I was wondering about alien life, and it got me thinking that on earth have 5-10 creatures that show signs of intelligence that at least seem likely to “progress” as a civilization if they just had better organs for tool use. Theyve been with us for long time but only we progressed, and while we share a lot with apes, they havent even if they have same organs for tool use. Are Apes dumber than crows, orcas, octopi etc.? Or was human intelligence (before we got to civilization levell) really unique and that different than other animals?
In: 27
Not an evolutionary biologist. Focusing on great apes I think the answer is competition. There were many parallel lines of evolution towards human level of intelligence. The vast majority didn’t make it, being outcompeted but what eventually evolved into Homo sapiens sapiens (and its ancestor may have been, at times, not even the most successful Homo species around). Humans have been exercising so much pressure on the environment it’s difficult to imagine another line of evolution getting to the same level… unless humans go extinct.
Latest Answers