[legacynl]

> It feels like pop-sci journalism is always assuming animal behavior is orders of magnitude less sophisticated[1] than what is obvious from having pets, watching a basic nature doc, or just observing wildlife for a tiny bit.

I would go further and claim that basically everybody holds the assumption that animal cognition lives on a scale of not sophisticated to very sophisticated, and also that human cognition holds the top spot on this scale, and that therefor anything else is below us in sophistication.

The idea that conscious thoughts are what makes our cognitive abilities so good is merely an assumption. It's very possible that in million year of evolution humans evolve a way to do everything we do today on instinct without the need for energy hungry consciousness. That would probably allow the brain to become much smaller and efficient over time.

With our assumptions we would conclude that the smaller brain and instinctual behaviors would signify a less sophisticated brain.