment.

Based on one theory, man's evolution might be a little different to most animals, leaving animals without the conditions for an ASD dimension to develop. At least, that's my extrapolation. Read the theory yourself and see if you agree. It's the Neanderthal theory, on the rdos website ( Link ). Leif Ekblad suggests that ASD might be a throw back to our neanderthal cousins. The essential differences between brains was social. Apparently both modern man and our predecessor interbred for thousands of years before modern man's social cohesion won out.

Countering that, could be evidence from an earlier ancestor, the Bonobo ape. A young Bonobo in captivity has shown signs of Autism, and was reported in Discovery News ( Link ).

It's an area of controversy and debate among experts, but there is an emerging view that canine autism does exist:

http://www.vetinfo.com/dog-autism-symptoms.html

Some of the signs:

Symptoms Of Canine Autism

It can be hard to tell if your dog may be autistic. First of all because it is still debated on whether or not it even technically exists. Second of all because there is very little understood on the matter. Last but not least, because dogs with autism may not display any symptoms or their symptoms could be so subtle that they may not be recognized at all.

However, other dogs with autism may show some of the following symptoms:

Repetitive actions. With this type of symptom dogs tend to have a routine that they like to stick to.
Dysfunctional interaction with other dogs or owner
Restricted behavior ? limiting themselves to performing only a few actions and/or avoiding new actions, games etc.
Apathy
Inability to communicate joy, fear, and other feelings
Lack of activity. This is especially noticeable in breeds that are a high-energy dog as the lack of activity can be quite surprising.
Keen organization. While it may sound crazy, some owners have claimed that their autistic dogs organize toys according to size, shape, and/or color.

Typically, symptoms of autism are present from early puppyhood and the puppy may not be able to interact properly with the rest of his siblings or parents. A puppy suffering from autism may also show lack of interest in food and/or games.