Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence Book

I am so tempted to give this book four stars, based on the the fascinating facts, the strength of its concepts and the obvious breadth of knowledge of Dr. Gould and his wife. The only thing that kept that fourth star at bay was the writing, which too often was needlessly academic and hampered by some choppy transitions. Oh, for a better editor on this book.

Nevertheless, it's full of fascinating information as it makes an argument that the evolution of intelligence has been closely tied to the ability of animals to build and eventually to use objects as tools in innovative ways.

And the wonderful factoids. Here are just three. Honeybee foragers, upon returning to the nest, can show other bees where food is located by dancing -- the direction they point is directly correlated with the food source's position relative to the sun; the distance is correlated with how many times the bee wags its body; Some seabirds fly constantly and never land, because half their brain can go to sleep while the other half handles feeding and flying!; and on the more advanced end, beavers are so clever and creative at building that when a pond they have created with a dam is iced over in the winter, they make a hole in the dam just big enough to let out the precise amount of water that will create a layer of breathable air between the ice and the water underneath.

This is well worth the exploration and can make you question pat assumptions you might have had about which animals are able to "think," and what intelligence really means.