[aithrowawaycomm]

I am unable to think of a single animal behavior popularly ascribed to intelligence but in fact explainable by rote instinct. Do you have an example?

OTOH there are plenty of animal behaviors that can only be explained by intelligence: seeing-eye dogs perform a task which is economically useful for humans yet far beyond the ability of AI (even if the robotics mech eng issues are resolved). But it also doesn't really make sense that one of my cats is "instinctually" able to understanding my words while the other cat is "instinctually" able to outsmart me when we play with toys. The more sensible explanation is cats are intelligent and intellectually diverse.

[damnitbuilds]

Squirrels burying acorns, "wily" foxes, beaver dams, migration, etc. etc. etc.