So, here are the top 10 animals with the highest intelligence in the animal kingdom!
10. Pigs
The thing about pigs are that, they don't look anything 'wise' or 'intelligent'. At least not compared to any other large predators, right? But they are confirmed to be one of the most intelligent animals after being proven in an experiment in the 1990s. Simply saying, they had to do a task which was 'moving a cursor' using their snouts and choose the scribbles they knew and those they see for the first time. Surprisingly, they managed to do the task in an equal speed with the chimpanzees!
9. Cats
Kitties made it on the list! Being the 2nd most popular pet in the world-right after freshwater fishes, they sure impressed us by being one of the smartest animal in the planet. Similar to dog owners, cat owners would also train their cats to do simple tasks. This shows how the cat species can think to an extent and figure out the messages being delivered by humans to them.
8. Dogs
Now, we are talking about man's best friend here and who wouldn't have thought about them being highly intelligent? It was a known fact that these domestic animals are very smart indeed. They are also known to show emotions such as happiness, sadness, disgust (I'm not going to go through all the Inside Out characters) and surprisingly, they can also feel some jealousy. Dogs are the type of animals that understands us humans and there are a lot of true stories we can collect that shows how a dog is very loyal to their owners!
7. Squirrels
Yeah, I know. Squirrels? The funny yet irritating character in the Ice Age, is that what we are going to talk about? Honestly, yes. They are proven to be worthy on the list though I'm almost 100% sure that they can't sing like Alvin and his chipmunks family. These rodents can communicate with each other through various vocalizations and scent marking. They also make use of their tails to signal other members about potential dangers by twitching it. Squirrels are also known to deceive onlookers and probable thieves such as other squirrels or birds.
6. Crows
They sure have common features but their brains are something to admire in the animal kingdom. We all have heard about the story featuring a crow who desperately wanted a drink in the midst of the hottest weather. The application of knowledge was obvious in the story when he had put multiple rocks inside the bottle to have a drink. A lot of people tend to underestimate the power of crow's intelligence just because they look harmless and they rarely communicate with humans. But, from a lot of experiments, this bird had proven itself worthy on the list and right now, crows are located on the 6th spot of highly intelligent animals.
5. Cephalopods
Okay, don't freak out. Cephalopod is just a scientific name for octopuses, squids and cuttlefishes. And I bet you didn't expect them to be on the list today. Cephalopods are labeled to be one of the brainiest invertebrates in the sea. Observations of scientists have shown that these creatures are able to process visual and tactile information, such as that to humans. They have impressive spatial learning capacity, navigational abilities and predatory techniques that had guaranteed their spot on this list.
4. Elephants
Well, their level of intelligence are very much compatible with their huge size of body. Also listed as one of the deadliest animals in spite of their heavy tonnes of weight, elephants are placed fourth on the list. They can do a lot of things using their flexible trunk such as plucking fruits and even painting! The fact that had always awed me was that elephants can identify different languages and this was proven true after a research from the University of Sussex, UK. Elephants can also understand human body language and show empathy towards other creatures including humans. All these behaviors are enough to convince the humans that they are undeniably smart.
3. Dolphins
Who doesn't love dolphins? I know I do.
Dolphins are always emitting a positive energy with their friendly behavior towards humans. They can perform various tasks and they are often trained for performances and shows in a lot of locations for example zoos and water parks. Similar to the elephants, they can understand different languages but stretching it to a further extent, they can interpret symbolic languages. Simplifying the ever so long explanation, let me just tell you what they are capable of. Dolphins have the ability to recognize individuals and objects, remembering tasks, solving problems, adapt to changes and also learn complex tasks. Pretty impressive, huh?
2. Chimpanzees
I know we have been expecting this, even the title says it all. Chimps and humans share a huge amount of similarities just by looking at the genetics. We are 98% identical and I'm not even exaggerating at this point, we really are that similar. Chimps are known to solve high level problems and use various tools, mimicking humans in a big way. Observations and experiments shows that chimps are capable of empathy, altruism and self-awareness. (Altruism is the behavior of an animal that benefits another at it's own expense.)
1. Homo Sapiens
Being apart of the animal kingdom, homo sapiens or humans grabbed the first spot for intelligence. Now that I think of it, doesn't it sound a little bit odd? We made the list and we placed ourselves on the first place. It is a little bit odd. But as far as we know, there are no other creature on Earth that can compete the high level of intelligence of Homo Sapiens. (Though it still fascinate me that chimpanzees and humans are only separated by the difference of 2%.)
Thanks for Reading!
(The photos used does not belong to me. All of the photos above belongs to their rightful owners.)
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