Friday, March 19, 2021

The Intelligence of Sperm Whales

Apparently sperm whales were intelligent enough to change their living patterns in response to humans hunting them in the 19th century.  Instead of gathering together, they learned to hightail out of Dodge when hunters appear.

It seems to me that one of the gradual changes in culture/science over my lifetime is the erosion of the boundaries between humans and animals.  It used to be a high wall, but these days we more often view humans as animals and animals as intelligent, whether it's sperm whales, ravens and other covids, octopus, etc.

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