How many brains does a cactus have?

Answer 1

The cactus is a rarity in the plant world, differing greatly in many ways to that of normal plants.

The most obvious of these is the sharp spines instead of leaves and the large fleshy body, in stark contrast to the lithe, straw-like stems of over plants.

Of course the greatest difference cacti have with other members of the plant family, is their number of brains.

It is a well known fact that most, average house and garden plants, have only two brains, due to their simple cognitive behaviour, some larger wild species having up to three in some cases.

The cactus however is renowned for it's many brains, sometimes having up to five, this is almost the same as a human being (7 brains). As intelligence is measured by the number of brains a species has, cacti are the most intelligent of all plant species. In much the same way humans are the most intelligent mammals.

The reason the cactus has so many brains, is because it requires the high brain power required for it to live in the harsh arid climates that it does.

Deserts are renowned for their distinct lack of widespread water availability, and so the cactus needs, at least, five brains in order to effectively search for and find the water so necessary for its survival.

An interesting note, scientists are striving to find a way to train cacti to perform simple tasks, much like dogs or chimpanzees, for use in low level assembly work on construction lines as cacti require less supervision and maintenance than robotic assembly arms.