One of the smartest animals on earth. The smartest animals. Mammals with highly developed intelligence

We know that primates are highly trainable. It turns out that besides them, pigs are quite smart, dogs understand humans very well, and they confirm their mental capacity dolphins.

Pigs are smart animals

They quickly understand how a mirror works and enjoy looking at their reflection. However, scientists cannot answer whether pigs identify their reflection with themselves, as monkeys do, or not.

It is known that pigs quickly get used to a certain daily routine. They sense time and begin to worry shortly before feeding. They are also easy to train. The pig can be called one of the cleanest animals. If there is a clean, dry place, it will never lie on a dirty one. In the United States, it is not uncommon to see pigs as pets.

Understanding dogs

Sometimes it seems that the dog understands literally everything that the owner tells it, but this is an illusion. In fact, she does not understand, but perceives our speech. Knowing more than two hundred words, this animal is not able to understand them in a sentence, or to link the meaning of several such words into one whole. A person's friend is able to grasp the emotional coloring of what was said and understand the intonation.

A dog's mind lags behind a human's by a huge distance, however, the feelings of this animal are the same as those of a human. When making a decision, the dog is primarily guided by its feelings. It is known that the more the owner and the dog are emotionally connected, the more it “understands” its owner.

How intelligent are dolphins?

It is known that the average weight of the human brain is one kilogram four hundred grams, and average weight the brain of an adult dolphin is one kilogram, seven hundred grams. Their brains have twice as many convolutions, but there are far fewer neurons per cubic centimeter than in a primate brain. The dolphin never sleeps completely. In this his brain is completely unique. Either his left or his right hemisphere sleeps, alternately.

Dolphins have a very Difficult language. Man has recently learned to partially understand it. Like people, dolphins live social life. In order to teach her children all the features of life in dolphin society, the female takes care of them for several years after birth.

What can monkeys learn?

Primates have very complex and large brains. They are capable of building a complex culture, and even have some control over their environment. As a result of long-term observations, it became clear that all primates communicate freely with members of their own species, which indicates the development of certain language skills.

Experiments aimed at discovering what can be taught to monkeys have yielded many interesting findings. Those primates who were not afraid of snakes were taught to be afraid of them. To do this, they were forced to listen to scary and loud sounds made by snakes. The most amazing thing is that the monkeys, who were not afraid of snakes, but observed the fear of other monkeys, also began to be afraid of them.

Scientists have proven that a monkey, like a human, can be taught to swim well. It is known that monkeys such as chimpanzees enthusiastically imitate humans. They can easily learn to eat with a knife and fork.

Many species of primates are able to learn to speak sign language, which is used by deaf and mute people. They can master several dozen characters in just a few months.

The smartest animal in the world

Another opinion is that the smartest animal is the dolphin. There are grounds for such a conclusion. Firstly, they have twice as many convolutions in the cerebral cortex as humans. Well, secondly, dolphins can control their brains much more better than man. After all, none of the living beings is able to force either the right or the left hemisphere to work.

But the smartest person in the world turned out to be a woman...
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Some of the abilities of our smaller brothers make us not just wonder, but think hard.

Perhaps we only think that we are watching animals, but in reality they are looking down on us, and thinking to themselves, how stupid and narrow-minded these people are!

10. Proteins

Despite its small size and small brain volume, the squirrel's intelligence is approximately that of a two- or three-year-old child. These familiar little animals are not as simple as they seem, but this is due to their phenomenal memory! For the winter, a squirrel can make, just think, thousands of caches of supplies and remember them in spades, which is confirmed by experiments. In the animal’s head there is a real GPS map or GLONASS navigator, which even a person cannot boast of. After all, often we cannot find even keys or a mobile phone that were placed somewhere, but the squirrel remembers everything! The squirrel is extremely inventive! If she sees that a person has noticed where she hid the food, rest assured that when you leave, the animal will definitely hide everything! Scientists have proven that in the wild, squirrels actively communicate with each other. They exchange information about food sources, including those that can be stolen from humans. The high intelligence of squirrels is also evidenced by their good learning ability. A tamed animal quickly remembers its nickname and readily responds to it.

9. Rats

This biological species has been living next to humans for many centuries and, largely thanks to this, has become wiser. Many people dislike these animals, and for good reason, since rats carry infections and create unsanitary conditions. Meanwhile, you can’t deny them high intelligence! These rodents are excellent masters of adaptation; they thrive in both hot India and cold Yakutia. In terms of spatial thinking, rats are at least as good as humans. In some incomprehensible way, they manage to accurately find a way out of the most complex labyrinths. In general, there are legends about the cunning of rats; it’s not without reason that they say “cunning as a rat”! Rodents form complexly organized societies with leaders, soldiers, scouts and other specialized individuals. Also, rats communicate with each other using ultrasound and dozens of types of calls, each of which has its own meaning. Scientists have proven that the rat is the only creature on Earth (except humans) that can laugh. Incredibly, these animals actually showed a specific reaction to funny situations!

8. Bees

Although, strictly speaking, bees are not animals, but insects, we still decided to include them in our rating, placing them in eighth place. Not only bees, but also ants and termites have so-called swarm intelligence or collective intelligence. Bees build an orderly hive, reminiscent of a human city, in which each of its inhabitants has their own useful feature. For example, there are worker honey bees, as well as drones, whose duties include fertilizing the queen. The latter is busy only with laying eggs, which are looked after by special bees-educators. Surprisingly, all this very complex system works smoothly and reproduces itself, which is impossible without intelligence, albeit a collective one. Recent studies have shown that bees exchange information with each other by performing dances while in flight. Already, scientists are able to distinguish at least 60 individual dance words, but most likely there are many more. Not all mammals, which are generally considered the crown of evolution, have such a developed signaling system.

7. Pigs

Pigs are confidently one of the three most intelligent pets. In the wild, they are no less intelligent, and also very dangerous. It’s not for nothing that there is a saying among hunters: “If you’re going to hunt a bear, prepare a bed, if you’re going to hunt a wild boar, prepare a coffin.” The Pig has excellent analytical skills, and its sense of time is simply phenomenal. Animals on automated farms sense the approaching feeding time with an accuracy of one minute! But if you ask a person who does not have a watch what time it is, at best they will answer you with an accuracy of 10 minutes! Scientists have discovered the exceptional ingenuity of pigs when it comes to finding food. To do this, these animals use tricks that can easily deceive even humans. The high intelligence of pigs and quick learning allows them to perform in the circus and even play simple games. computer games using a patch and light signs. Animals have excellent long-term memory and an excellent sense of smell, which is particularly used to search for truffle mushrooms.

6. Crows

These birds are considered geniuses among birds, and in some manifestations of intelligence they are in no way inferior to higher primates. Crows have a well-developed logical thinking. American scientists managed to teach these birds to collect coins and throw them into a vending machine to get nuts for it. There was no need to teach them to crack nuts at all - any adult raven knows perfectly well that to do this it is enough to fly higher and release the nut from its paws above a hard surface. The memory of crows breaks all records. Students at the University of Washington caught several birds, measured them, weighed them, and released them. However, the birds did not forgive such treatment and for three months after that they chased students around the campus and shit on them as a whole flock. Moreover, those who did not take part in catching birds were never harmed! Crows learn quickly and, as adults, confidently use simple tools, such as a digging stick. Birds are fluent in theft techniques, using a complex strategy when one individual distracts attention, and the second steals food.

5. Cats

In many ways high intelligence these animals owe thousands of years life together with a person. Thanks to people, domestic cats have mastered complex behavior patterns and even, oddly enough, learned to speak! Please note that cats communicate with each other by screaming and hissing, and with humans - with a variety of meows and purrs. A cat's tongue is extremely rich! English researcher Alexandra Sellers compiled a cat dictionary, which included more than 3,000 words spoken by Murks and Barsiks, each of which has a clear meaning. Cats are extremely inventive and cunning animals, in addition to being highly trainable. It is not without reason that in many circus performances the performance of cats is the highlight of the program. At the same time, a cat will never do anything it doesn’t want, which, out of ignorance, can be mistaken for dullness. In reality, this is a manifestation of a practical mind. In fact, if a person is forced to do something completely unnecessary for him, he will obviously exclaim, “I’m not a fool to do this”! A smart cat thinks something like this, which also speaks about the independence of her thinking.

4. Dogs

Dogs are confidently the leaders among all animals in terms of so-called social intelligence. By huddling in packs, dogs demonstrate miracles of self-organization. Each individual in such communities has its own specialization. For example, there are scout dogs, fighters, puppy trainers, elders and even healers who skillfully lick the wounds of their brothers. Of course, dogs communicate with each other by barking, growling and other information-filled sounds. It's hard to count how many words are in a dog's dictionary, but... we're talking about about thousands of concepts and shades of meaning, there is no doubt. The dog learns quickly, knows how to accumulate knowledge, and is familiar with the sense of justice. A dog's intelligence is most evident when interacting with a person. It is easy to teach a dog to count to ten, and the smartest four-legged animals understand up to 150 words in human languages, mostly in the form of commands. By the way, the smartest dog breeds are collies, German shepherds and, oddly enough, poodles.

3. Elephants

Brain size African elephant 4 times more than in humans and reach a mass of 5 kilograms. This is an absolute record among living creatures living on Earth. Scientists say that elephants are self-aware, so they can be considered partially intelligent. It is difficult to argue with this statement, because elephants, just like people, can experience grief, joy, compassion and fun. An undoubted indicator of the highest intelligence of elephants is their ability to altruism, that is, behavior that does not bring immediate benefit, but justifies itself in the long term at the level of a large population. It is widely known that elephants in the wild observe funeral rituals. They cover their fallen brothers with plants and gather around the bodies to honor the memory of the departed elephants. These animals have a phenomenal memory - they can remember for the rest of their lives (and they live up to 70 years) people who have done them harm or, on the contrary, acted kindly. Elephants, like people, have humor, ingenuity, and even an understanding of abstract things. In India, as well as Africa, there is a thriving business selling paintings of elephants' trunks to tourists.

2. Monkeys

The honorable second place in our ranking is occupied by monkeys, namely chimpanzees and orangutans. They are so smart that their IQ is measured according to human parameters. The most developed monkeys raised by people, have an IQ of 70, which corresponds to the level of a primary school student. Moreover, the genetic makeup of chimpanzees is 98% identical to that of humans. In wild nature great apes communicate using sounds, words and sign language. They make extensive use of tools, such as flat stones for cracking nuts and digging sticks. Chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas live in packs with clear specialization of community members. Like people, packs of monkeys wage wars among themselves over food plots, and also exchange brides and grooms to avoid degeneration. However, the real surprise is caused by monkeys raised by humans. For example, a chimpanzee named Kanzi, trained by scientists at the University of Georgia, understood at least 3,000 English words. And he could use about 500 words by pressing the keys of a special device. There is no doubt - if it were not for man, then in a few hundred thousand years a civilization of monkeys would almost certainly appear on Earth!

1. Dolphins

And the first line of our top is confidently occupied by dolphins, who are most likely intelligent. They communicate with each other using ultrasonic signals-words, of which at least 14,000 have already been identified. And now attention! The average person's vocabulary is only 8,000 words, almost half that! But that's something else! Dolphins are also ahead of humans in terms of physiological parameters of the brain. The human thinking organ weighs on average 1400 grams, and the mass of a dolphin's brain is 1700 grams. Moreover, it’s a shame, but a dolphin’s brain has much more convolutions! To be fair, the dolphin is potentially smarter than a person. But why then do we catch them in a net and force them to perform in the circus, and not they us? The dolphin's problem is the lack of arms, or rather, palms with fingers that can do delicate work. In addition, in the process of evolution, dolphins did not have to survive hard, competing with others biological species, since in the sea they are at the very top of the food chain. Man had to fight fiercely for a place in the Sun, using his main advantage over others - his intellect and hands to boot. As a result, we learned to write, build cities and create various mechanisms. Thus, dolphins are not inferior to humans in intelligence and are even ahead of us in certain parameters. Without a doubt, they have self-awareness and understanding of abstract phenomena, but in the absence of technical civilization, they remain, albeit the most intelligent, animals.

Those people who have pets or who like to interact with wild nature understand: intelligence is not unique to humans. In this top 10 smartest animals in the world, I will tell you about ten creatures of our planet that surprise you with their intelligence.

10 Octopus

9 Squirrel

8 Rat

7 Raven

6 Jaco

5 Elephant

4 Cat

3 Dog

Regular dog, basically has the intelligence of a two-year-old human child. Most dogs can be taught some commands. A dog's brain can detect a million different smells. With good training, a dog can understand 250 words and gestures, and can understand numbers up to five.

1 Monkey

One of the smartest monkeys called chimpanzees and orangutans. Chimpanzees, for example, can communicate using gestures and create tools. They even have a sense of humor. Until two years old, a chimpanzee baby and a human child are practically no different in terms of intelligence, sometimes the chimpanzee even turns out to be smarter.

Animals have intelligence, memory, and feelings. It is worth remembering this every time you encounter your “neighbors on the planet.” And the fact that most of them cannot talk does not mean that animals are not capable of being worthy friends to a person.

A huge number of beautiful animals live on our planet. Scientists and specialists have been trying for a long time to determine who is the smartest among them? .

10th place: Rats

Yes, yes, we were not mistaken. Usually, when you hear the word “rat,” the image of a gray, unpleasant creature with long tail. In criminal jargon, a “rat” is a person who steals from his own people. But read the next few paragraphs and perhaps you will change your mind about these very smart animals.

They are always where we are. They feed on what we left behind. We may not even notice them, but they are here and building their dark kingdoms right under our feet. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. And they are not going anywhere. This is a well-oiled machine for conquering the world.

It has long been known that rats are among the most intelligent animals. As an example, let’s give a story from the head of one of the branches of the famous Moscow Eliseevsky store, Larisa Darkova.

It all started with the fact that rats managed to steal eggs without breaking them. For a long time surveillance was carried out, unnoticed by these gray rodents, in the basements of Eliseevsky. And this is what turned out. “In order not to damage the fragile shell,” says Larisa Darkova, “these clever people came up with the following: one rat lies on its back and rolls its muzzle into the hollow formed on its stomach egg. At this time, another “accomplice” grabs her by the tail, and thus they drag the egg into the hole.”

Humanity has been waging war against rats for centuries, but we cannot win. Some biologists are confident that gray rats have a collective mind that controls the actions of each individual individual. This hypothesis explains a lot: the speed with which gray rodents dealt with other species, and the success in their fight against people.

It is the collective mind that helps rats avoid inevitable death. The well-known phrase “rats fleeing a sinking ship” has behind it numerous officially recorded cases of rats leaving doomed ships in advance. Another example is earthquakes, which, according to scientists, cannot be accurately predicted. And the rats simply leave the city a day or two before tremors that could destroy buildings. Perhaps the rat hivemind is able to see the future better than us humans.

Rats have a clear hierarchy. In addition to the leader and subordinates, there are also so-called “scouts” in rat society. Thanks to this, all the efforts of mankind in inventing ingenious mousetraps and rat poisons are coming to naught. The “suicide bombers” “appointed” by the leader go on reconnaissance and try poisoned baits. Having received the SOS signal, the remaining members of the rat pack stop paying attention to poisonous products. And the “kamikazes” sit in their holes and drink water, trying to wash out their stomachs. The same is true with traps. If rats notice their relative in a trap, the flock will immediately leave the dangerous place.

The whole point is that, unlike a person, a rat never steps on the same rake twice, and therefore it is practically indestructible.

We may hate these gray rodents, but when you recognize their abilities, a feeling of respect automatically arises. The rat is a true superorganism, capable of living and thriving in almost any environment, the vitality of which has been developed over 50 million years.

They perfectly climb almost any surface, pipes and trees, can climb steep brick walls, crawl into a hole the size of a five-ruble coin, run at speeds of up to 10 km/h, swim and dive well (there is a known case when a rat swam 29 kilometers) .

When biting, a rat's teeth develop a pressure of 500 kg/sq.cm. This is enough to chew through the bars of the grill. A wild rat in an aggressive state can jump to a height of up to 2 meters. Rats can survive in absolutely extreme conditions that would certainly kill other animals. So, these, in general, heat-loving animals can live in refrigerators at a temperature of minus 17 degrees and even reproduce.

Rats, these practically invisible, nimble and intelligent creatures, are not afraid of a clumsy two-legged man, who, over many millennia of war, has not come up with anything smarter than a simple mousetrap.

9th place: Octopus

No. 9 on our list of the smartest animals is octopus is one of the smartest sea ​​creatures . They know how to play, distinguish various shapes and patterns (such as colored light bulbs), solve puzzles, navigate mazes, and have short-term and long-term memory. As a sign of respect for the intelligence of octopuses, some countries in the world have even passed laws requiring the use of anesthesia before performing operations on them.

Octopuses are invertebrates, and the closest species to them are squid and cuttlefish. In total, there are more than 200 species of different octopuses in the world that inhabit the seas and oceans of the Earth.

Octopuses are skilled hunters, acting from ambush. Open battle is not for them. This attack tactic also serves as a defense for the octopus itself. If necessary, the octopus throws out a cloud of ink, which disorients the predator attacking it. Octopus ink not only allows the owner to hide from sight, but also temporarily deprives the predator of its sense of smell. Maximum speed The octopus's movement is just over 30 km/h, but they can maintain this pace for a very short period of time.

Octopuses are very curious, which is usually associated with intelligence. In nature, they sometimes build their shelter houses from stones - this also indicates a certain intellectual level.

However, octopuses cannot realize that glass is transparent. This is proven by the following simple experiment: we give the octopus a treat in the form of his favorite crab, but in a “package” - a glass cylinder without a top lid. He can continue for a very long time in fruitless attempts to get food, knocking his body against the walls of a transparent vessel, although all he had to do was climb 30 centimeters along the glass, and he would freely penetrate through the open top of the cylinder to the crab. But it is enough for his tentacle to accidentally jump over the top edge of the glass vessel once, and he develops a conditioned reflex. Just one successful attempt is enough, and now the octopus knows exactly how to get the crab from behind the glass.

Octopus tentacles perform irreplaceable functions:

• they crawl on tentacles along the bottom;
• carry heavy loads;
• build nests with tentacles;
• open shellfish shells;
• attach their eggs to stones;
• They also perform guard duty.

The upper pair of hands is intended for feeling and examining surrounding objects. Octopuses use longer tentacles as attack weapons. When attacking prey or defending against an enemy, they try to grab the enemy with them. In “peaceful” times, “combat” arms turn into legs and serve as stilts when moving along the bottom.

The development of organs in animals that they can use as simple tools leads to the formation of a more complex brain.

Various experiments show that octopuses have excellent memory. And the “intelligence” of an animal is primarily determined by the ability of its brain to remember experiences. When everything is in order with memory, the next step is intelligence, which helps to draw conclusions from the experience gained.

Over the past 10 years, the most advanced experiments on the behavior of octopuses have been carried out at the marine station in Naples. Scientists have found that Octopuses are trainable. They They can distinguish geometric shapes just as well as elephants and dogs. - small square from a larger one, a rectangle shown vertically and horizontally, a white circle from a black one, a cross and a square, a diamond and a triangle. For making the right choice, the octopuses were given goodies; for a mistake, they received a weak electric shock.

Octopuses are easily hypnotized that says enough high organization his brain. One of the methods of hypnosis is to hold an octopus in the palm of your hand for some time with its mouth up, the tentacles should hang down. When an octopus is hypnotized, you can do whatever you want with it - it doesn't wake up. You can even throw it, and it will fall lifeless, like a piece of rope.

These intelligent marine animals are still poorly understood, but scientists are constantly discovering new and impressive abilities of octopuses.

8th place: Dove

Pigeons in large quantities can be found in all major cities, and most of us consider these birds to be “bad” creatures that get under our feet. But numerous scientific experiments show that these are very smart birds. For example, pigeons can remember and recognize hundreds of different images over many years.

The most common and well-known pigeon is the rock pigeon (lat. columba livia) - a bird whose homeland is considered to be Europe. A group of scientists from the Japanese Keio University showed through experiments that rock pigeons are able to recognize themselves in the mirror better than small children. Before these studies, it was believed that only humans, primates, dolphins and elephants had such abilities.

The experiments were carried out as follows. The pigeons were shown 3 videos simultaneously. The first video showed them in real time (i.e. a mirror), the second showed their movements a few seconds ago, and the third was recorded several hours before the present moment. The birds made a choice with their beaks, pointing in a certain direction. According to the results of these tests, it turned out that pigeons remember their actions with a delay of up to 5-7 seconds.

Pigeons can be trained to perform a sequence of movements and distinguish between two objects with small differences - quite impressive for a simple pest.

IN Tsarist Russia pigeons were valued no less than large farm animals. Noble families bred their own breeds of pigeons, and these birds were a source of special pride and were passed on through generations.

The useful skills of pigeons have always been valued. For example, these birds' ability to find their way home and fly quickly made it possible to use them to transmit mail.

7th place: Belka

This nimble animal has a brain the size of a large pea. However, research shows that squirrels have excellent spatial orientation, have extraordinary intelligence and phenomenal memory, and can think and analyze.

Thanks to their intelligence and ability to survive, squirrels can be found everywhere. They have penetrated almost every corner globe. Squirrels are everywhere. From alpine marmots on snowy mountain peaks to squirrels living in the hot Kalahari Desert in South Africa. Underground squirrels - prairie dogs and chipmunks - penetrated into the underground space. Squirrels have penetrated all cities. AND The most famous of the squirrels is the gray one.

One of the widely known distinctive features protein is their ability to store nuts for the winter. Squirrels do not hibernate and must find up to 3,000 hidden nuts to survive. They bury some types of nuts in the ground, others hide them in tree hollows. This work requires incredible effort.

Thanks to their phenomenal memory, squirrels can remember the location of a nut 2 months after they buried it. Fantastic! Try hiding 3,000 coins. We guarantee that in a month you will be able to find only the one that is in your wallet.

Squirrels also have their own thieves, who decide not to get nuts, but wait and watch from ambush until other squirrels begin burying their winter food. But for every action there is a counteraction. If the squirrel notices that they are starting to follow it, it pretends to bury the food. While the thief is wasting time on the empty hole, the squirrel moves his nut to another, more secret place. Isn't this the best proof that squirrels have intelligence?

Planning and remembering the correct route to food is vital. Brain and memory test: At the top of the wall there are 2 round holes, both with doors that open in one direction. One leads to a dead end that will force the squirrel to start over, and the twisted tube - a more difficult path - leads to nuts. Question: Will the squirrel choose the right hole?

Research shows that squirrels have excellent spatial orientation, and already from the ground they see which hole leads to the nuts. Squirrels without hesitation fit into the desired hole leading to food.

The ability to pave the way, dexterity, phenomenal ingenuity, spatial orientation and lightning speed - this is the secret of the success of squirrels on our planet.

Very often, squirrels are considered pests. After all, they chew everything they can and cannot.

6th place: Pigs

Despite their reputation as gluttonous and always dirty creatures (they will find dirt anywhere), pigs are actually very intelligent animals. Whether domestic or wild, pigs are known for their ability to adapt to different environmental conditions.

American zoologist E. Menzel believes that in terms of the development of their own language, pigs occupy second place among animals after monkeys. Pigs respond well to music, for example, they can grunt to the beat of the melody.

Thanks to high intelligence pigs are highly stressed. Piglets are very attached to their mothers, and if they are separated, especially in early age, they experience this very painfully: the piglet does not eat well and loses a lot of weight.

The greatest stress for pigs is moving from one place to another. It is not for nothing that Academician Pavlov stated that the pig is the most nervous of the animals surrounding humans.

Some scientists claim that a pig's intelligence is approximately matches the intelligence of a three year old child. In terms of learning ability, pigs are at least at the level of cats and dogs, and often surpass them. Even Charles Darwin believed that pigs were at least as intelligent as dogs.

Conducted various intelligence tests among the pigs. In one test, the feeder was connected to a computer. A cursor was displayed on the monitor screen, which could be moved using a joystick. Also, a special area was shown on the monitor: if you hit it with the cursor, the feeder automatically opens and food pours out. Amazingly, the pigs were excellent at controlling the joystick and moved the cursor to the right place! Dogs cannot repeat this experiment and are inferior to pigs in intelligence.

Pigs have a fantastic sense of smell! They are, for example, used as truffle finders - underground mushrooms - in France. Pigs were used to find mines during the war; trained sniffer pigs easily cope with the search for various drugs.

According to blood composition, digestive physiology and some others physiological characteristics pigs are very close to humans. Only monkeys are closer. That is why donor material taken from pigs is often used in transplantology. Many pig organs are directly or indirectly used in the treatment of dangerous human diseases, and their gastric juice is used in the production of insulin. A pig often suffers from the same diseases as a person, and it can be treated with almost the same drugs in the same doses.

5th place: Crows

Crows are incredibly intelligent animals. Scientists believe that their analytical thinking abilities are on par with those of great apes.

Crows are extremely adaptive and are exceptionally adapted to living around humans. Our actions force them to adapt in new ways every time. Crows don't survive with us, they thrive. They are found everywhere on the planet except Antarctica and parts South America. And throughout the entire territory you are unlikely to meet crows further than 5 km from a human dwelling.

We are finding more and more evidence that crows are very, very smart. Their brain size is the same proportion as that of a chimpanzee. There are many examples of various manifestations of their intelligence.

Another incredible study was carried out with a crow from New Caledonia. On this island, crows use twigs to pick insects from the bark of trees. In the experiment, a crow tried to get a piece of meat from a narrow glass tube. But the crow was given not the usual stick, but a piece of wire. She had never had to deal with this kind of material before. In front of the amazed researchers, the crow independently bent the wire into a hook using its paws and beak, and then took out the bait with this device. At this moment, the experimenters fell into ecstasy! But tool use is one of the highest forms of animal behavior, indicating their ability for intelligent activity.

Another example from Sweden. Researchers noticed that crows wait for fishermen to cast their fishing rods into the water, and when they move away, the crows fly in, reel in the fishing rod and eat the fish that was bait.

We can talk endlessly about the intelligence of crows. These observations were made at the University of Washington and indicate crows have amazing memory. Here the researchers had to catch a pair of crows flying around the area. The students went out, caught the birds with a net, measured them, weighed them, and then released them back. And they could not forgive such an attitude towards themselves! Subsequently, the crows flew up to those students as they walked across campus and shit on them, flew around in a flock, in short, ruined their lives in every possible way. This went on for a week. Then this continued for a month. And after the summer holidays...

Author Joshua Klein has been studying crows for more than 10 years. To confirm the presence of intelligence in these birds, he decided to conduct a rather complex experiment. Long story short, he created a special vending machine and placed it in a field with coins scattered around it. The machine was filled with nuts, and to get them, you need to throw a coin into a special slot. Surprisingly, the crows figured out this task quite quickly, picked up the coins, dropped them into the slot and received nuts.

We know a lot about the species that are disappearing from the planet as a result of human habitat expansion, but no one pays attention to the species that are alive and thriving. In Moscow alone there are about 1 million crows. These smartest representatives of birds have perfectly adapted to the human environment.

4th place: Elephant

These are not just lumbering giants with big ears and good memories. The philosopher Aristotle once said that the elephant is “an animal that excels others in wit and intelligence.”

Weighing over 5 kg, the elephant's brain is larger than that of any other land animal, but small compared to total mass body: only ~ 0.2% (in chimpanzees - 0.8%, in humans about 2%). Based on this, one might think that elephants are quite stupid animals. But the evidence suggests that relative brain size may not be an accurate measure of intelligence.

Elephants are animals that are good know how to show their emotions, both positive and negative. Their “facial expressions” consist of movements of the head, ears and trunk, with which the elephant can express all sorts of, often subtle, shades of good or bad mood.

Elephants are extremely caring and sensitive to other members of their group, as well as other species, which is considered a very advanced form of intelligence. For example, elephants feel very deeply the loss of someone from the herd. They can gather near a dead body for several days. There have been recorded cases of “funerals” when elephants covered their dead comrades with a layer of vegetation.

Elephants incredibly good memory. Elephants remember a person who treated them well or badly all their lives. There are many examples when the owner offended the elephant, and only years later the elephant took revenge on him, and sometimes even killed him.

Like us we already know, use of tools animals directly points to capacity for intelligent activity. To determine this, the following studies were conducted at the Washington Zoo. In the elephant enclosure, fruits and young bamboo shoots were hung high on a tree. The animals, standing on the ground, could not reach them even with their trunks. Not far from this place, the researchers placed a cube-shaped stand and began to observe...

At first, the elephant simply moved the cube around the enclosure, and in fairness it should be noted that he did not immediately figure out what to do: the experiment had to be repeated 7 times. And suddenly inspiration descended on the elephant: he got up, went straight to the cube, pushed it to the place where the treat was hanging and, standing on it with his front legs, took it out with his trunk. After that, even when the cube was out of reach, the elephant used other objects - car tire and a big ball.

Elephants are believed to have good ear for music and musical memory, and are also able to distinguish melodies from three notes. In general, these huge animals are amazing artists. They are also well known for their ability to draw on the ground while holding a stick with their trunk. In Thailand, they even made an attraction where several Thai elephants painted abstract drawings in front of spectators. True, it is unknown whether the elephants actually understood what they were doing.

3rd place: Orangutans

Apes are considered the most smart creatures on Earth after man. Of course, people are biased in this matter, but mental capabilities great apes hard to deny. So, In 3rd place on the list of the smartest animals is the orangutan. or “forest man” (orang - “man”, hutan - “forest”).

They are highly cultured and strong social connections. Females stay with their children for many years, teaching them everything they need to survive in the forest. For example, orangutans cleverly use leaves as umbrellas from the rain, or remember places where different time years the trees bear fruit. By the age of 10 years, an orangutan can taste and identify more than 200 species of different edible plants.

Great apes, such as chimpanzees and orangutans, are able to recognize themselves in the mirror, while most animals react to their image in the mirror as if they were another individual.

Incredible facts

Many people are mistaken in thinking that a person is the only one intelligent being on the ground.

19. Pigeons

Eat good reason, along which pigeons have been used by people for thousands of years to deliver mail, as well as on battlefields. Studies have shown that these birds have excellent spatial orientation and are even able to remember places and people throughout their lives.

18. Crows

Along with pigeons, crows are the smartest birds in the world. They are capable of solving complex problems and cope well with various difficulties that arise in the course of obtaining food or collecting the resources they need.

17. Sheep

Sheep are supposed to have the longest-term memory of any animal in the world, and some studies show that sheep are even more effective than humans in handling some situations.

For example, they may recognize that one of the sheep is lost in the herd. In addition, they are able to experience and express a wide range of emotions and react to what is happening around them.

16. Raccoons

These cute and interesting creatures are known for their unusual resourcefulness - they can form complex social relations and find complex ways to solve various problems. It is for their amazing resourcefulness when faced with difficulties that raccoons are included in this ranking of the smartest animals in the world.

15. Horses

Horses are beautiful in all respects - they are beautiful, graceful and are often indispensable helpers for humans. They are used for riding, on the farm and in many other areas important to humans.

In addition, horses train very easily and quickly. They have excellent memory and are able to carry out complex commands even in stressful situations.

14. Rhesus monkeys

In addition to the fact that these macaques, oddly enough, have suicidal tendencies and are prone to aggression towards each other, it is fair to note that they are very smart and resourceful animals that easily adapt to everything that happens.

13. Falcons

These natural hunters, just like pigeons, were used for reconnaissance and transmitting mail over long distances. All this was possible thanks to their unique ability to remember details and follow commands.

12. Rats

People often underestimate rats, considering them dangerous and unpleasant, but rats are highly intelligent.

Hollywood has given them a reputation as disgusting sewer dwellers, and we often don't think about the fact that they are very intelligent and resourceful creatures. They have excellent memory and the ability to adapt to dramatically changing conditions.

11. Owls

Owls are considered wise birds and many people believe that this is so. Yes, owls undoubtedly do not have the lowest intelligence and are even capable of remembering some details, but their mental abilities are often exaggerated. We placed them only in 11th place on this list to dispel stereotypes about the wisdom of these birds.

Top 10 smartest animals on the planet

10. Cats

The owners of these graceful and incredibly cute animals know firsthand that they have amazing hunting skills. They are agile, neat and very sensitive.

Although cats are not as easy to train as dogs, they are extremely skilled and quick to learn new skills.

9. Proteins

Even though they small size, do not underestimate their mental abilities. Squirrels often fall out of trees and get hit by cars, which is the basis for stereotypes about their intelligence, but the thing is that squirrels' abilities have a specific direction - collecting food.

When it comes to searching for food, squirrels show amazing resourcefulness and amazing memory - they are able to remember in the smallest detail the place where they store food.

8. Elephants

Compared to other living creatures, the elephant's brain is much larger. But this is not so important, since brain size does not affect intelligence in any way. What matters is that elephants are indeed highly intelligent by inhuman standards.

These amazing animals are capable of forming complex social bonds and even experiencing empathy, i.e. feeling of empathy.

7. Octopuses

When it comes to invertebrates, it is worth noting that octopuses are the smartest of them. They are natural hunters, using precise and complex strategies to obtain food.

Along with many of the animals on this list, they have fantastic problem-solving skills.

6. Dogs

Although their mental abilities vary by breed, in general dogs learn quickly, acquire new skills, and respond successfully to human commands.

For example, dogs such as Labrador Retriever, Border Collie and Poodle are very curious and are able to notice even the slightest changes in their environment. High emotional intellect- this is exactly what makes dogs from time immemorial best friends person.

5. Whales

Many people only know about whales that they are the largest animals, but have no idea about their intelligence.

To communicate and navigate in a herd, whales use certain complex sounds, each of which has its own meaning. These animals are also excellent at solving problems and tasks that arise.

4. Parrots

It is no secret that these birds are able to imitate the human voice and even pronounce individual words. In addition, they have excellent memory and, like many living creatures on this list, can solve relatively complex problems and adapt to their environment.

3. Dolphins

When it comes to body and brain proportions, it is fair to say that dolphins have one of the largest brains, relative to their body, of any member of the animal kingdom.

These sea animals are famous for their amazing ability communicate with the outside world and, incredibly, dolphins can even recognize themselves in the mirror.

2. Pigs

According to research, the intelligence of a middle-aged pig can be compared to that of a three-year-old child. Pigs easily adapt to changes in environment. This is due to their ability to easily acquire the skills they need.

The smartest animal on earth

1.Chimpanzee

In addition to the fact that these animals have some external signs, similar to humans, they are also capable of acting like humans in many situations. They can adjust the environment to suit themselves and help their brothers in solving various difficulties. Chimpanzees are considered the smartest among primates, and can rightfully be called the smartest animals on the planet.