Animal Intelligence

>>2462204
This is a huuuuuuuuuuuge topic to try and tackle.
Look at niche and anatomy of the animals in question.
There's a hypothesis that ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms made abstract thought possible.
Let's say for instance: tool for food --> eat mushroom --> killing stick --> become tribe leader.
You can also look at the physiology and anatomy of an animal as a product of its environment. Monkeys are social animals, they have hand, feet, many predators, live in complex habitats, ... Once you get to a certain level of cognitive function I guess evolution is almost guided in a "breeding by intent" kind of way.
Intelligence may have been the selection criterium for the ancestors we came from. Or, intelligence was simply also higher for species that did get selected to mate based on another trait.
In any way, it's very difficult to assess how we came to rule the world, but anatomy is a very big advantage over other animals that's for sure.
These topics are nothing more than ways to make a fun/cool/interesting origin story of mankind.
I love octopuses though.
Also: it's very difficult to assess intelligence in other animals and how they perceive their sentiency or even if conscience how we perceive it is the only way to interpret understanding and reflection of reality. The brain is a mindbogglingly complex organ.

>>2462219
Well in anatomy humans don't have this much of an advantage. We're runners and maybe pack hunters. It's hard to see how this pressured us and not other animals into using tools and going on from there.

Octopodes tho, are not social, maybe they would build cities and rule the world if they'd be.

Crows are smart.

Started feeding a crow that happened to be in my garden in the morning, then it always showed up around breakfest time for more food.

>>2462321
>We're runners and maybe pack hunters. It's hard to see how this pressured us and not other animals into using tools
one of the things you can do is read about the topic you're discussing.

for example, you would find if you read a very little that we were using tools long before we could run. We were even using fire before we could run.

So the intuitive progression turns out to be false. Running didn't pressure us to use tools. Using tools freed us up to evolve running.

and we're not really runners anyways. That whole endurance hunting thing only works in hot, dry climates where an animal can literally be run to death from overheating and dehydration.

which is to say it works in Mexico and Africa and not much of anywhere else. It presumably wasn't an important development in humanity since almost nobody used it.

>>2462328

>one of the things you can do is read about the topic you're discussing.
No reason to be belittling and assuming other people don't read.

What you say is wrong. Already australopithecus was walking upright (~ -4.5Myr) while fire was in use only since < -1.0 Myr.
Endurance running is good in any hunt, you don't have to run the animal to death. You might use a spear. In any case tools evolved naturally much later than the body to use it.

It would be weird if a species invents something and doesn't have the body to use it, as there was no selection pressure yet applied to change the body.

>>2462383
>australopithecus was walking upright (~ -4.5Myr) while fire was in use only since < -1.0 Myr.
walking upright=/=running
they were unable to run like we do. They could barely walk upright.

>>2462204

Religion. Read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

Or you know, pause to think for a second and the answer is pretty obvious.

>>2462204
>Why didn't they succeed in building a civilisation?
apes did. Humans are apes.

the others lack the necessary body plan and/or live underwater where using fire is impossible.

In fact humans are not only special, but also highly unlikely. We aren't the normal result of evolution, as millions of years of it have proven.

>>2462424
So what's the necessary body plan?
Squids use tools to a degree. But why don't they refine them? Are they just fine with their status quo as hunters, and would there more selection pressure be needed for them to develop more sophisticated tools?

>>2462650
They have no pockets.
>>2462383
>No reason to be belittling
That is know shitposter who will never get over his superiority complex.

>>2462204
>Termites buildings cities and farming
>tfw even termites are smarter than the african negro

>>2462323
I know there have been numerous studies showing the talents of corvids in problem solving but an animal learning that "specific action = food" is a pretty low bar to set for a sign of intelligence. You could do similar with a range of animals that are generally considered to not be that bright at all and still get the same response.

If you started feeding it via a complicated puzzle box then that would be an indication that it's a smart crow.

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Ants invented slavery, warfare, farming etc. millions of years before humans existed.

However it's impossible to single out an ant for any intelligence test because it's a hivemind.

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>>2462414
Found the religious nutjob.

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>>2462709
also air conditioning

>>2462650
>So what's the necessary body plan?
only one body plan has produced human-type intelligence. That would be the human body plan.

>* Apes being able to understand abstract concepts, such as good vs. bad.
prove

>>2462768
not him but the most obvious proof would be koko the gorilla's appropriate use of both words.

there's extensive evidence of deception in apes which indicates empathy. Also a lot of evidence for justice seeking behaviors (revenge, reward). And of course plenty of evidence of selfishness in apes.

the human concepts of good and bad are really just mental states or opinions, but apes certainly share them.

>anything that surpasses their evolution-given bodies?
termite mounds surpasses their evolution-given bodies

>>2462768
New York, Museum of Natural history, Ape Videos.
They didn't put them on yt tho.

But they show one of the language keyboards they use to communicate with the apes.
Guess which word it has on it.
Burrito.