Short generations and very strong selection pressure can result in dramatic changes in a single human lifetime. See, for example, domesticated Russian foxes, which are the result of a project that started in only 1959 and are already dramatically different from their wild cousins in social behavior and even some points of appearance.
You don't even need evolution at all. We know that an animals behaviour is a combination of their genes and their environmnet. It is reasonable to propose that growing up in an urban environment would cause an animal to be smarter than it would have been if that same animal grew up in a more traditional natural environment.
The hypothesis that they will grow to be better adapted to an urban environment is far more likely to be true (regardless of if we are talking about the effect of evolution or nor).
However, the article is talking about a specific claim that they would also be more intelligent. This is a far harder hypothesis to predict the truth of (and to test). But, to the extent that "intelligent" is well defined it is still a reasonable hypothesis to have. In fact, I think that, by far, the least likely scenario is that they are equally as intelligent as their rural counterparts, as that would mean that environment has no effect on their intelligence. While this is probably true of some animals, It would be very surprising to me if it held for the more cognitive ones. The question then becomes how big of an effect is it, and in what direction.
Of course, when we drill into what "intellegence" means, we will probably find that it is a multi-dimensional notion, and refine the discussion to more/less intelligent in certain dimensions.
EDIT: it is also conceivable that an animal that grew up in environment A, then moved to environmnet B could be better suited for environment B than the one that had lived in B for its whole life.
Another factor is initial variance. Russian foxes experiment uses some hundreds of animals, perhaps. Suppose we operate on the scale of millions of specimens, a significant portion of the entire species. There could be a many-sigma difference between the average and the smartest living crow in the world (not sure how to estimate this), but the former one would probably struggle to survive in the city while the latter would thrive. Urbanization, then, can be thought of as a bottleneck that promptly eradicates the left part of the extant distribution, changing the population average even in a single generation.
I'm pretty sure Urbanization will make animals (that are closer to humans like dogs and cats) incredibly smarter. Dogs got closer to humans thousands of years ago. Their role was to protect. In the process, they became less intelligent than their ancestors: The wolf.
But things are changing. Human are now picking dogs to be a companion, not for protection. They are letting their dogs inside the house. They are playing with them. Human also select smarter dogs like German Shepherd because they are easy to train.
The trend is new. I mean we are only a few hundred years into urbanization and genetics is a slow process. But selection is real and humans are very selective. This will keep the most intelligent race/dogs and breed even smarter dogs.
I know for a fact that my german is more skillful than my parents'. That's because living in an apartment requires extra skills. As human select animals that are more adapted, we'll have dogs who are savvy about doors, bells, cars, refrigerator, toilets, etc...
> Dogs got closer to humans thousands of years ago. Their role was to protect. In the process, they became less intelligent than their ancestors: The wolf.
I don't think it's fair to say wolves are smarter than dogs. They specialize at different things, that's for sure.
In general I disagree with your post.
If you imagine a dog living in a stone age village versus a dog living in a town today, it doesn't seem to follow that the latter is going to be smarter because human technology is more advanced. A stone age dog might recognize a knock on the hut of a door and the modern dog might recognize an alarm going off. Seems like the same thing to me.
If you want smart dogs the answer is eugenics. Breed the smartest ones. This is tried and true and it's how breeds like border collies or german shepherds got so smart: they were bred for obedience, intelligence, and ability to perform their jobs. More pets and fewer working dogs (which is definitely the trend) is going to result in friendlier, cuter, but less intelligent dogs (compared to working breeds anyway).
Recently in a supermarket parking lot I saw a crow repeatedly jumping up and pecking at a car grill. Watching awhile I realized that he was using car grills as a food source for dead, dehydrated bugs.
The crow went from car to car, searching for bugs. Finding one, he would jump using both front legs, grab the bug with his beak and pull it off the grill, jump back to the ground and eat. Periodically he would take a break to drink cold water from the air conditioner drippings that cars leave when parked.
Crows and other birds have probably been using vehicles as bug food scoops for decades. But I'd never heard of it or seen it before.
I my town, I noticed dogs (that are usually freely wandering), are able to stop on red light and wait green light, not matter if humans are around. I guess this is because dogs are able to learn from those who are hit by cars.
Second case are crows - they will pick up walnuts, wait for cars and throw in front of them, hoping car wheels will smash them. After that, they'll pick up eatable parts.
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[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 54.5 ms ] threadThat distinction may be different from smarter or more intelligent. I think it's complicated.
However, the article is talking about a specific claim that they would also be more intelligent. This is a far harder hypothesis to predict the truth of (and to test). But, to the extent that "intelligent" is well defined it is still a reasonable hypothesis to have. In fact, I think that, by far, the least likely scenario is that they are equally as intelligent as their rural counterparts, as that would mean that environment has no effect on their intelligence. While this is probably true of some animals, It would be very surprising to me if it held for the more cognitive ones. The question then becomes how big of an effect is it, and in what direction.
Of course, when we drill into what "intellegence" means, we will probably find that it is a multi-dimensional notion, and refine the discussion to more/less intelligent in certain dimensions.
EDIT: it is also conceivable that an animal that grew up in environment A, then moved to environmnet B could be better suited for environment B than the one that had lived in B for its whole life.
It doesn't go in to much detail tough... https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kungstradgarden-metro-st...
But things are changing. Human are now picking dogs to be a companion, not for protection. They are letting their dogs inside the house. They are playing with them. Human also select smarter dogs like German Shepherd because they are easy to train.
The trend is new. I mean we are only a few hundred years into urbanization and genetics is a slow process. But selection is real and humans are very selective. This will keep the most intelligent race/dogs and breed even smarter dogs.
I know for a fact that my german is more skillful than my parents'. That's because living in an apartment requires extra skills. As human select animals that are more adapted, we'll have dogs who are savvy about doors, bells, cars, refrigerator, toilets, etc...
I don't think it's fair to say wolves are smarter than dogs. They specialize at different things, that's for sure.
In general I disagree with your post.
If you imagine a dog living in a stone age village versus a dog living in a town today, it doesn't seem to follow that the latter is going to be smarter because human technology is more advanced. A stone age dog might recognize a knock on the hut of a door and the modern dog might recognize an alarm going off. Seems like the same thing to me.
If you want smart dogs the answer is eugenics. Breed the smartest ones. This is tried and true and it's how breeds like border collies or german shepherds got so smart: they were bred for obedience, intelligence, and ability to perform their jobs. More pets and fewer working dogs (which is definitely the trend) is going to result in friendlier, cuter, but less intelligent dogs (compared to working breeds anyway).
The crow went from car to car, searching for bugs. Finding one, he would jump using both front legs, grab the bug with his beak and pull it off the grill, jump back to the ground and eat. Periodically he would take a break to drink cold water from the air conditioner drippings that cars leave when parked.
Crows and other birds have probably been using vehicles as bug food scoops for decades. But I'd never heard of it or seen it before.
Second case are crows - they will pick up walnuts, wait for cars and throw in front of them, hoping car wheels will smash them. After that, they'll pick up eatable parts.