This footage was filmed and produced 22 September 2023.

Caribbean box jellyfish, despite lacking a brain and having only 1,000 nerve cells, can learn to navigate obstacles to catch prey, challenging previous notions of their simplicity.

These tiny creatures, with a complex visual system comprising 24 eyes, have adapted to their surroundings, allowing them to hunt water fleas among the mangrove roots of Caribbean swamps.

Researchers from the University of Kiel, Germany, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, conducted experiments that demonstrate the jellyfish's ability to learn. This suggests that learning and memory may have much older evolutionary roots than previously believed, possibly dating back to the early days of animal life.

The researchers hope this newfound understanding could inform the development of learning robots and more energy-efficient information processing systems.