These are the ‘smartest’ animals on earth

Scientists and avid dog owners have long argued about which traits or tendencies make one animal smarter or more intelligent than another. But as animal researchers have applied various intelligence tests to a wider net of living things in recent years, the lines have only become blurrier.

Earlier this year, a group of 40 researchers from top universities around the world joined the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, arguing that recent studies suggest that many more animals have the capacity for consciousness than previously thought, and that there is “strong scientific support” for attributing consciousness to mammals and birds. The researchers say there is even a “realistic possibility” of consciousness in other, less notable vertebrates, such as reptiles, amphibians and fish, and possibly even cephalopods and other animals without backbones.

Here are some ways animals are forcing scientists to rethink consciousness and cognition, ranging from the more well-known to others that do much less so.

Elephants

Elephants are widely considered to be one of the most intelligent mammals aside from primates exceptionally large brain and strong social ties. The gigantic, long-stemmed mammals have been saw them mourning their deadand in some cases even buried. They have notoriously long memories, making them adept problem solvers and tool users. Outside of nature, humans have leaned on these skills and traits to exploit elephants as circus performers. Other research has shown that elephants are capable of this repeat each other’s calls with high accuracy. An elephant at the Bronx Zoo in 2006 also proved he was capable of this recognize themselves in a mirroran important sign that researchers associate with self-awareness.

Dogs

Dog owners are often almost as enthusiastic about praising their animal’s intelligence as new parents. And at the species level, science suggests they have good reasons for the excitement. Although the precise levels of measurable intelligence vary by dog ​​breed and individual, researchers estimate that in some dogs it does able to learn some kind of meaning of more than a hundred words. Dogs are notorious for their skills implicit underemployment of people’s emotions and may reportedly showing signs of jealousy. Researchers think that at least some of that intelligence is likely a byproduct of co-evolving with humans for thousands of years.

Pigs

Pigs are among the most intelligent animals still eaten by humans worldwide. Researchers have observed pigs using mirrors to explore their environment and ultimately look for food. More recently, there was a family of Visayan warthogs reportedly observed using sticks as tools to build nests, a behavior that has not been observed before. Some of the most notable recent studies involving pigs were published in the journal Frontiers in psychology in 2021, where researchers from Pennsylvania State University taught a pig to use a joystick to play a rudimentary video game.

Dolphins

While there is no universally accepted way to “rank” animal intelligence in all its forms, dolphins would rank close to humans at the top any way measured. A 2016 study published in the magazine Physics and Mathematics, claims that dolphins communicate with each other using a very complex series of sounds that closely resemble words and sentences. Unlike other animals, the dolphins observed rarely interrupted each other. Dolphins have learned it Hunting together with fishermen in Brazil and reportedly have assisted human swimmers during shark attacks. Part of the reason for the marine mammal’s remarkable intelligence is likely due to its intelligence exceptional brain size to body weight ratio, which is the second largest among all animals, after humans. In terms of size, a bottlenose dolphin’s brain is better than humans.

Parrots

Although parrots are best known for loudly repeating human language,sometimes to embarrassing ends) the depth of their intelligence extends much further. Recent studies have shown that parrots are able to succeed in logic games typically blunt five year old people. Some birds have even discovered how to communicate using modern videoconferencing technology. Researchers from Northeastern University, MIT and the University of Glasgow recently trained 18 parrots to use a specially designed tablet to communicate with each other. When the parrots rang the doorbell, their caregiver showed them the tablet screen with photos of other parrots they had previously video chatted with. The parrots repeatedly asked to chat with their long-distance friends.

Crows

Crows have consistently demonstrated a sense of numbers and signs of other signs of intelligence that researchers once believed could only be achieved by humans. Research from the University of Tübingen has shown that crows are can count out loud to four, an ability likely attributed to their particularly large forebrains, which are typically associated with statistical reasoning. Although many associate tool use with mammals, some crows are capable of turning sticks into crocheted tools then use them to pluck insects from trees.

Octopus

Octopuses, perhaps more than any other animal, have attracted attention in recent years thanks to a groundswell of… research, ArticleAnd books highlighting their seemingly familiar, but completely alien forms of intelligence. In captivity, octopuses can reportedly tell different people apart and have even been observed spraying ink at individuals they dislike. Some even have been observed ink shooting at light bulbs to darken their environment. The eight-armed molluscs are notoriously curious and border on mischievous. A two-pointed octopus living at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium in 2009 was blamed for opening a valve that ended up being released into the air. causing 200 liters of seawater to leak into the facility.

In the wild, octopuses are among nature’s best shapeshifters. Octopuses and other cephalopods are capable of this change their skin tone and color in no time to blend in with their surroundings and avoid predators.

Bumblebees

Bumbles, like ants, has often confounded critics who try to keep insects out of conversations about animal intelligence. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London taught in 2016 bumblebees pull a string to receive a reward. Even more impressive, other bees learned to perform the same task simply by watching their comrades. Bee also has an impressively nuanced understanding of counting and can even reportedly understand the concept of zeroor, none, something usually only observed in humans, parrots and monkeys.

Crayfish

Crayfish, close relatives of the more commonly known lobster, can show signs of anxiety that can be treated with Valium-like medications. Although the ancient-looking sea creatures have been around for hundreds of millions of years, scientists generally don’t believe they have enough intelligence to be considered conscious.

Researchers from the University of Bordeaux questioned that assumption in a 2014 study where they exposed a test group to an electric field, which was intended to induce a potentially anxious experience. After the zap, the crayfish were placed in separate tanks, which had dark and lighter areas. Crayfish generally prefer dark areas, but shocked individuals would avoid lighter areas completely. When the researchers examined the crayfish further, they saw that they produced high levels of serotonin, which occurs in other species when they try to combat anxiety. Even more telling, the researchers injected these crayfish with an anxiety drug and found that they eventually overcame their inability to explore the lighter areas of the aquarium.

Cleaner wrasse

The common cleaner wrasse, which averages about four inches in length and is abundant in coral reefs, does not at first glance seem like an obvious candidate for an animal intelligence list. And yet, researchers have shown that they appear to be able to complete the mirror-mark test, one of the most commonly used experiments to determine whether an animal can recognize itself. Even dogs typically fail this test.

A group of researchers to enrol PLOS biology placed 10 fish in an aquarium with a mirror. Although most fish immediately thought the reflection was another animal, some of them began to spend more time looking at their reflection. They even started swimming upside down and displaying other behaviors considered unusual for the species. When researchers marked the fish with a brown dot, some seemed to recognize it in the mirror and even tried to scrub it away.