00:03modern-day jellyfish evolved quite a long time ago with their species going back some 500 to 700
00:09million years but despite being rather ancient and being invertebrates scientists now say they're
00:14likely much smarter than previously thought jellyfish only have a thousand nerve cells
00:19and they also don't have a brain still researchers say they are capable of learning at a much higher
00:24level than anyone expected researchers found that when hunting creatures amongst mangroves
00:28in the caribbean box jellyfish must determine their distance from the roots of these plants or they
00:33can get caught up in them but a jellyfish's visual system relies heavily on contrast something that
00:37changes in the colorization of the root systems of mangroves on a daily basis due to rain meaning
00:42jellyfish are forced to make new calculations daily learning from previous contrast changes amongst
00:47the root color the researchers say this likely has to do with how intelligence potential is more
00:52related to the complexity of a nervous system versus brain size with the researchers writing quote this
00:57suggests that advanced learning may have been one of the most important evolutionary benefits of the
01:01nervous system from the very beginning
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