I is for ...
I will first talk about intelligence. One problem of measuring intelligence in animals is that most animals cannot vocalise their intent. Animals researchers used to think that reptiles were quite dumb until they realised that reptiles were not as responsive to food treats as the caloric hungry mammals. Once they incentivize the reptiles correctly, the researchers' opinion of reptiles changed.
The problem is that even with the correct incentives, the potential of the animal is still limited by the test conditions. Take the concept of slavery. It is known that a few animals in the wild can figure out how to get slaves. One example is the baboons kidnapping and raising dogs. The more well-known example is the slave-making ant.
The slave-making ants will raid the nest of another species of ants. In most cases, they will take the young grub to be raised in their own nest(Slave-making ants' nest). The grub will grow into an adult which will do the will of the slave-making ant colony whether to participate in raids (even against their former colony) or raising the young.
This is where the insurrection begins. The slave ants turned out to be terrible babysitters. Most of the slave-making ants fail to make it to adulthood once they are raised by slaves. In comparison, the slave-making grubs usually thrive when they are raised by their own slave-making ants' species.
There are two exceptions to this insurrection. If the slave-making grub is male, it will have a high chance of survival. Male ants have only one job which is to mate with the queen and thus raising more of the male ants will merely increase the logistic of the ants' nest. Slave grubs also thrive under the care of their fellow slaves. But we can now figure out the intentions of the babysitter.
😈
The problem is that even with the correct incentives, the potential of the animal is still limited by the test conditions. Take the concept of slavery. It is known that a few animals in the wild can figure out how to get slaves. One example is the baboons kidnapping and raising dogs. The more well-known example is the slave-making ant.
The slave-making ants will raid the nest of another species of ants. In most cases, they will take the young grub to be raised in their own nest(Slave-making ants' nest). The grub will grow into an adult which will do the will of the slave-making ant colony whether to participate in raids (even against their former colony) or raising the young.
This is where the insurrection begins. The slave ants turned out to be terrible babysitters. Most of the slave-making ants fail to make it to adulthood once they are raised by slaves. In comparison, the slave-making grubs usually thrive when they are raised by their own slave-making ants' species.
There are two exceptions to this insurrection. If the slave-making grub is male, it will have a high chance of survival. Male ants have only one job which is to mate with the queen and thus raising more of the male ants will merely increase the logistic of the ants' nest. Slave grubs also thrive under the care of their fellow slaves. But we can now figure out the intentions of the babysitter.
😈
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