Can animals think about the future?
Animals can certainly anticipate future events. But that is probably more conditioning than “thinking”. Animals also appear to “plan” for the future – the chipmunk gathering food and stashing it is a good example. But that seems to be more in the line of instinctive behaviour. I would suggest that thinking about the future involves pondering potential outcomes. When my cat stares me down at 5:00, she is probably acutely aware that I should be getting up to get her some food sometime soon. But I don’t think she’s wondering what she’s going to get fed, whether she’ll like it or not or whether it will be on her favourite dish. So, I think for most animals, actual consideration of the future is pretty limited.
