Table 1.
Comparison of factor thought to be important for the development of intelligence.
| Organism | Longevity | Social | Large Brain | Farming/Sustainability | Sanitary | Avoid Senescence |
Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naked Mole-Rat | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ 1 | ✔ | ✔.3 | ✔ | ✘ 4 |
| Mouse | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Homo sapiens | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔.2 | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ |
Notes: 1 naked mole-rats have a small brain. However, that of the queen is larger and can create new neurons during her lifetime, if needed; 2 it is debatable whether humans do actually perform sustainable farming. They are capable to do so in principle, but considering the global population, this is not the case; 3 on the individual and the population level, naked mole-rats keep more sanitary conditions than humans; 4 not what we would call language, but a rich repertoire of sounds for different situations.