5 ms·
Avian cognition is so darn interesting. We associate the mammalian neocortex with "higher intelligence" (which is hand-wavy), but that structure arose after any
by i80and 1y ago
Avian cognition is so darn interesting. We associate the mammalian neocortex with "higher intelligence" (which is hand-wavy), but that structure arose after any common ancestor with birds.
The avian pallium is thought to be the analogue structure in birds, evolved separately.
Which is cool! Birds have separately evolved intelligence!
- Trasmatta 1y agoI've recently gone down the rabbit hole of watching pet bird videos on YouTube. The wide range of behaviors is so fascinating. They can be so affectionate, playful, mischievous, and just plain goofy. The African grey parrots are fascinating in particular, with their ability to connect words to more abstract concepts like counting.
- berkes 1y agoEven cooler, IMHO, is that invertebrates evolved intelligence (and almost identical eyes!) parallel to primate's and corvids'. Squid, octopi, etc have cognitive abilities that sometimes overtake that of "intelligent" mammals or birds. Yet common ancestors are about as far away as is possible in animal kingdom. (And also please remember this when ordering calamari next time ;) Edit: I very much enjoyed this bestseller popular science book on invertebrates intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Minds%3A_The_Octopus%2C_the_Sea%2C_and_the_Deep_Origins_of_Consciousness?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Minds%3A_The_Octopus%2C_...
- i80and 1y agoSince reading about cephalopod intelligence, I cut calamari out of my diet cold. I quip that I have a policy against eating anything smarter than me!
- echelon_musk 1y agoWould you eat a human that was less intelligent than a cephalopod?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- temp0826 1y agoIf they're so smart why aren't I on their plate instead? (Though I'm not a fan and don't ever go for calamari personally anyways...) Wait are any cephalopods vegan?
- WorkerBee28474 1y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod_attack
- officeplant 1y agoI like how its mainly just a pile of old fisherman tales with very little proven recorded attacks. The Cephalopods have been haunting our nightmares for over a thousand years.
- berkes 1y agoSlightly joking: but maybe "intelligence" is partly "empathy"? In my view, a truly evolved and highly intelligent species would be one that causes no harm, distress and certainly no pain or suffering to anything else. So, to answer your question: > If they're so smart why aren't I on their plate instead? For the same reason I and grandparent commentor don't eat them: because we know their intelligence. If they were more intelligent that humans, that reasoning would mean they won't eat humans. Slightly more on topic: humans often show a very narrow world view. In that many humans fail to see that there are other types of "intelligence" for example. We project our own narrow world-view onto others: "Intelligence means, you should eat anything that's less intelligent than you" (very much parafrasing, I know)
- MaysonL 1y agoI enjoyed the novel “Remakably Bright Creatures” which had an octupus as a main character.
- 4gotunameagain 1y agoAnd then we have octopi, with their separately evolved decentralised intelligence ! A mini brain in each arm, orchestrated by the main brain.
- bookofjoe 1y agoThe plural is octopuses. Octopi is not a word.
- 4gotunameagain 1y agoIt’s a hill I’m willing to die on ;) Both octopuses and octopodes are terrible words. And words are made by us, you cannot tell me what's a word and what isn't.
- OJFord 1y agoOctopodes is correct if you want a classical (Greek, as it is) word. Octopi is an assumption of correctness by analogy of people who don't know better, like 'if you have any feedback give it to my colleague and I' - it's not all posh and correct to say 'and I', it's wrong (in that sentence).
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bookofjoe 1y agoWhy I took the time to comment: I recently watched an excellent 2-part series entitled "Octopus!" on Prime Video: https://youtu.be/u1TLQUH43Yw?si=L8Ta4RG1Kp8tkHWU https://youtu.be/u1TLQUH43Yw?si=L8Ta4RG1Kp8tkHWU Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the narrator, must have said "octopuses" a hundred times, so it's kind of burned into my brain.
- xenadu02 1y agoFun fact: All words and grammar rules are made up. Entirely. As in... invented by humans. The laws of physics don't really care. If lots of people use "octopi" (and they do) and most people understand what it means (which they do) then congrats! It is, in fact, a word. If enough people apply an "i" ending to words then that becomes itself a new grammar rule. English, just like every other language, also has a ton of unwritten grammar rules as well as spoken word only rules. In short: octopi is in fact a perfectly cromulent word.