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Well, the answer is. There has been, and still are animals of equal or near intelligence to ours. Nanderthals for example, were an entirely different speicies than us. According to modern scientists we didn't evolve from them, a common misconception many people have. We evolved as our own species. Here is a little info on Neanderthals and humans.
Throughout modern media and propoganda, Homo neandertalensis is portrayed as a lumbering, hairy, unintelligent and animalistic predecessor to modern humans, who died out from a clear inferiority to the H. sapiens who came after them. However, this image is far from true. Neandertals lived for over 200,000 years, emerging around 250,000 years ago, and eventually going extinct only 30,000 years ago. They were extremely strong, well adapted to cold climates, and even had a brain size larger than that of modern humans, about 1450 cc. Neandertals were adept hunters; their skeletons are associated with advanced tools and weapons, and they are the first known hominid to bury their species, having a burial site dated to be 100,000 years old, implying possible ritual behavior.
Neandertals lived throughout Europe and the Middle East, but did not have to share their habitat with other human species for the first 150,000 years of their existence. Neandertals are not precursors to modern humans, but rather are more like cousins, branching from a common ancestor that led to H. sapien evolution as well. This ancestor was most likely H. heidelbergensis, which gave rise to Neandertals in the north, and to H. sapiens in Africa. These two cousins remained in separate habitats until the migration of H. sapiens put them in contact with Neandertal, probably around 100,000 years ago in the Middle East, and about 35,000 years ago in Europe.
Opinions of Neandertals appearance are widely variable, with interpretations describing Neandertals as having an ape-like stature, with a stooping gait, long arms, and prehensile toes, such as in the picture on the left, or to the other extreme, considering a clean and well dressed Neandertal to be hardly worth a second glance on a New York subway.
Both of these views are probably inaccurate. Although Neandertal was by no means a primitive species, and had highly evolved aspects of their morphology, the were also not at all analogous to the build of H. sapiens.
Neandertals and Cro-Magnon co-exist
Although it is not clear whether or not Neandertals and Cro-Magnon lived together in the same valleys, or adjoining sites, it is definite that beginning 35,000 years ago, the two species co-existed throughout Europe and the Middle East, sharing a habitat and its resources. This time period also marks a major technological, and perhaps behavioral, evolution, with the advent of the Upper Paleolithic Tool industry.
There is still extensive arguments about whether Neandertals and Cro-Magnon interbred. A fossil of a child buried 25,000 years ago at Lagar Vehlo in Portugal, associated with red ochre and pendants, has been thought to be a mix, or hybrid of the two species. The skeleton shows a mixture of modern skull traits and the robust, cold-adapted skeleton of Neandertal. If this is the case, one could argue that Neandertals did not really die out, but were folded into the Cro-Magnon lineage, and can still be seen in some select characteristics of individuals. However, there is some recent evidence from studies of human mitochondrial DNA that suggests that there is no genetic link between modern day humans and neandertal, implying that there never was any interbreeding.
Why the success of modern humans, and the extinction of Neandertals?
So why is it that H. sapiens succeeded as Neandertals died out? A popular belief is that modern humans simply had superior brains, giving them more complex language and organizational structures, better adaptability to changing environments, and a greater aptitude for innovation. As a result, H. sapiens simply became the dominant species wherever they overlapped with Neandertals. However, this view is entirely speculative, given that determining behavioral patterns from the fossil and lithic record is extremely subjective, and it is certainly important to take into account that not only are Neandertals associated with advanced tools of their own, they also managed to survive a variety of challenging environments for over 200,000 years.
Additionally, there is evidence that Neandertals and Cro-Magnon overlapped in western Asia about 100,000 years ago, where in fact Neandertal was the dominant species, remaining after Cro-Magnon had left, or migrated to new habitats.
It is probable that the success of modern humans and the failure of Neandertal was merely coincidental; circumstances happened to favor Cro-Magnon, and had they been different, it is entirely possible that Neandertals would have been the more successful population.
As it was, the most likely cause of the Neandertal extinction was the instability of the Ice Age climates. Fluctuations from relatively warm climates to extreme cold climates in only a few thousand years, combined with the increased competition of sharing their environment with a new hominid species led to extremely difficult survival conditions. Cro-Magnons may have had advantages such as larger social networks or more protective clothes and dwellings, and perhaps most importantly the ability to think symbolically, which may have given them the edge in the rapidly changing environment, that allowed them to continue, and caused the demise of Neandertals.
Another race of animal is the dolphin. Dolphins have equal if not a higher intelligence than we. They just work very differently than we do. They can't tell us this because they can't make tools and don't speak in a manner we can understand. Much like an alien from outer space might be.
what are your thoughts on this?
