Interesting point about the birds of prey.
They SEEM to have very close bondings,
when forced to.
But, one wonders how much they actually
have a need to develop intelligence. This
is the nub of why most predators are just
dismissed. Yes, we don't have an accurate
way of measuring, but we also don't see why
they'd need the trait. They are usually really
specialized killing machines, and investing in
intelligence seems less productive.
But, with octopi, it's been made clear that they
are far more intelligent than one might assume.