Human beings are so egotistical – the self-proclaimed epitome of evolution, fashioned by a supernatural power no less, with whom the Chosen among us communicate thanks to our unique quality of language, complete with grammar and syntax, and episodic memory thanks to which we can relate our lofty experience to groveling scribes. But maybe we are not as special as we like to think. First came the revelation that other animals communicate and have opinions .
Then came the news that elephants are capable of first-order intentionality . They are aware of others and will tailor their communication accordingly. Now, Prof.
Yossi Yovel of Tel Aviv University, Dr. Lee Harten and an international team report on episodic memory and planning capacity in the wild Egyptian fruit bat. Their paper was published in the Cell journal Current Biology in July .
Similarly to first-order intentionality, episodic memory is widely considered to be a high-level cognitive ability that many assume to be unique to humans. Truth is that the Tel Aviv team and their aviating animals were preceded by a study on cuttlefish, which concluded that the mollusks were capable of episodic memory. Not only were we knocked off our pedestal, but by an invertebrate no less .
What is episodic memory? Information of recent or less recent experiences or events: what you ate for brunch and where you did so, for instance. Where you first heard that cats can speak and where the cat sat when it told you that. You might rememb.