Can the killer whale, the king of the sea with the "strongest brain", create marine civilization?

Life originated in the ocean, but civilization was born on land. If humans do not interfere, will there be animals in the ocean that can create marine civilization in the future? If so, what kind of animals will they be?

There are indeed many smart animals in the ocean, but to create a civilization, IQ alone is not enough. Scientists believe that if a creature wants to gradually develop into intelligent life and create its own civilization, it must meet at least four basic elements. The first is a high enough IQ. The second is that it must be a social animal, and family members can carry out relatively complex collaboration. The third is to have inheritance, that is, the older individuals can pass on their experience to their children and continue to develop on this basis. The fourth is that the life span cannot be too short.

These four elements are like a sieve that keeps most animals in the ocean out, but there is one animal that is an exception, and that is the killer whale.

The status of killer whales in the ocean is very similar to that of humans on land, both of which are dominant. Of course, in terms of combat power alone, killer whales are not without rivals, but they can easily control their opponents with their superior intelligence. We all know that there is a top killer in the ocean, the great white shark, but it often becomes the meal of killer whales.

Killer whales do not hunt great white sharks simply by relying on their own fighting power, but rather through their wisdom.

It will first knock over the great white shark, and then the great white shark will secrete a chemical substance in its body to put itself into a state called "tonic immobility". The purpose of this is to prevent its mind from falling into panic, and then it will quickly turn over and regain consciousness. The killer whale will seize the opportunity when the great white shark is unconscious and bite it to prevent it from turning over. If the great white shark does not swim, there will be no water flowing through its gills, and it will soon suffocate, so the killer whale can complete its hunting without bloodshed. In the sea, killer whales have some powerful enemies, such as humpback whales and gray whales, and killer whales can also use their wisdom to eliminate them.

Killer whales will find human whaling ships and then guide the ships to the activity areas of humpback whales and gray whales, asking humans to help them kill them. This behavior is absolutely impossible to accomplish without extremely high IQ.

Why are killer whales so smart? Because the ratio of killer whales' brain weight to body weight, or the encephalization index, is about 3. In the ocean, only bottlenose dolphins have a higher encephalization index, about 4, while humans only have an encephalization index of 7.5. More importantly, scientists have discovered through magnetic resonance imaging that killer whales have even more folds and wrinkles in their brains than humans.

In addition to their high intelligence, killer whales are also highly social animals.

In a killer whale family, male killer whales will never leave, and female killer whales will only go out to mate after they reach adulthood, and then they will come back to give birth. The connection between members is extremely close. Older killer whales will pass on their knowledge and skills to the younger members of the family. In coastal areas where killer whales are present, the bodies of seals that have been killed but not eaten by killer whales can often be found. These dead seals are tools for killer whales to hunt and train. Finally, killer whales are also a long-lived marine animal. Male killer whales are between 30 and 60 years old, and females can live to 50 to 100 years old.

Although killer whales are very smart and meet the four basic elements for creating a civilization, it is still unlikely for them to create an ocean civilization, because the concept of "ocean civilization" itself is unlikely to appear.

Why? Because the emergence of civilization is a gradual process, in which the use of energy and the improvement of productivity need to promote each other. Fire cannot be used in the ocean, which greatly limits the use of energy. Without the ability to use energy far beyond physical strength, productivity cannot be greatly improved, and it cannot react to the development of wisdom, so the ocean civilization may always be just a legend.