Modern day jellyfish evolved quite a long time ago, with their species going back some 500 to 700 million years. However, despite being rather ancient and being invertebrates, scientists now say they’re likely much smarter than previously thought.
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00:00Modern-day jellyfish evolved quite a long time ago, with their species going back some 500 to
00:09700 million years. But despite being rather ancient and being invertebrates, scientists now
00:14say they're likely much smarter than previously thought. Jellyfish only have a thousand nerve
00:18cells, and they also don't have a brain. Still, researchers say they are capable of learning at
00:23a much higher level than anyone expected. Researchers found that when hunting creatures
00:27amongst mangroves in the Caribbean, box jellyfish must determine their distance from the roots of
00:32these plants, or they can get caught up in them. But a jellyfish's visual system relies heavily on
00:36contrast, something that changes in the colorization of the root systems of mangroves on a daily basis
00:41due to rain, meaning jellyfish are forced to make new calculations daily, learning from previous
00:46contrast changes amongst the root color. The researchers say this likely has to do with how
00:50intelligence potential is more related to the complexity of a nervous system versus brain size,
00:55with the researchers writing, quote, this suggests that advanced learning may have been one of the
00:59most important evolutionary benefits of the nervous system from the very beginning.