Regarding the question of intelligence, commenting on what I said earlier, I should also note that it would be just as wrongheaded to think of sharks as being the pinnacle of evolution, or in some way more advanced than another species, simply on the basis of their evolutionary longevity, or indeed any other characteristic, as it would be to think of humans as the apex of evolutionary sophistication on the basis of intelligence.
Nature does not traffic in absolutes, and while the characteristics of one species are necessarily entangled with those of others, their ultimate value is always accounted for at the level of the individual. For this reason, it's actually possible that intelligence could be a "desirable" characteristic, but if this be so, it is only because we ourselves desire it! And since the object of this desire is something that can only be known and understood by means of its own operation, by way of its very existence, it follows that this desire is at root, in actuality, a reflection of the natural regard and affection we have for ourselves and creatures that resemble us.
It is not, although it appears this way out of a total necessity, a universal quality or characteristic having any substantive existence outside our own peculiar assessment, somewhat akin to the persistent illusion that the sun travels around the earth -- rather than the reverse.
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