W4 Animal Intellegence

Question 1

How do we look for intelligence in animals?

Answer 1

Big brains

Highly encephalised brains

Highly folded brains

Brains with high numbers of
neurons in the cerebral
cortex

Question 2

How do we identify the (un)usual suspects

Answer 2

We can spot potentially intelligence species by
– Looking at absolute brain size
– Looking at the amount of brain folding (neocortex
gyrification)
– Looking at the degree of encephalisation
– Looking for high numbers of neurones in the cerebral
cortex (or analogous structures)

Question 3

What is the The Brain

Drain mystery?

Answer 3

Mass-specific metabolic rate
of the brain is approximately
11.2 W/kg (watts per
kilogram)

Mass-specific metabolic rate
of skeletal muscle 0.4 W/kg

Brain tissue is 22 times more expensive to maintain than
muscle tissue

Question 4

Give an example of a morphological adaptation in an animal vs intelligence adaptation

Answer 4

Aye-aye vs new Caledonian Crow

Question 5

What could the selective pressures be that lead to the evolution of costly brains?

Answer 5

The social intelligence hypothesis

The technical intelligence hypothesis

The environmental complexity hypothesis

Question 6

What is the Social intelligence hypothesis?

Answer 6

Complex social interactions drives the evolution of large brains
– Learning and memory for complex social events
– Ability to monitor other individuals’ behavior and relationships
– Ability to maintain close relationships with other individuals

Question 7

What are the predictions of the Social intelligence hypothesis?

Answer 7

There should be a relationship between social systems, brain size, and
intelligence across species such that those living in large groups with complex organization should have larger brains and greater intelligence than those living in small groups or groups with a simple social organization.

Maintaining a great number of social relationships
with other individuals requires complex social
intelligence. (Dunbar’s Number)

Question 8

What does the data reveal about the social intelligence hypothesis?

Answer 8

Relative neocortex size correlates with group
size and grooming in primates.

Quality matters as well: Species who pair bond
have larger brains than species that don’t,
across carnivores, hoofed animals and birds, but
not primates.

Question 9

What is the Technical intelligence hypothesis?

Answer 9

States that selection for extractive foraging
efficiency helped drive brain expansion and the
associated increase in cognitive abilities.

Question 10

Give an example of the Technical intelligence hypothesis?

Answer 10

Crow. Traffic light.

Question 11

What is the Environmental Change Hypothesis?

Answer 11

Solving novel survival
problems:
– New Predators
– New food sources
– Change breeding behaviour to
mirror changes in resources
– New social problems

Question 12

What is the Social intelligence-ecological

complexity hypothesis?

Answer 12

• “Our working lives are
our social lives”
• Cooperative technical
foraging
• Group hunting combines both social and technical intelligence

Question 13

What is proposed as the driver of the Social intelligence-ecological
complexity hypothesis?

Answer 13

Cooperative big game hunting needs:

Social intelligence
– Hunting in a group
requires co-operation
between hunters both
during the hunt and
afterwards when they
share the kill
– Need sophisticated social
cognition to know who to
hunt with – who works
hard, who cheats?

Technical intelligence
– Hunting large animals needs professional hunters – those who know
how to catch animals, how to make traps etc
– Hunting large animals needs complex tools and specialist tool makers –
need division of labour – knapping specialists to make good enough