Whoa, hold up—what does the lifespan and planning horizon of humans have to do with “most evolved creatures”? Plenty of things live less than ten years.
So: a mouse may not be able to conceive of “extinction of all its relatives in 20 years”. That might conceivably hinder it in making an adaptive decision—it’s brain is too small to understand the options.
Whoa, hold up—what does the lifespan and planning horizon of humans have to do with “most evolved creatures”? Plenty of things live less than ten years.
So: a mouse may not be able to conceive of “extinction of all its relatives in 20 years”. That might conceivably hinder it in making an adaptive decision—it’s brain is too small to understand the options.