Fights in baboons can be fierce. Photo credit: David Clode
From ants to primates, “Napoleonic” intelligence has evolved to help animals cope with the myriad cognitive challenges that arise from interacting with rival outsiders Bristol University in an article published in Nature communication today (Tuesday, October 6, 2020).
Antagonistic and cooperative social interactions within groups have long been suggested to fuel the development of large brains. But animals from across the social spectrum also have to constantly juggle with threats and opportunities from outsiders.
Interactions with outsiders were given little consideration in the context of cognitive evolution. Because of their different backgrounds in relation to animal cognition, intergroup conflicts and social evolution, the scientists in Bristol expanded the hypothesis of social intelligence to include this missing social axis.
Like Napoleon Bonaparte, chimpanzees are masters of intergroup conflict. Photo credit: Franceso Ungaro (chimpanzee photo)
Dr. Ben Ashton, School of Biological Sciences Volunteer and Senior Author, said, “External threats and opportunities are likely to present a range of cognitive challenges. Animals need to defend their territory, find partners, and compete for resources – we believe that addressing such challenges is one requires considerable brain power. ”
Andy Radford, Professor of Behavioral Ecology and Senior Author, continued, “In the animal kingdom, much time and effort is devoted to gathering information about and avoiding, exploiting, and engaging outsiders. But this aspect of sociality has traditionally been ignored in explanations of the evolution of the animal brain. ”
Dr. Patrick Kennedy, Research Associate and co-author, added, “Biologists have shown how interactions with group members can generate ‘Machiavellian’ intelligence, the house-of-cards-style ruse required to advance group social policy. We argue that animals also need ‘Napoleonic’ intelligence, the sharper Game of Thrones, in order to triumph in a world full of rival outsiders. ”
Vigilance is key in a world of rival outsiders. Photo credit: Andy Radford (meerkat photo); Michalis mantelos (red ruffled lemur photo)
Niccolò Machiavelli is perhaps best known for his political treatise The Prince, a commentary on how to establish and maintain power; The term Machiavellian later became synonymous with reckless realpolitik. Napoleon Bonaparte is considered one of the greatest military minds in history. The strategic intelligence underlying the Napoleonic campaigns is used to this day as an example of textbook warfare.
Dr. Ashton, now at Macquarie University in Australia, said, “Cognitive evolution is one of the most hotly debated topics in biology, with considerable uncertainty about the predominant drivers. Part of this uncertainty could be due to the fact that an entire social axis – interactions with rival outsiders – has been largely ignored in both theoretical and empirical work. ”
Dr. Kennedy added, “The possibility that outsiders may have shaped intelligence has been suggested previously, particularly by two of the pioneers of social evolution – Richard Alexander and William Hamilton. However, these clever primates only thought of our own species; It is time to expand your insights beyond human knowledge. ”
Professor Radford concluded, “What do cerebral animals have in common with Napoleon Bonaparte? We suspect that their ancestors had the intelligence to triumph in one of the highest-stakes games of all: Outmaneuver outsiders. ”
Reference: “Interactions with conspecific outsiders as drivers of cognitive evolution” by Benjamin J. Ashton, Patrick Kennedy and Andrew N. Radford, October 6, 2020, Nature communication.
DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-020-18780-3
The study was funded by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC).
