An evolution paradox

Yeah, that happens all the time. It wouldn't really be surprising; the Homo genus hasn't been a very successful evolutionary branch. There's only one existing species in it, after all.In an objective sense, human kind is an evolutionary failure (of, if not a failure yet, then an incipient one), not a success. If you want to see evolutionary successes, check out rats, bats, and antelope.

Oo, good question. One might also ask:Is an animal that displays introspective problem-solving using imagination?Is an animal that can find a real-world location when it's analog is pointed out on a map using imagination?

Something I saw on TV once. They had a room with cupboards and drawers, etc, and a small model of the room which they showed to a gorilla, who watched them hide a model of a treat in one of the model cupboards. When they let the gorilla into the room she immediately went to the analagous cupboard for the treat, even when it wasn't actually there (so she wasn't smelling it, etc.)I don't, offhand, have the exact details of the experiment. I'm sure we could look it up. Fair enough. Suppose, though, that a section of the map was highlighted for the mouse for the first time, and that it was for a section of the area that the mouse had never been fed in. If the mouse heads right to that area for the reward, can we then propose that the mouse is actually doing some mental mapping? It seems the most reasonable explanation to me.