物种的自然属性（身体特征）决定了它们的学习局限性

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For instance, a dog's keen sense of smell enables it to find objects hidden from sight.  Similarly, a hawk's superb vision allows it to distinguish between heads and tails on a quarter at a great distance,whereas a person would be unable to see the coin at all. Under certain circumstances, then , dogs and hawks would learn faster than human. All sorts of physical characteristics set limits on what individuals can learn.   （Hayes, 1951;Kellogg,1968）

语言学习能力是人跟其他动物最大的区别。anatomical structures 由于解剖学结构不同（脑部和口腔结构）
Gardner and Gardner showed that the failure of chimpanzees to learn to speak may be due more to differences in anatomy than in learning ability.   这是由物种先天条件决定的，而不是由学习能力造成的。

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Nonheritability of learned behavior  (非遗传因素的学习)
Another severe limitation of learning is that learned behavior is not inherited.   Reflexes and fixed action patterns are passed on from generation to generation,but behavior that is acquired through learning dies with the individual .  this places a serious limitation on the ability of a species to benefit from experience because it means that every individual is as ignorant at birth as its parents were when they were born.

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for instance, The lion cub must learn to stalk antelope just as its parents did; the rat must learn to avoid poisonous water; the child must learn to look for traffic before crossing streets.

狮子的幼崽要学会悄悄接近羚羊；老鼠要学会避免喝到污染的水源；小孩过马路要先学会观察左右的交通.etc

上述行为都是非遗传因素，是通过后天学习得来的。

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今后有时间跟大家探讨遗传因素对学习能力的影响

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there is nothing about the gross anatomy of the chimpanzee that keeps it from learning calculus.  Yet it seems extremely unlikely that anyone will ever succeed in training a chimpanzee,or any other animal,to perform so sophisticated a skill.  Clearly there are genetic differences among species in the capacity for learning. Even animals that are genetically very similar show important differences in learning ability. An famous experiment was implemented by behaviourist  Harry and Martha in 1982. the purpose of the experiment is to compare the problem-solving abilities of wolves and dogs. they placed wolf pups on one side of a barrier from which they could see but not reach food. To get the food,they had to go around the barrier. the Martha counted the number of errors the wolf pups made and compared these data with similar data obtained by other researchers with dog pups.
on three different tests, the wolves did far better than the dogs.   

Dogs and wolves are genetically almost identical,yet they performed differently. Martha suggest that domestication has relieved pressure toward intelligence in the dog. In other words,because of dogs association with humans,they are no longer naturally selected for intelligence,whereas wolves live by their wits or die.