Nature & Environment

Fish could be as intelligent as chimpanzees

By T.K. Randall
November 12, 2017 ·  19 comments

Fish may be more intelligent than we think. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 Wise Hok Wai Lum Incredible footage recorded by the BBC for David Attenborough's wildlife series Blue Planet II shows an octopus working together with a grouper fish to catch a smaller fish hiding in amongst the coral.

The grouper, being too large to follow its prey in to small hiding places, sits in front of the target and uses a combination of color changes and movements to signal to an octopus to come and help.

The octopus then pokes its slender tentacles in to the hole to flush the smaller fish out.The footage will be broadcast this week as part of the series' third episode 'Reef'.

"When I first saw it, I was blown away," said scientist and cameraman Dr Alex Vail.

"What's fascinating is there seems to be intention behind it. The grouper has formulated a plan and is aware of what the outcome might be, and then carries it out. Which shows a similar level of intelligence as chimpanzees. And that's without anything like the same brainpower."

Source: Telegraph | Comments (19)

Tags: Fish, Intelligence