From recognizing faces to mediating arguments, here are 10 of the smartest animals in the
world!
10.)
Manta Ray While much is still unknown about the manta
ray, scientists have discovered that they have the biggest brains of all the world’s
fishes, which is about 32,000 species total.
The brain of the manta ray is known to be about ten sizes bigger than the white sharks.
It is also big in comparison to their body.
A manta ray’s smarts has recently been compared to that of a gorilla!!
Who would have known, right??
Giant manta rays often jump right out of the water, possibly as a form of communication
or even play.
They are also known to recognize themselves in mirrors.
In a 2016 study, scientists found that captive mantas swam repetitively back and forth in
front of a mirror for an unusually long time, while they examined body parts that they otherwise
wouldn’t see and they seemed to know it was their own reflection.
They display intelligent behavior, such as coordinated and cooperative feeding.
9.)
Dogs Man’s best friend has been hanging out with
us for as long as 32,000 years!!
While scientists argue about how to measure intelligence exactly, the average dog is said
to have the intelligence of a 2-year-old child although some breeds are smarter than others.
As pack animals, dogs understand social structure and obligations and are capable of learning
how to behave around other members of the pack.
Dogs will correct each other’s behaviour and reward each other for acting accordingly.
But just because they can learn and obey commands, it doesn’t mean it is the only street smarts
they have.
Do you know what breed is considered the most intelligent in the world??
Go ahead and write your answer in the comments below!
The answer is coming up!!
Psychologically, dogs are more similar to us than we know.
They can feel empathy and are sensitive to our emotions.
They like to make eye contact and can understand what different looks mean, unlike wolves who
always assume looking them straight in the eye is a challenge!
By making eye contact with your dog in a friendly way, we increase our oxytocin levels which
is sometimes referred to as the “love hormone”.
A study found that dogs see us as part of their family and they prioritize human smells
over all other smells.
They react to subtle cues and their brain responds when they hear emotional sounds like
crying or laughter.
Apes who are much closer to us genetically have a hard time understanding us.
Dog lovers probably already knew how smart their dogs were, but scientifically it has
been hard to prove.
There is a reason that dogs are chosen as guide dogs, because they can generalize.
They can apply training to new places and experiences they have never had before.
You probably think that your dog is the smartest, but as to the most intelligent breed?
The answer is the Border Collie!!
Why?
They were bred to be workaholics and would spend all day listening to commands and organizing
and managing different kinds of livestock.
This isn’t to say other breeds aren’t as smart.
Poodles and German Shepherds are a close second as they are said to have the intelligence
of a 4-7 year old child.
Border collies are able to make other animals do what they want, and they might manipulate
you too if you aren’t careful!!
They are extra focused and are great at all kinds of dog sports.
These dogs excel at high jump, utility courses, fly-ball, and can even excel in dog dancing
competitions.
They have an amazing sense of smell, which makes them widely accepted as great tracking
dogs.
They can also be trained as drug dogs and take part in search and rescues.
A border collie named Chaser, learned at least 1,000 words!
They make great companions and can anticipate what will happen next.
Is your dog super smart?
Let us know about your dog in the comments below!
8.)
Pigeons This one might surprise you since they are
usually just hanging around waiting for crumbs and are kind of dirty and gross.
Pigeons are considered to be one of the most intelligent birds on the planet and able to
undertake tasks previously thought to be the sole preserve of humans and primates.
The pigeon has also been found to pass the ‘mirror test, which means it can recognize
its reflection in a mirror, and is one of only 6 species, and the only non-mammal, that
has this ability.
Pigeons have also passed intelligence tests that show they can remember hundreds of images
after several years.
In fact, a new study showed that pigeons were able to categorize 128 photographs into 16
categories, like “shoes” and “trees”.
They can also be taught to perform a sequence of movements and to discriminate subtle differences
between two objects.
As a bonus pigeons are also able to find their way home, even when they are blindfolded.
They have better eyesight than humans do and have been trained by the US Coast Guard to
spot orange life jackets of people lost at sea.
They carried messages for the US Army during World Wars I and II, saving lives and providing
vital strategic information.
And now for number 7 but first be sure to subscribe!!
7.)
Chimpanzees The chimpanzee is widely regarded as the animal
that is most closely related to us.
Studies show that we share over 90% of our DNA and our genomes are 98% identical.
Studies that have been going on for the past 30 years have shown that chimpanzees can learn
to take on a lot of tasks that humans do, such as household chores and even learning
sign language.
One chimpanzee, known as Lucy, learned over 100 signs and combined them to make original
words.
Another chimpanzee, known as Washoe, learned approximately 150 signs.
She also excelled in areas like tickling, food, and play.
She adopted another chimp called Loulis as her son and began teaching him the same things
she had learned.
In the past it was believed that using tools was a thing that only humans did but actually
many other animals have proven to use tools too, so that doesn’t really separate us
much.
Chimps make and use their own tools, and even weapons to go out and hunt in organized groups
and warfare on other groups of chimps.
In several studies chimpanzees did better than humans on memory tests.
They can work together to get things done and will console losers and help mediate within
the group to restore peace after a fight.
6.)
Pigs Pigs just might be the smartest domestic animals
in the world.
Even though pigs are known to be dirty, silly creatures, they are actually extremely clean
and highly intelligent.
A new study showed that pigs could use mirrors to find their food and could deceive other
pigs and fake them out so they could eat more.
Both domestic and wild species are known for their ability to adapt to a variety of different
environmental conditions and quick learners.
They can be trained to do all kinds of tricks and certain big breeds have become a favorite
pet in the U.S. Pigs are also extremely flexible.
They are curious and insightful animals who are widely accepted as being smarter than
a 3 year old.
They are highly social animals and enjoy exploring their environment, sunbathing, socializing
and playing with their friends.
They also dream like humans, snuggle, and sleep nose to nose.
So...yeah, doesn’t make you feel good about eating them does it?
5.)
Octopuses People have been admiring the octopus and
its mysterious eyes for centuries!
A roman writer, Claudius Aelianus wrote in the 3rd century that the octopus was crafty
and mischievous.
Octopuses have the largest brains of any invertebrate.
The common octopus has 500 million neurons in its body but only about 130 million neurons
are in its brain.
A human has 100 billion neurons.
The remaining octopus neurons are actually in its arms and they all form part of a large
nervous system that helps it to use their tentacles to change color, touch, taste, and
even grow back if something happens to it.
In a sense, each arm has a mind of its own.
Animals are good at different things- aren’t we all?- so it is hard to compare each animal’s
intelligence to another but what octopuses can do is pretty awesome!!
They can navigate mazes, use visual clues and even unscrew jars to get the food that’s
inside.
And they can even unscrew a jar when they are inside of it to get out!
Octopuses are professional escape artists and can often be found in the hull of crabbing
boats, feeding on the catch.
These animals have incredibly keen eyesight, sense of touch, and are very fast.
One example of what an octopus can do happened at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium when one
of them decided to flood the tank by turning a valve and allowing hundreds of gallons of
water to overflow the tank.
Another example is Inky the octopus who made an escape at the National Aquarium of New
Zealand.
The lid of Inky's tank was left ajar at night, and he took advantage of this by climbing
out, walking across a room to a drain opening, and squeezing down a 160ft (50 meters) pipe
to the open ocean.
Sound familiar?
It is kind of the basis for the Disney-Pixar movie Finding Dory!
In other aquariums, the octopuses have learned how to squirt jets of water to the light bulbs
in their tank to short-circuit the power supply and turn the lights off.
They also can recognize different people and will treat them differently.
4.)
Dolphins You probably already know that dolphins are
smart but just how smart they are might surprise you.
If we consider ourselves as the most intelligent species, dolphins have a lot of similarities
to our human intelligence.
The more we study them, the smarter they are.
The brain of an adult bottlenose dolphin is 25% heavier than an adult human brain.
The ratio of brain size to body size is 5.6 whereas chimpanzees have 2.48.
Each dolphin has their own unique whistle and the others of the pod will use it to call
each other by name.
Dolphins develop strong emotional attachments and show empathy towards others.
They are often found staying with members of their group who are injured or sick.
They also can learn extremely quickly which is why they are used at aquatic parks and
even for military operations.
Dolphins will take what they have learned and teach other dolphins to do the same things.
A dolphin named Kelly at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in the US, learned that
if she used her fish treats to lure a sea gull into the pool, they would give her lots
of fish as a reward.
She taught her calf and the other dolphins to do the same thing and now “gull-baiting”
is a popular activity for these dolphins since they can get a lot more fish than just the
one they are using as bait.
They can learn things just by watching and love to play which is sign of deep intelligence.
Sometimes they need to let off a little steam too!
They can also get bored and be extremely cruel, depending on their mood and what is going
on in their life.
3.)
African Grey Parrots The African Grey is a species of parrot that
is found in the West and Central African rainforest.
Parrots have long been able to show that they can mimic human speech, but this parrot can
associate words with their meaning and form small sentences.
They can learn to speak up to 1,000 words.
To prove that African grey parrots are one of the smartest species of birds, scientists
have performed many studies testing their intelligence because of the amount of vocabulary
they have to communicate with us.
Dr. Irene Pepperberg was responsible for training Alex.
Alex helped prove to the world that these birds have the mental and emotional capacities
of a 5-year-old human child.
They can solve puzzles, express emotions, and use new words to create new sentences
they haven’t been taught just by understanding their meaning.
2.)
Elephants In many cultures elephants are seen as a symbol
of wisdom and are known for their incredible memories.They create mental maps and are said
to remember exact locations of watering and feeding holes they haven’t visited for years.
Elephants clean their food and use tools in various ways in the wild.
They have the largest brain of any land animal and it is believed that elephants can learn
different languages.
Through a study in the UK, it was concluded that elephants learn how to tell a person’s
age, ethnicity, and gender by the language and way the person speaks.
Other studies have known that elephants have empathy and can show emotion.
In another study, elephants used both physical contact and vocal sounds as forms of comfort,
stroking one another with their trunks and emitting small chirps.
Along with this, elephants also can mimic the voices of humans.
In 2012, an Asian elephant named Koshik baffled researchers when they realized he could say
five words in Korean.
While it is almost certain Koshik doesn’t comprehend the meaning of the words, the researchers
believe he began mimicking sound as a way to bond with humans, which were his only form
of social contact as a young elephant.
1.
Ravens Ravens aren’t just creepy birds, they have
been admired throughout history for their wily ways and many cultures have stories about
them.
Ravens and their relatives such as crows and magpies are reputed to be really, really smart.
Ravens have 15 to 33 categories of recorded vocalizations.
They also play games and tricks on each other.
National Geographic reported that experiments have shown that ravens have cognitive levels
equal to people and some other great apes.
They and their family members have great problem-solving capabilities and can plan for future events.
Scientists used to think that that was a uniquely human characteristic since most animals live
in the present.
Thinking about the future is really abstract and even monkeys are unable to solve the tasks
that these birds can.
Crows living in urban areas are known to gather nuts from trees and then place them in the
street for passing cars to crack open the shells.
Then, after waiting patiently for the light to change, they go back to the street to retrieve
their nutty snack.
Crows have been proven to count, distinguish complex shapes, and perform observational
learning tasks.
The New Caledonian Crow has been intensely studied because of its ability to use tools
in its every day search for food.
They will make little knives by cutting leaves and stalks of grass.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the birds in the corvid family can also remember
individual human faces so try not to bother them too much unless you are wearing a mask!