So humans have made many innovations and new technology over the past thousand years but animals never do?
In: 0
Humans are combination of several key evolutionary adaptions that exist in other animals but not in the same combination.
We have very high intelligence, but so do Dolphins and Elephants
We can use tools, but so can Chimps and Crows
We are capable of complex speech able to pass on information, but so can bees, and arguably some birds
We work in groups but so do countless other animals
Combining all of these factors and the ability to pass knowledge onto the next generation so that we don’t have to start from zero every time has led us to have technology.
Life is about survival, evolutionary point of view. So we humans develop things because it helps our chances of survival, we’re capable of it because otherwise we would probably die easily. Other animals don’t necessarily need innovations, they already have years long established defence mechanisms, attack mechanisms. They have shells, claws, sharp teeth, eyes that can see things human eyes can’t see etc etc, and that helps them in their survival. We have glasses 🤓, tech toys, weapons etc
Humans differ from (most) animals in two important ways: tool use and language. Other animals have limited versions of each of these, but there’s very limited evidence of animals fashioning tools (rather than just using natural objects) and none for communicating abstract ideas.
These two traits together are great for technology and innovation. When you are a young caveperson, your parents use *language* to explain how to use *tools* like flint or kindling to build a fire. From this, humans can abstract (something animals also struggle with) to understand the basic things that are needed for a fire: heat and dry fuel. You keep track of those needs in your daily life to see if there are other ways to meet them. This could lead to experimenting with different sources of fuel or heat (e.g. friction or the sun) to spark a fire. What you learn gets passed down to your children, and so on until anyone can buy a lighter for a few bucks.
In animals, there is less tool use, so that means fewer avenues for experimentation. There is also no language that can handle abstract concepts, so even if a given animal learns something interesting, that knowledge dies with them.
Because humans are REALLY really smart and animals aren’t. Although animals DO innovate and adapt.
Humans have an ideal mix of several traits. TierZoo does a [hilariously excellent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImYu9dJM4kQ) breakdown of it, but your core question of “why can’t (other) animals innovate” can already be summarized as “because they can’t pass on knowledge the way humans can”. Parenting behaviour is a big thing in the animal world but that’s limited to fulfilling basic needs like food & safety and teaching some behaviours.
We have smart brains
Hands with opposable thumbs
And we need to innovate to survive. We don’t have lots of fur, we don’t have claws and sharp teeth, we have really good stamina but other than that we’re sorta… Meh
But we figured out we don’t need those. We can make clothes to simulate fur, knives to simulate claws and sharp teeth, we can chase animals until they can’t run anymore or lure them into traps, perhaps even befriend them to help hunt other animals
TL;DR: We’re built different and needed to innovate
Humans spent more than 200000 years in the stone age. We just recently moved on from stones and rocks a few thousand years ago. Our primate cousins and the corvids are still in it.
When we spent that long in the stone age, I don’t think we can fault any other group for doing the same.
And how do you know that crows haven’t improved the stick hook a couple of times over the last 10000 years? Innovation, in the animal kingdom, **can** happen without us knowing!
Latest Answers