When Stupidity Is A Survival Strategy

As humans, we value intelligence perhaps above all other traits. But for some animals, intelligence isn't much of a virtue at all. In fact, some animals have perfectly adapted to their environments by getting, believe it or not, stupider. Here are some of the best examples of stupidity winning out in the animal kingdom.

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TIMESTAMPS -
0:00 - Dumbest Animals
4:25 - Kākāpōs
5:43 - Sloths
6:56 - Pandas
9:00 - Turkeys
9:55 - Ostrich
11:14 - Lemmings
12:25 - Koala
17:03 - Sketch Madness Update!

[ryan.hanthorn]

I'm a little disappointed the part at 1:20 about crows investigating a death didn't use the term "murder investigation" on account of that being the uniquely weird name of their grouping.

[johnmcnally]

"You wouldn't look down on one bird because it's a different colour than another bird"

Pigeons and Doves have entered the chat.

[atashgallagher]

There was a turkey that lived near my highschool who was smart enough to use the crosswalk and would wait for the light then cross the street at the crosswalk.

He would even look at you and wait for you to push the button. And ever day when school let out he would be at the bus stop waiting for people to drop food, either accidentally or on purpose.

[KaigaKarasuma]

To be fair, we found out during the Pandemic Lockdowns that the Pandas in captivity were just shy. The mated while humans weren't around. And I saw something recently that was talking about how they eat different parts of the bamboo plant at different times of the year. Specifically, they only eat the parts that are highest in protein during different parts of the growing season.

[FreeLivingProject]

I once saw a turkey pacing back and forth for over an hour in front of a 3 foot fence, trying to figure out how to get through it. Finally out of pity I came close to it to scare it over the fence, and only then did it remember it could fly.

[charlesjmouse]

Many years ago while in China I visited Chongqing zoo to see the pandas... three of them were sitting together in their enclosure bucolically stripping leaves from great bundles of bamboo with their mouths. This went on for some time until one started also wriggling about on it's bottom, seemingly getting very itchy. Said panda stood up, took the latest bundle of bamboo it was eating, and scratched it's bum with it. Satisfied after some intense rubbing it sat down to shove that very bundle in it's mouth... moments later it pulled a face, wretched, and threw up. Smart creatures!

[jessd]

For a few years as a kid I had a koala living outside my bedroom window. The noises they make during mating season are DEMONIC. Imagine waking up at 2am to the sound of the babadook grunting outside your window. I was terrified 😬😂

[Chrismas]

I was really hoping this would be 21 minutes of Joe laughing at AFV style animal videos. I guess cool nerdy science stuff works too 😂

[poisontoad]

You pronounced Kākāpo okay. I worked with them on an off-shore island for a breeding season and mainland populations may never re-establish. They raise a single chick and only breed when a specific tree has a heavy fruiting season, which only happens every 5-7 years. Also a male Kākāpo will mate with just about anything except a female Kākāpo, even when she's standing right in front of him - and 'anything that moves' is not a qualifier. Examples in my personal experience include a dead Sooty Shearwater and a Conservation Ranger's jacket.

[An_Ian]

There used to be two turkeys that chased the mail man in my neighborhood.
They were named Fred and Barny. Fred was hit by a car a few years ago and Barny just wandered around looking sad for a few years before disappearing

[gregmac]

I once watched, from my desk at home, a Koala climb a wire fence, to get to a tree that it's leaves it could not eat, fall off the fence multiple times, finally get over the fence, only to realise it could not eat the leaves.

It proceeded to climb back over the fence, eventually getting over it, only to look back at the tree again and think, yum, I can eat those leaves and attempt to climb the fence again...

It did this 3 times over the span of a few hours.

The are dumb, noisy, still filled grunters.

The noise they make is also disturbing.

[grandetaco]

Watched a video of guy saving koalas from the fire a few years ago. One of the Koalas, the guy gave a bottle of water. At first the animal was like, I don't want that, but then it realized it was a lot more water than it gets from eucalyptus tree and almost snatched the bottle out of the guy's hand. Maybe that was a genius Koala, should have bred that one.

[TheSolidFantasy]

Sloths might deserve a little more credit. They really found an intricate niche in survival. The slowness and every bit under that still works in there favor. It's just a rare way to evolve compared to other surrounding animals.

[LordFalconsword]

I like the one with the two aliens looking at each other talking about why we're so stupid.

"They harnessed the atom and instead of using it they're burning fossil fuels and trying to use wind."

[LITRband]

3:43 the human appendix has two main uses in modern humans, aimed around gut health; it's just that unlike most other organs you can survive without it, and that the uses aren't super obvious so aren't well known. Firstly, it is the organ that creates the highest amount of serotonin in your body, which is used by the gut to regulate gut health. Secondly, it acts like an 'ark' for good gut bacteria in the case of a catastrophe (in modern humans, most commonly caused by antibiotics), to allow your microbiome to replenish the good bacteria quickly. When you remove your appendix, the level of serotonin available to you drops a ton, and your recovery time from antibiotics etc. extends significantly. As serotonin is so essential to the gut, some of what would have been used for mental health regulation is then used instead in the gut - this means that if you have your appendix removed, you are far more likely to develop depression, and if you already HAVE depression it's far more likely to worsen. Further, in relation to probiotics, research has previously assumed that the good gut bacteria in the probiotics get lodged in the gut, but more recent research on people without appendices has found that actually the good gut bacteria in probiotics boost the health of the good gut bacteria you already have, but largely themselves don't survive - you can therefore make it easier for what good bacteria survived to grow, but you can't replace what is lost. As such, when you don't have an appendix, you should only take antibiotics if you absolutely have to, and it should immediately be followed by an extended period of eating probiotic food, rather than the short courses most people use (if they eat probiotic food at all).

[bentbliley]

my partner's mother works at a meat packing plant and has worked with animals in the past as a vet. she once told us about this time someone at a farm was working on some welding by some turkeys and they all gathered around and just stared directly at the sparks and all went blind. and some of them did actually drown when a sprinkler went off in their coup.

[gingerbeardyguy]

"five beers short of a six pack" had me laughing entirely too hard for a Monday. Thank you @joescott

[joz]

The ostrich defence system might be an evolutionary hangover from when they were small forest birds. They could hide in the undergrowth and not be seen. however, they are now a 3 meter tall bird living in Savannah, and the defence mechanism remained.

[titanheimr]

Wild turkeys are actually insanely smart and elusive. Domestic turkeys are so poorly bred in the US that it's pretty standard here to have half or more of the chicks come out with serious defects, especially in the feet.

[nrgbunni.]

Fun fact ostriches are in the ratite family which includes ostriches, emus, kiwi birds, cassowaries and rhea. In this video when they were talking about ostriches they accidentally added some photos of rhea in there too which is a different species. A popular youtuber i watch the urban rescue ranch has ostriches, emus and rhea, one of those rhea is named kevin and he attacks ben all the time.