Could a sedentary organism develop intelligence, or even sentience?

Similar to Could Plants Develop Sentience? but slightly more general: I'm not interested in plants in particular, but want a more general understanding of the effect of motion on intelligence and vice versa.

In general intelligent lifeforms on Earth, like hominids, cephalopods, and cetaceans, are highly mobile. Mobility and intelligence seem to be linked in our home ecosystem with the most mobile creatures having the largest brain-to-body mass ratios.

So the question I have is reasonably simple: is this a coincidence, a consequence, or a prerequisite for intelligent life? Could a sedentary creature, of any order, develop high levels of intelligence, possibly even sentience, or does intelligence require and/or beget movement?

For the sake of clarity my initial thought in asking this question was geared toward ambush predators like the snapping turtle only more sedentary in habit since most ambush predators I can think of move between kills and this theoretical lifeform either couldn't or wouldn't.

posted over 6 years ago

Ash‭

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