The Intelligence of Invertebrate Animals

From earthworms threading mazes to octopi outwitting crabs, Maynard Shipley leads a vivid tour of the minds of animals without backbones. Through clear experiments and field stories, he weighs instinct against learning to show how invertebrates remember, adapt, and solve problems. Meet worms choosing routes and fitting materials to their burrows; hermit crabs selecting protective sea-anemones and homing with precision; horseshoe crabs cooperating to right a stranded mate; and spiders engineering elegant webs guided by touch. Explore tool-using wasps, beetles that recruit helpers, bees with ultraviolet vision and communicative dances, ants that farm, share food, wage war, and organize complex societies, and termites building colossal communal cities. Shipley’s engaging, listener-friendly science argues for a continuum of mind across species—flexible behavior, memory, and even emotion—far beyond reflex. Eric Leeb’s warm, accessible narration makes the discoveries feel fresh and immediate, perfect for fans of ethology, natural history, and anyone curious about where intelligence begins.