Narrative

Essay on Animals Intelligence

If we think of adaptation to different means as the most

important fact related to intelligence, then octopuses are, in my opinion, one of the most intelligent species on Earth, if not the smartest one, if you agree with their skills on solving different tasks as an indicative of these animals' intelligence; however, are they the smartest ones?

When Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe, a British astrophysicist, proposed the Panspermia theory, along with other 32 scientists, he thought on how to prove it true, so he researched that through interstellar dust and the landing of some meteors, which had lived cells coming from the outer space, he definitely came to the conclusion that animals like the octopus, whose DNA was studied and has nothing matching any other earthly species, could be the resulting effect of alien intervention into life development on our planet. 

This cephalopod animal, which has 9 brains and 3 hearts is

nothing, but really something out of this world  if you believe that octopuses' intelligence surpasses somehow what other animals can do in order to solve problems, like looking for food or even escaping from any place where they are secluded.

If I compare a dolphin to an octopus, I should say that the first is more intelligent than the latter, but the truth is that in the wild it is more common to see that the dolphin dismembers an octopus in order to eat it and opposite, suffocated dolphins, as a consequence of this attempt, are really scarce.

I strongly agree with scientists that believe in octopuses’ adaptability to camouflaging themselves in order to survive and despite they are thought to be alien, due to a conducted DNA study of this sigular creature, they have split from the squid lineage around 135 million years ago, as a live sample of abiogenesis.

(https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/octopus-aliens-scientists-theory-meteors-space-earth-cambrian-explosion-a8358631.html)

On the other hand, encephalization in dolphins is even higher

than in octopuses, but lower than in human beings; however, given the certitude of their fast adaptation to different environments, it is said that this species is more prone to surviving in the event of any apocalyptic horror. 

To sum up, if animals can solve tasks, I agree this is an indication of their intelligence, but not the only one to be considered as the sharpest-witted one, but rather this consideration should be given according to on how fast this species is able to adapt itself to the changing environmental conditions. So, with this in mind, octopuses are really intelligent; even though, nowadays there are other animals that could be classifying as more clever, like the cetaceans, including not only dolphins, bu also porpoises, belugas, and narwhals.

By Miss Odilia Pérez

E.L.A. Teacher