Animal cognition, or cognitive ethology, is the title given to a modern approach to the mental capacities of non human animals.

It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology.

Much of what used to be considered under the title of animal intelligence is now thought of under this heading.

Animal language acquisition, attempting to discern or understand the degree to which animal cognistics can be revealed by linguistics-related study, has been controversial among cognitive linguists..

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