Originally posted by Cyrus
on a more serious note.....
cannibalism? what if..
Actually, from what I understand, archeologists have defined only *two* prehistoric religious rituals: The use of Red Earth (Although *exactly how*
they used it is unsure; Perhaps as a type of body paint to ward off evil spirits & such) & cannabilism (To gain the strength of the vanquished).
However, from what I've seen of the arceological records, there were primarily *two* other hominid species that directly competed with Homo Habilis
(One of our earliest ancestors): Australopithecus Robustus ( A large vegetarian ape) & Australopithecus Africanus (A small junior-grade hominid). The
former rival held on longer than the latter (Who was small enough to be easily pushed aside) probably due to the intimidation factor of its sheer
size...But since they were simple vegetarians, they never developed the brains, culture & tool-use that Habilis had; They were gradually forced to run
& hide from Habilis, giving up their favorite gathering grounds.
I've heard of a theory that Sasquatch, Yeti & other such "bigfoot type" species might even be the remote descendants of the Robustus, surviving &
evolving by hiding from the early humans...Which might explain the reason for their rareness & elusiveness...
Originally posted by Flinx
What about dolphins? They're pretty bright....they just don't have hands, the poor guys....
Well, if you read in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" five-book trilogy (That's a story in itself), particularly the book entitled "So Long
& Thanks for All the Fish" you might not feel so bad for the dolphins...
In a nutshell though, human arogance has assumed that the dolphins were less intelligent than humans because they've never invented the wheel, wars &
such...But the dolphins considered themselves more intellignet *because* of those same reasons...
When you think about it, it makes a kind of sense...After all, dolphins are more evolutionarily adapted to their environment than humans are adapted
to theirs. We seek to adapt the environment to ourselves rather than adapt to the environment we live in...Which is screwing up the environment for
all of the other species as well...
Originally posted by Byrd
A lot of animals show intelligence, and a number of them are tool users and pass along culture.
Actually, the other species only use "found" tools, such as the California Sea Otter uses carfully-chosen rocks to break open oysters & the chimp
strips leaves from twigs to fish for termites...But only the hominid species (From Homo Habilis onward) actually *created* tools...And we seem to have
gone in a downward spiral ever since...
Originally posted by KKing123
There are some creatures that i believe are evolutionarily very close to being able to develop some form of civilization, like octopii or other
similiar creatures (squid/cuttlefish), they are able to manipulate things very finely...
I remember a show on the Discovery Channel some years ago...To test the intelligence of an octopus, they put a crab (their favorite food) in a mason
jar; While filming the octopus, he actually figured out how to *unscrew the lid of the jar* to get to the crab!
Also on the same show, they showed some observations on cuttlefish as well...It seems that they actually make *intentional use* of their
color-changing ability to "hypnotize" their prey (For easier capture) with swiftly-changing, symetric patterns.
Like the dolphin, whales (specifically the type that "sing") have a sophisticated language...And they can hear other singing for miles. They even
duplicate what they hear from other whales in order to "pass on" the messages!
It's just like human arrogance to assume that no other lifeforms have developed intelligence, simply because they didn't also develop a
"civilization"...The other intelligent lifeforms have all been here *longer* than us *because* they fit their environment, rather than trying to
*change* it. So who is *really* more intelligent?...