One of Skinner's most famous and interesting experiments examined the formation of superstition in one of his favorite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behavior". He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they continued to perform the same actions:

One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a 'tossing' response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return. ("'Superstition' in the Pigeon", B.F. Skinner, Journal of Experimental Psychology #38, 1947 [1])

Many believe human's inclination to invest dogs with human-like states of mind isn't as unscientific as it might appear.

Domestic dogs evolved from grey wolves as recently as 10,000 years ago.

So I had recently blogged about genetic banking and cloning of beloved pets. But this article totally blew me away. This story of a woman wanting to clone her dog became a reality. A friend of mine had an actual conversation with this woman and that friend recounted the story to me. It was what got me to think about the whole cloning of pets.

Bernann McKunney loved her dog so much she would’ve done anything to bring him back. That meant contacting the team from Seoul National University who, a few years back successfully cloned a dog, and coughing up a whopping $150,000. But anyway, I know this woman by association. It’s totally a small world.