Evolution: How come there are no other species of animal that even come close to the inelligence of mankind?

Question

This question assumes you believe in evolution.

Are there special factors involved when it comes to certain traits of a species evolving?

Answer 1

Neanderthal, which were a separate species (from DNA studies), by all indications were probably as smart as man. And they lived with humans up until a few thousand years ago. Their intelligience didn't save them.

Smart chimps overlap stupid humans in intelligence.

IOW, intelligence is overrated.

Humans, IMO, are so successful mostly because they can form a large social organization. The can tolerate, even thrive, in crowded conditions that would drive a chimp insane.  

Answer 2

Because it is all made up by a mad man who should have been locked up in a mental institute.

Answer 3

I don't "believe" in evolution any more than I "believe" in atoms.  I am totally convinced by the overwhelming evidence.

Selection pressure towards intelligence arises in social animals who rely on each other to carry out complex tasks and avoid their predators, and who are successful enough in their environment for the main selection pressures to come from each other.  We see this among apes, whales and porpoises, and (believe it or not) parrots. It may have been on its way with some of the dinosaurs, who had bigger brains relative to body size than the others, until the bolide wiped them out.

There is a lot of interest in exactly what triggered the rapid evolution of the human brain in the past couple of million years. Once you have passed a certain threshold of toolmaking or communication, any extra intelligence translates directly into greater competence or social skills, and therefore reproductive fitness.

In one pleasing but speculative variant of this kind of theory (mentioned in the film Dead Poets' Society) it is suggested that sexual selection played a major role; speech was invented by man to charm woman.

Answer 4

One outstanding issue is determining what 'intelligence' really is. Studies with african grays (like Alex), gorillas (like koko) and other animals like dolphins suggest that other animals are self aware and can not only learn words but how to use them in unique situations. Just because an animal does not build rockets and go to the moon does not necessarily make it less intelligent. And while i do believe that the smartest animal on the planet probably does not hold up to the intelligence of the smartest human, I'm firmly convinced that a large number of the human race would lose any brain challenge to a wide variety of species (even those not particularly known for their intelligence).

Answer 5

Yes, I believe in evolution, completely and utterly, and I agree with you, it is "awing" isn't it?

The most intelligent animal, other than man, is the Chimpanzee.  They are ONLY a couple of genes away from us.  If man had not become the most intelligent and dominant species, then they would have in time.

The process of evolution has just picked us, that's all there is to it.  OUR branch on the primate tree developed to the furthest extent to where we are today.  One of the things scientists believed that helped us reach this level was our diet and the way we prepared food.  The process of "cooking" our food allowed us to derive more sustenance from that food, and therefore our brains grew larger faster.

There are two things though, in the development of man's intelligence, that have come into play.  One, the more he learns, the more it enables him to learn.  And, second, the more he learns, the more he realizes what he doesn't know.  New answers only create new questions.  Great, isn't it?

Man's ability to learn is geometric.  The more he learns and knows, the faster he can learn other things.

Answer 6

Because most animals haven't really had to adapt a large brain although whales speech system is much more complicated than our own and apes can be trained to do basic tasks.

Answer 7

One problem is that there is more than one factor involved in what we lump together as "intelligence".

It's really more than one trait, and there are different kinds of intelligence - from abstract thinking, to memory, to social ability and the ability to read body language, to the ability to plan ahead and even language.

There may well be animals that equal or exceed humans in some of these traits, but humans happen to excel in all of them, so we lump them all together as one trait we call "intelligence".

These traits have been useful in the survival ability of the human species, but they are not necessarily the only, or even the best traits for reproductive success - which is pretty much the only trait that really matters when it comes down to evolution.

Bacteria have absolutely none of those traits - but are incredibly successful from an evolutionary standpoint due to their adaptability and rapid reproduction.

Although intelligence has allowed us to achieve a lot of remarkable things, some of these achievements may actually hurt us in terms of long-term survival of our species.  Our ability to modify our environment has allowed us to thrive almost anywhere, but could easily be our downfall as well.

Answer 8

Really, the only special factor in developing intelligence is luck.  Evolution does not lead to increasing intelligence.  It simply pushes towards whatever works for survival.  Humans and our immediate relatives (the extinct hominids) just happened to evolve towards smarts from generation to generation.  Unfortunately, higher intelligence was hardly a guarantee for survival in the long term.  The hominid family twig on the primate branch is pretty withered, with only humans surviving to modern days.  

Many animals are smart.  They are exactly as smart as they need to be.  Humans are unique in that we took that path and ran with it to the extreme.  That does not mean we are the champions in all mental regards though.  Chimps have better working memories, for example.  There was a miniseries on Animal Planet covering animal intelligence that you would have loved.  It showcased seals, parrots, chimps, and other animals out performing humans in specific thinking tasks.