Evolution of Intelligence in Cephalopods

Amodio, Piero; Shigeno, Shuichi; Ostojić, Ljerka

doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0029004

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Coleoids are widely considered the most intelligent living invertebrates (Moroz, 2009;Vitti, 2013;Roth, 2015;Amodio et al, 2019Amodio et al, , 2020. Cuttlefish possess a sense of numerosity (Yang and Chiao, 2016) and can delay gratification to reap higher-quality future rewards, a putative invertebrate unicum (Schnell et al, 2021).…”

Section: Cephalopod Intelligence: a Temporal Outlier?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the colonization of complex shallow-water and seafloor niches was an important driver of coleoid cognitive evolution (Amodio et al, 2019(Amodio et al, , 2020, this link may be most apparent in the camouflage skills and physical intelligence of the largely benthic incirrate octopi (e.g. Octopus; Amodio et al, 2019), which possess the most elaborate multilobed brains of all cephalopods (Grasso and Basil, 2009).…”

Section: Cephalopod Intelligence: a Temporal Outlier?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More broadly, it is increasingly apparent that the drivers of intelligence in primates, cetaceans, elephants and birds, not to mention cephalopods, are as disparate as their bodyplans and lifestyles (e.g. Seed et al, 2008;Sayol et al, 2016;Benoit et al, 2019;Amodio et al, 2020). As such, they cannot be readily subsumed under a single, external causal trigger.…”

Section: Explaining the Cenozoic Cognitive 'Explosion'mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Children of time: the geological recency of intelligence and its implications for SETI

Mussini

2023

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Of all species on Earth, only one – Homo sapiens – has developed a technological civilization. As a consequence, estimates of the number of similar civilizations beyond Earth often treat the emergence of human-like intelligence or ‘sophonce’ as an evolutionary unicum: a contingent event unlikely to repeat itself even in biospheres harbouring complex brains, tool use, socially transmitted behaviours and high general intelligence. Here, attention is drawn to the unexpected recency and temporal clustering of these evolutionary preconditions to sophonce, which are shown to be confined to the last ≤102 million years. I argue that this pattern can be explained by the exponential biotic diversification dynamics suggested by the fossil record, which translated into a nonlinearly expanding range of cognitive and behavioural outcomes over the course of Earth's history. As a result, the probability of sophonce arising out of a buildup of its enabling preconditions has been escalating throughout the Phanerozoic. The implications for the Silurian hypothesis and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are discussed. I conclude that the transition from animal-grade multicellularity to sophonce is likely not a rate-limiting step in the evolution of extraterrestrial technological intelligences, and that while H. sapiens is probably the first sophont to evolve on Earth, on macroevolutionary grounds it is unlikely to be the last.

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Section: Cephalopod Intelligence: a Temporal Outlier?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cephalopod Intelligence: a Temporal Outlier?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Explaining the Cenozoic Cognitive 'Explosion'mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Children of time: the geological recency of intelligence and its implications for SETI

Mussini

2023

International Journal of Astrobiology

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“…Predation pressure is less frequently considered as a driver of the evolution of complex cognition, and yet, predation risk can provide strong selective pressure due to the high fitness cost of being caught (van der Bijl and Kolm, 2016;Amodio et al, 2018). Meanwhile, there is a need to further disentangle the role of competition for prey with other predators, including fish and other cephalopods (Amodio et al, 2020;Schnell et al, 2020), in shaping the evolution of cephalopods.…”

Section: Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of predator avoidance in cephalopods: A case of brain over brawn?

et al. 2022

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Predation is a major evolutionary driver of animal adaptation. However, understanding of anti-predator evolution is biased toward vertebrate taxa. Cephalopoda, a class in the invertebrate phylum Mollusca, are known for their diverse anti-predator strategies, characterised by their behavioural flexibility. While ancestral cephalopods were protected by a hard outer shell, extant cephalopods have greatly reduced their reliance on physical defences. Instead, cephalopods have evolved highly developed senses to identify potential threats, cryptic skin patterns to avoid detection, startle responses to deter attack, and elaborate means of escape. While cephalopod anti-predator repertoires are relatively well described, their evolution, and the selective pressures that shaped them, have received much less attention. This is despite their potential relevance, in turn, to elucidate evolution of the remarkable cognitive abilities of cephalopods. Here, we review cephalopod anti-predator evolution, considering four key aspects: (i) shell reduction and loss; (ii) the skin patterning system; (iii) the ecological context accompanying the evolution of advanced cognit.ive abilities; (iv) why the evolutionary trajectory taken by cephalopods is so unique among invertebrates. In doing so, we consider the unique physiology of cephalopods and discuss how this may have constrained or aided the development of their anti-predator repertoire. In particular, cephalopods are poorly equipped to defend themselves physically and escape predation by fish, due to a lack of comparable weaponry or musculature. We argue that this may have selected for alternative forms of defence, driving an evolutionary trajectory favouring crypsis and complex behaviours, and the promotion of sensory and cognitive adaptations. Unravelling the complexities of cephalopod anti-predator evolution remains challenging. However, recent technological developments available for cephalopod field and laboratory studies, coupled with new genomic data and analysis approaches, offer great scope to generate novel insights.

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