In the beautiful Zoological Park in Edinburgh the Polar Bear was wont to
sit on a rocky peninsula of a water-filled quarry. The visitors threw in
buns, some of which floated on the surface. It was often easy for the
Polar Bear to collect half a dozen by plunging into the pool. But it had
discovered a more interesting way. At the edge of the peninsula it
scooped the water gently with its huge paw and made a current which
brought the buns ashore. This was a simple piece of behaviour, but it
has the smack of intelligence--of putting two and two together in a
novel way. It suggests the power of making what is called a "perceptual
inference."
On the occasion of a great flood in a meadow it was observed that a
number of mares brought their foals to the top of a knoll, and stood
round about them protecting them against the rising water. A dog has
been known to show what was at any rate a plastic appreciation of a
varying situation in swimming across a tidal river. It changed its
starting-point, they say, according to the flow or ebb of the tide.
Arctic foxes and some other wild mammals show great cleverness in
dealing with traps, and the manipulative intelligence of elephants is
worthy of all our admiration.
§ 7
Why is there not more Intelligence?
When we allow for dexterity and power of association, when we recognise
a certain amount of instinctive capacity and a capacity for profiting by
experience in an intelligent way, we must admit a certain degree of
disappointment when we take a survey of the behaviour of mammals,
especially of those with very fine brains, from which we should
naturally expect great things. Why is there not more frequent exhibition
of intelligence in the stricter sense?
The answer is that most mammals have become in the course of time very
well adapted to the ordinary conditions of their life, and tend to leave
well alone. They have got their repertory of efficient answers to the
ordinary questions of everyday life, and why should they experiment? In
the course of the struggle for existence what has been established is
efficiency in normal circumstances, and therefore even the higher
animals tend to be no cleverer than is necessary. So while many mammals
are extraordinarily efficient, they tend to be a little dull. Their
mental equipment is adequate for the everyday conditions of their life,
but it is not on sufficiently generous lines to admit of, let us say, an
interest in Nature or adventurous experiment. Mammals always tend to
"play for safety."
We hasten, however, to insert here some very interesting saving clauses.