Elephant nose intelligence

[JamisonBWolsh]

Slip: Is there anyway we can measure intelligence in fish? Humans have IQ tests. I dont think a fish is willing to take one of those. I never read one ARTICLE that suggests intelligence in any aquarium fish? Got any of those articles handy? I would bet the Elephant nose would rate #1.

The Dolphin is much smarter then the mako shark BTW. The most intelligent mammal in the ocean... or so Im told

 

[JamisonBWolsh]

Quote from that article:
However, the results presented here suggest that, in the electric fish
Gnathonemus petersii (elephant nose), the brain is responsible for
approximately 60 % of body O2 consumption, a figure
three times higher than that for any other vertebrate
studied, including man. The exceptionally high energetic
cost of the G. petersii brain appears to be a consequence
both of the brain being very large and of the fish being
ectothermic.

This must say something on the subject.......

 

[pinballqueen]

Not to be a knowitall (okay, maybe a little)...sharks aren't mammals. They're fish, and primitive fish at that. Smart, yes, but primitive.

I would think that a problem-solving experiment involving fish might shed some light upon things (like rat testing with mazes, tool usage and sign language for apes, etc....) Maybe setting up a fishy obstacle course for a fish....sounds like a neat science project, if you ask me....

 

[slipknottin]

There are plenty of people who think IQ tests are BS...

there really is no way to tell how smart something is.

02 usage for the brain simply means its using its brain alot... doesnt mean its smart. It could also mean it doesnt move a whole lot so it doesnt need to dedicate any of that 02 to its muscles.


to test the makos, they were using a double sided pole, one side had a square block, the other had a ball. when the mako touched the ball side, they gave it a fish, when it touched the block side they gave it a plastic fish. It learned quickly to only touch the ball side.

 

[Fishiebusiness]

Originally posted by JamisonBWolsh
Your right Slip about bodymass/brain size.
You fail to mention:

1.) how much of that brain do they use?

Cows and mice uses a VERY small portion. HUmans use 20 percent.


you forget to mention that ELEPHANT noses uses more of that brain because of the function of the electrical organ. They need ALOt more o2 to the brain so they can use it more (as said in the scientific article).

Didnt it say it uses 60 percent?

What?? You really think 80% of our brain is useless? It takes a lot of fat and resources to make brain mass. If animals didn't need half their brain, the ones that wasted energy on making double the brain needed would be selected against and go extinct. Its just how evolution works.

The 10% of your brain thing has been entirely misconstrued from its original meaning.

Also elephant noses do indeed use their electrical fields to communicate. They have intricate patterns which they vary their electrical fields with to communicate with other elephant noses in the same area.

 

[JamisonBWolsh]

I never said 80 percent of our brain is useless. We just dont know how to use it. As we evolve, perhaps we will use more of it. Remember, when we were primates, we used alot less. What will happen to us if we use 100 percent? Who knows. Alot of poeple say ESP and various other senses will be improved. All I know is we use 20 percent...the other 80 percent goes unused because we dont know how to use it....YET. How this all comes togethor with the elephant nose? who knows?

I guess for us humans to EVOLVE there has to be a change in the environment or life itself.

 

[Anton Wernher]

When we were primates? :\

 

[pinballqueen]

let's not turn this into a debate of evolutionism/creationism, shall we?

Besides, it even says in the Bible that we evolve....that all things evolve....I'll leave it at that, because I can't remember the exact verse or anything.....

 

[Anton Wernher]

I wasn't... Last time I checked humans belong to the primate family.

 

[slipknottin]

Originally posted by Anton Wernher
I wasn't... Last time I checked humans belong to the primate family.

i dont see how there is any proof that we are smarter now than "when we were primates" either.

As i said, there is no way to tell what percentage of our brains we use or how intelligent anyone or anything is.