the smartest thing I ever heard from a public school teacher

I was in 7th grade and we were watching a video about reptiles. At one point, I interjected that crocodiles are stupid animals. The teacher looked at me and said "maybe, but they're good at what they do and have been around for a lot longer than we have." That was the day I learned that a good teacher knows when to make a student feel stupid.

In nature, it doesn't matter how big, small, weird, ugly, beautiful, cruel, kind, smart, or dumb a living thing is. Those are human labels. All that matters in biology is survival and reproduction. Here are  visual aids for that:

This Organism REPLICATED Tokyo’s Subway System #science #biomimicry #slimemold - YouTube

Dissecting A Bug | Starship Troopers | Voyage

How alligators survive in frozen water