Question: Why is it that animals are potrayed to be foolish and yet they can be able to draw underneath the seabed and some are able to migrate without the use of a compass??Is this because that they are not able to communicate or are they generally witty than us??

Jacquie Oliwa answered on 6 Jul 2017:

Hi Casper,
Among those features of man that are supposed to differentiate him from other animals is his intelligence. For a long time, this was considered to be a special faculty, which only men possessed, whereas the behaviour of other animals could be explained in terms of blind instinct. Mammals are viewed smarter than birds and reptiles, while we think of less related species, like insects, as non-thinking machines.

The reality is intelligence is a complex concept, difficult to define and hard not to base around our own abilities. Measuring intelligence is even more difficult. With humans we can converse or give them a written test. But the lack of language and opposable thumbs makes it extra tricky to measure intelligence in animals.

It is advised to avoid viewing humans as the apex of intellect and look at animals not as dumb furry humans, but as intelligent species that view the world in fundamentally different ways. Believe it or not, humans may not be as smart as we once thought (look at politicians 😉 ). More and more research is showing that the seemingly complicated logic and intellect we routinely use to solve problems relies heavily on short cuts known as heuristics. Put simply, this comes very close to what we consider instincts.

All this means is that we should remind ourselves that we are animals living in a world with other animals. All species are of course different from each other. But we’re really not so dissimilar. From our closest relatives, like other primates and mammals, to animals far from us on the evolutionary tree, like birds and insects, all biological organisms have some level of intelligence. To be successful, they all need to solve the problems they face in life

Best wishes,
Jacquie

Source: http://theconversation.edu.au/