Nature & Animals Dolphins vs. Octopus - Which animal is smarter? (Semi-Finals)

[Takes Two To Tango]

Crows/Ravens, Octopus, Elephants, Chimpanzees and Dolphins - Out of these animals, which is the smartest?​

Ravens vs. Chimpanzees - Which animal is smarter? (Semi-Finals)​

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[ssBaldy]

Overall it's probably dolphin, but octopus is a very impressive creature, given it's rather primitive, but developed an impressive brain.
I remember watching a "what if" pop science tv show where in one episode they delved into what could have been if cuttlefish and octopus were to evolve further. They had rather cool concepts of monkey-like squids roaming the earth, communicating, forming packs, using tools etc.

 

[BoomStronk]

Interesting question! I cant really land on one side or the other.

Dolphins are social, which takes a lot of brains

But octopuses are opportunistic hunters and prey, needing to constantly assess and adapt to their surroundings, which also takes a lot of brains and they are just so strange for us that we probably cant fully appreciate what they are doing.

Does cephalopod camouflage count as intelligence? That's something we cant even really imagine

Dolphins are smart in similar ways to how we are smart so there's certainly some built-in bias there.

 

[freakroor]

dolphin for sure. how is this even a question. Octopus is basically an autistic squid.

 

[Osculater]

I vote for Dolphins because they know that they can bang women

 

[Osculater]

"Giant brains have independently evolved twice on this planet, in vertebrates and in cephalopods (Figure 1A). Thus, the brains and nervous systems of cephalopods provide an important counterpoint to vertebrates in the search for generalities of brain organization and function. Their mere existence disproves various hypotheses proposed to explain the evolution of the mind and the human brain, such as cognition and large brains evolved only in long-lived animals with complex social systems and parental care, none of which is true of cephalopods. Therefore, it is worthwhile to review what is known about the evolution of cephalopod nervous systems to consider how it informs our understanding of general principles of brain evolution."

"Cephalopods are marine molluscs that include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (Figure 1B). Many theories have arisen as to the adaptive significance of the intelligence and large brains in cephalopods including predator avoidance, loss of shell, and competition with fish. In addition to large brains, cephalopods have suites of innovations including multiple sucker-lined arms and rapid adaptive camouflage. They also have complex camera-type eyes that are similar to our own but evolved independently. Understanding the developmental and evolutionary events that allowed cephalopods to diverge from their slow and frankly less intelligent cousins — snails, clams, and chitons — can provide insight into how intelligence emerges from neural systems."
Octopuses are smart for being squishy and whom have cousins that are dumber than chimps

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

I vote for Dolphins because they know that they can bang women

 

[philcrow]

Dolphins are gay, can't win a football game, and do tricks for food like a dog. Or I guess not to get beat at SeaWorld or however they train them, but still, bears and tigers can do the same but occasionally flip out and kill their trainers.

Seriously, what is it with gays and tiger training? It's like an egotistical cat lady who wants to parade big kitty around and make them do tricks. Weird. But anyway, never heard of flipper going rogue and splatting or drowning a trainer so how smart can they be? And I'm aware orcas are part of the dolphin community, but let's leave racism out of the discussion.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Both are fine choices.

On the topic of the octopus, the life of a mother octopus is tragic and fascinating.

 

[Madmick]

dolphin for sure. how is this even a question. Octopus is basically an autistic squid.

That's not accurate.

Of all the animals mentioned throughout these polls, the Octopus is the most interesting, because it is the most distinct from us. Every other creature listed (Chimp, Raven, Dolphin, Elephant) just represents one of nature's dumber, more primitive expressions of our own system. The Octopus is the only one that is completely different.