Animals differ in intelligence, with humans being considered the most intelligent. However, it is not clear which are the properties that explain these differences. In addition, certain properties such as the theory of mind or animal thought, imitation or syntactic language that were believed to be unique to humans, are currently under debate.
On the other hand, animals with relatively small brains and high intelligence such as corvids and dogs are known to exist. In any case, to define an animal as more or less intelligent, we must analyze it from the point of view of the animal group to which it belongs and its degree of evolutionary development. Therefore, in this article on our site we will explain what intelligence is, how it can be measured and which animals are less intelligent
How do we define and measure the intelligence of animals?
Intelligence cannot be defined or measured, there is no universally accepted procedure that gives us a valid answer. It can only be measured from the human point of view, so it is not objective. Even so, when you want to study the intelligence of an animal, you must define and measure the speed at which that individual solves problems to survive in its natural environment and social, such as problems getting food, orienting oneself in space, relating socially and communicating within their species. This will largely depend on the animal's environment, which is why ethologists define intelligence as the set of special abilities that evolved in response to specific environments.
The tests carried out in behavioral laboratories to measure the intelligence of animals are unfair, since many times the perceptual or cognitive capacity of the animals is not taken into account animals or, to put it another way, it is unfair to measure the intelligence of a fish by observing its ability to climb a tree.
For all these reasons, comparative and evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have reached the conclusion that intelligence should be defined as the mental or behavioral flexibility that results from the appearance of novel solutions that are not part of of the normal repertoire of the individual, being the natural environment of the animal the best scenario to measure it.
What are the least intelligent animals?
If we finally define intelligence as the ability of an individual to apply novel solutions in their natural environment or in the laboratory, it can be concluded that tetrapods, mammals and birds, are the most intelligent Among mammals, humans are the most intelligent. Among the great apes, cetaceans, and elephants, there is no clear evidence of superior intelligence among them, but they are known to be more intelligent than apes, apes more intelligent than prosimians, and the rest of the mammals. Among mammals, intelligence has not increased evolutionarily in a unilinear way towards the human being, but rather the different intelligences have evolved in a parallel way.
As we have seen, the evolutionarily more complex animals are those with a higher degree of intelligence. Therefore, the animals evolutionarily less complex, with less or no degree of cephalization are those known as less intelligent The less complex groups of animals are sponges, jellyfish or placozoans which do not even have, in some cases, nerve cells. Later, we would find other groups of animals such as annelids, arthropods, echinoderms or molluscs, with the exception of cephalopods, which do have a higher degree of cephalization and perform complex tasks.
Collective intelligence of animals
Social animals, those that live in groups, have developed a special type of intelligence, collective intelligence. This type of intelligence allows animals to carry out tasks that would be impossible for a single individual to perform. Studies conducted on animal behavior and collective behavior have shown that group life facilitates the resolution of cognitive problems, going beyond individual capacities. These types of studies have been carried out mainly on insects, showing that although an individual is cognitively simple, the group, as a whole, is not. In this way, we again see how difficult it is to establish a list of less intelligent animals, since in many cases this intelligence must be measured taking into account the capacity of the community, and not of the individual.
Examples of animal intelligence
There are many studies to test or determine the intelligence of different animals. These studies have been carried out mainly with dogs, cats, rats, mice, pigeons and monkeys, but also with elephants, parrots and dolphins. In almost all the studies, the intelligence test consisted of taking out food that was hidden somewhere or learning the path of a maze. Other studies deal with the ability of certain animals to solve puzzles Some seek to know the number of words that an individual can learn, as happened with the African yako Álex, the which learned more than 200 words throughout his life.
Many studies with insects seek to find out the ability of these animals to be aware of their physical appearance in order to blend in better with the environment, discovering that it is not innate, but learned. This was done by changing the color of some grasshoppers with innocuous paint, and placing them in an environment of a different color from their own, the grasshoppers immediately looked for the ground that had a color equal to their own, in order to go unnoticed and not be preyed upon.
There is still much to learn about the intelligence of animals, what is a fact is that the presence or absence of a brain or set of nerve cells that act as such is essential to show a certain intelligence. Don't miss the article on "The most intelligent animals" to continue informing you.
