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Fish are amazing, but do you really think they are SMART? In my experience, fish are incredibly stupid and wholly reliant on instinct. I suppose instincts can s

Fish are amazing, but do you really think they are SMART? In my experience, fish are incredibly stupid and wholly reliant on instinct. I suppose instincts can seem like intelligence sometimes, but if put into the wrong situation, fish will make the same mistake over and over and over again.

bb88 6y ago
By that standard the monarch butterfly is stupid too. That said they are smart enough to follow only a portion of their full migratory route which takes 4 generations to complete. Squirrels remember where they bury their nuts. Octopuses can solve puzzles. So what about fish? Salmon remember where they were spawned before they head out to the ocean, and come back to the exact same pool to spawn before dying. https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/02/13/mystery-solved-salmon-navigate-using-magnetic-field/ https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/02/13/mystery-solve... So sure, they're not "SMART" but there is a lot of "intelligence" they have acquired over many generations of evolutionary cycles.
- bombela 6y ago
  Squirrel do not remember much though. They fill the ground with nuts. Then they dig the ground seemingly at random. Most of theis caches are forgotten. Which often leads to nuts trees sprouting all over the place during spring.
  - bb88 6y ago
    https://www.livescience.com/64104-how-do-squirrels-find-buried-nuts.html https://www.livescience.com/64104-how-do-squirrels-find-buri... This article seems to suggest otherwise.
- BurningFrog 6y ago
  I'll settle this; Salmon, butterflies and squirrels are all dumb as hell. What they are is incredibly well adapted to reproduce and survive on this crazy planet!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
forgotmypw 6y ago
People say this about many beings, and even about other humans. What they all have in common is a lack of exposure to those they denigrate and reduce in their mind to dumb automatons. I don't think you are smart to say that about anyone you haven't spent much time around or bonded with in any significant way.

bb88 6y ago

By that standard the monarch butterfly is stupid too. That said they are smart enough to follow only a portion of their full migratory route which takes 4 generations to complete. Squirrels remember where they bury their nuts. Octopuses can solve puzzles. So what about fish? Salmon remember where they were spawned before they head out to the ocean, and come back to the exact same pool to spawn before dying. https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/02/13/mystery-solved-salmon-navigate-using-magnetic-field/ https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/02/13/mystery-solve... So sure, they're not "SMART" but there is a lot of "intelligence" they have acquired over many generations of evolutionary cycles.

bombela 6y ago
Squirrel do not remember much though. They fill the ground with nuts. Then they dig the ground seemingly at random. Most of theis caches are forgotten. Which often leads to nuts trees sprouting all over the place during spring.
- bb88 6y ago
  https://www.livescience.com/64104-how-do-squirrels-find-buried-nuts.html https://www.livescience.com/64104-how-do-squirrels-find-buri... This article seems to suggest otherwise.
BurningFrog 6y ago
I'll settle this; Salmon, butterflies and squirrels are all dumb as hell. What they are is incredibly well adapted to reproduce and survive on this crazy planet!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

forgotmypw 6y ago

People say this about many beings, and even about other humans. What they all have in common is a lack of exposure to those they denigrate and reduce in their mind to dumb automatons. I don't think you are smart to say that about anyone you haven't spent much time around or bonded with in any significant way.