Think humans are the smartest animals? Not so fast.
15 of the Smartest Animals in the World
Raccoons pick locks
If you’re planning a whimsical animal burglary, you’ll definitely want a raccoon anchoring your squad. In a bizarre 1908 study by ethologist H.B. David, raccoons were able to pick complex locks in fewer than 10 attempts, even after the locks were rearranged or flipped upside down. Studies have found that raccoons boast an impeccable memory, and are able to recall solutions to tasks for up to three years.
Bonus fact: Thanks to their broad hearing range, raccoons can literally hear earthworms moving underground. (How this will benefit you in your heist is for you to determine.)
Crows know physics
Not only can crows recognize faces, to help them differentiate between predatory and benign species, they also understand basic physics. Crows in a lab setting have mastered water displacement to maneuver a treat within reach, and wild crows have been known to change migration patterns to avoid farms where crows have been killed in the past.
If you need more crow trivia, crows in your own neighborhood may even memorize city garbage routes so they can snag their favorite food droppings on trash day. Cool, calculating and known to harbor a grudge, we feel obligated to remind you that a group of them is called a murder.
Pigs use mirrors
Think dogs are man’s best friend? Pigs give them a run for their money. Like dogs, pigs have been shown to understand emotions, demonstrate empathy, solve mazes, learn simple symbolic languages and, most adorably, make friends. And as some of the smartest animals in the world, the youngest pigs put our youngest humans to shame.
In an experiment where British piglets had to use mirrors to divine the path to a hidden bowl of food, pigs as young as six weeks old learned the concept of reflection within a few hours—a milestone that takes baby humans several months to grasp.
Octopi are master escape artists
True prison-breakers of the sea, these tentacled creatures might be the smartest animals: They have proven time and time again their talents for popping lids off screw-top jars, compressing their bulky bodies through slit-small holes and climbing to freedom out of aquariums.
Otto, a German aquarium octopus, was even known to throw rocks at the glass and spray water at overhead lamps to short-circuit the annoyingly bright lights—on more than one occasion! Add to their rap sheet the innovation of assembling shelters from coconut shells, and there’s no denying cephalopods will one day be our overlords.
Squirrels use sleight of hand
If you’ve ever second-guessed yourself while trying to remember an online account password, know that you have stooped to sub-squirrel intelligence. According to a Princeton University study, grey squirrels are capable of remembering where thousands of nuts are buried—for months at a time.
Squirrels even use subterfuge to trick would-be nut takers. In another study, squirrels who knew they were being watched dug fake holes for their nuts, making a show of digging and patting dirt over the phony cache. Instead, they hid their precious nuts under their armpits or in their mouths until they could find a more suitable hiding spot elsewhere.
Dolphins cheat
Dolphins are often cited as the second-smartest animals on earth due to their relatively high brain-to-body size ratio, capacity to show emotion and impressive mimicry skills. Not only are dolphins animals with high IQs, they may be one of the sneakiest animals on Earth, according to a study from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi.
When dolphins at the Institute were trained to pick up litter in their tanks and exchange them with trainers for fish, one dolphin named Kelly discovered a way to game the system. By hiding scraps of litter under a rock in her tank, Kelly discretely tore single sheets of discarded paper into multiple pieces, then turned them in one at a time to maximize her fishy reward. Kelly’s clever deception, it seems, was no accident; researchers say she did it all on purpose.
Bees hold dance-offs
Honeybees have what’s called “swarm intelligence,” with up to 50,000 workers in a single colony coming together to make democratic decisions. When a hive gets too crowded in springtime, colonies deploy scouts to look for a new home. If any scouts disagree on where the colony should build its next hive, they argue their case the civilized way—through a dance-off.
Each scout performs a “waggle dance” for other scouts in an attempt to convince them of their spot’s merit; the more enthusiastic the dance, the happier the scout was with his spot. The remainder of the colony votes with their bodies, flying to the spot they prefer and joining in the dance until one potential hive reigns as the No. 1 bee disco in the neighborhood.
Elephants don’t need Facebook
In case you’ve forgotten, elephants have incredible memories. They’re able to recall specific routes to watering holes over vast stretches of terrain, even many years later. They never forget a friend, either. Consider this story of an elephant named Shirley that arrived at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Immediately, a resident elephant named Jenny became animated and playful. It wasn’t love at first sight—Jenny remembered Shirley from when they performed briefly in a circus together, 22 years earlier.
Chickens know shapes and colors
Although chickens can sometimes have an unintelligent rap, they are very smart. In fact, they can even differentiate certain shapes and colors. According to Melissa Caughey, author of How to Speak Chicken and A Kid’s Guide to Keeping Chickens, chickens taught to peck at certain shapes could always pick out the shapes—even if they were rearranged. And when a shape was removed, they looked for it and knew it was missing. When the shape was put back? You guessed it: They could find it again.
Rats solve puzzles
You might not think of rats as the smartest animals, since humans are continually using them for experiments. But did you consider that the reason we use them is because they’re smart, and can handle the puzzles we throw at them? They can memorize routes (hence, the mazes), even though their eyesight is far less acute than ours is.
Rats have problem-solving skills on par with dogs, despite their brains being much smaller. Equally impressive, researchers at Belgian university KU Leuven found that while a rat’s brain is smaller and less complex than a human one, the two are remarkably similar in structure and function.
Pigeons can memorize images
Here’s another of the smartest animals that you probably have the exact opposite impression of. Pigeons, despite their comically clumsy walking style and seemingly vacant stares, are not as bird-brained as you might think! In a complex German study, pigeons were shown 725 random black-and-white images one at a time. They were able to differentiate between the images in an identification game that, according to Psychology Today, would give most humans trouble.
We’re not saying that the next time you shoo a pigeon it’ll remember your face for all eternity, but you might want to be careful just in case!
African Grey parrots are as smart as 3-year-olds
Besides being able to mimic humans, parrots are intelligent animals that can solve puzzles based on logical reasoning. And a particular type of parrot, the African Grey, is as smart as a 3-year-old child. Researchers at the University of Vienna found that African Grey parrots can draw conclusions about where to find a food reward based not only on direct clues, but the absence of clues.
“It suggests that Grey parrots have some understanding of causality, and that they can use this to reason about the world,” study scientist Christian Schloegl told Live Science. The African Grey parrot Alex (1965–2007) was reported to be the world’s smartest parrot, and another parrot, Griffin, succeeded in outperforming Harvard students!
Portia spiders use trial-and-error
What the heck is this thing?! Well, it’s a genus of spider whose undeniable intelligence is about to turn up the dial on your arachnophobia. (Luckily, they pose no danger to humans.) There are multiple species of Portia, which are native to Southeast Asia, parts of Africa and northeastern Australia. And their hunting tactics show clear evidence of problem-solving abilities—if one technique doesn’t work, they’ll give something else a try.
They’ve earned the nickname “eight-legged cats” because of their skillful, intelligence-driven hunting. Sometimes they’ll take hours to stalk a single prey spider, perching on its web and moving so slowly that they don’t cause any reverberations that might clue in their prey.
Dogs are as smart as toddlers
There’s a reason dogs are man’s best friend. Not only are they adorable, they’re also crazy smart. They have emotions, they learn tricks, they recognize their owners, they can sense others’ feelings—and that’s not even all of the clever things dogs can do. The average dog can learn 165 words, which is similar to the language skills of a 2-year-old child. And the smartest 20% of dogs can learn 250 words! Researcher Stanley Coren, a canine expert and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, found that dogs are better at arithmetic than 3- and 4-year-old children.
Chimpanzees are very similar to humans
Unsurprisingly, chimpanzees are one of the most intelligent animals on this planet—next to humans, of course. Similar to how humans inherit their intelligence from their mothers, a chimpanzee’s intelligence also greatly relies on their genes, according to researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia. (Chimp intelligence is about half genes and half environment). And renown chimp researcher and anthropologist Jane Goodall has found “countless” instances of chimp tool use, including using sticks to collect termites from underground burrows and employing leaves to collect water, as she explains in a Master Class video.
Additional reporting by Brittany Gibson.
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Sources:
- Discover: “How Intelligence Is Measured In The Animal Kingdom”
- Master Class: “Dr. Jane Goodall Explains Chimpanzee Tool Use”
- International Journal of Comparative Psychology: “Thinking Pigs: A Comparative Review of Cognition, Emotion, and Personality in Sus domesticus”
- Princeton Alumni Weekly: “Lucia Jacobs *87 Investigates the Fascinating Behavior of Squirrels”
- Guardian: “Why dolphins are deep thinkers”
- How to Speak Chicken by Melissa Caughey
- Harvard Business Review: “Rats Can Be Smarter Than People”
- Psychology Today: “Pigeons Can Solve a Task that Would Stump Us”
- Live Science: “This parrot beat 21 Harvard students in a classic memory game”
- Live Science: “Are cats and dogs smarter than babies?”
- Live Science: “Parrots Can Reason Like 3-year-olds”
