I hate it when folks dismiss simpler forms of life as "unintelligent." Yes, animals are very smart, but it's a mistake to think intelligence began with us! It's not about having big brains. If we want to understand what intelligence is and where it came from, we have to consider much simpler forms of intelligence, and the complex interactions between cognition and evolution.
https://thinkingwithnate.wordpress.com/2026/01/07/evolution-and-cognition/