A bit off-topic, but a thing I've always found puzzling is octopus intelligence. They aren't especially social (as far as we know, unless you count their arms as semi-independent beings), they don't really live all that long, and don't teach their young anything (they don't raise their young and die soon after mating). Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus
I've heard some people claim that it's not necessarily the brain/body size ratio that determines intelligence, but the ability to manipulate the world around you. An octopus has 8 appendages, a dolphin has none (maybe its snout and tail could count as two, but are not nearly as efficient as an octupus's arm). I've never seen any research that backs this up, but I'd love to read some more about these claims. If anyone…
Re: Big brains come with big social groups in whales and dolphins
#11Arthur C. Clarke had a story -- "Second Dawn", if you want to look it up -- playing with the theme of intelligent beings who were unable to do much physical manipulation of the world around them.