Dogs\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThis is not surprising, we all know how smart our pets can be. Dogs and cats let us know what they want and seemingly manipulate us into getting their way. Researchers discovered in 2017 that dogs have twice the number of neurons in their cerebral cortexes than cats, which should give them a cognitive advantage and confirm anecdotal reports that dogs are easier to train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study of Frontiers in Neuroanatomy,<\/em> also found that based on neurons, racoons also have similar capabilities to dogs. But don\u2019t worry, cat owners, the study highlighted the need for systematic cognitive capacity comparisons across all three animals before ruling dogs are the smartest pets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n11. Bees<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWhen a team is comprised of 50,000 bees working shoulder to shoulder, democratic delegation and decision-making are vital. And it\u2019s those qualities that keep bees alive and thriving. The intelligent insects have perfected the art of cooperation, landing them on our smartest animals on Earth list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bees have been studied extensively and researchers are amazed at their smartness. Bees can do simple arithmetic, have a rich emotional life and communicate in dance language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019re also non-violent \u2014 another intelligence indicator. For example, when scout bees don\u2019t agree with new hive locations, they have a dance-off instead of fighting to the death! How civilized \u2014 and fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
12. Elephants<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHave you ever heard the phrase “an elephant never forgets,” it’s not just an expression. Various scientific accounts display the powerful recall that elephants possess. For example, in 1999 two old elephants were reunited at a sanctuary in Tennessee, the pair were so excited to see each other that they could hardly contain their euphoria, according to Carol Buckley, the founder of the sanctuary. Later she did some research to find out how the two females\u2014named Jenny and Shirley\u2014knew each other. She got to know that some 23 years earlier, they had crossed paths in the circus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elephants are also great problem solvers, as proved by research about 10 years ago in which a male elephant used trial and error to manipulate his surroundings so that he could reach previously inaccessible food (yet another animal observed using tools!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
13. Pigs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nDespite a reputation for gluttony and poor hygiene, pigs are highly intelligent animals. While dogs are more smart comparable to toddlers, pigs operate at a much higher IQ level. They can understand the concept of reflection at only six weeks old; that is something that takes human children several months to comprehend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pigs also know approximately 20 different sounds that they use to communicate with others, and mother pigs sing to their children while they are feeding. Pigs respond to emotion and even show empathy for other animals and even for humans which is an extremely rare trait in the animal kingdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
14. Cats<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThough research into cat intelligence is relatively sparse \u2014- in large part because cats generally don\u2019t make very willing participants \u2014 what we do know is that cats excel in a variety of areas. The one thing that we know the most about is how they perceive the world. While perception may not be directly connected to cognition in most of the research that\u2019s been done, understanding how cats experience the world sets us up to better study their intelligence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, we know cats depend heavily on smell, so when researchers are evaluating the bond a cat has with people, or how cats interact with each other, smell must be included as a metric. The research done on cats establishes that they can differentiate between different people and tell the difference between different quantities of objects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
15. Squirrel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nEastern grey squirrels dig holes, pretend to hide their food in them and run off to another secret place to stash their food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This animal’s dogged impeccable and persistent memory has made it the nemesis of gardeners everywhere. Most squirrels display an amazing array of tricks and strategies that help them survive, which researchers believe shows an advanced level of intellect and cunning. For starters, these intelligent species are essentially woodland animals that have adapted to living alongside humans, eating out of flower gardens, bird feeders, and whatever food might be lying around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re a fan of the “Ice Age” films, you know how important an acorn is for Scrat, the sabre tooth squirrel. Well, it’s no different in real life. So much so that Eastern grey squirrels dig holes, pretend to hide their food in them and run off to other secret places to stash their food. This is known as deceptive caching, and they do this to confuse the thieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, Tree squirrels use a technique called “spatial chunking” to sort their nut pile by type, size, and perhaps its taste and nutritional value. This helps them find the food when they get hungry. They can also store and cache food for leaner times and then find their hidden morsels many months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bottom Line<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nResearchers are very surprised by the intelligence of these smartest animals. The realization of how capable and intelligent animal species are challenges the way we treat and interact with animals in our daily lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These discoveries inevitably pose the question of whether an animal who is as smart as a human toddler should spend their life in cages as someone\u2019s pet or research subject \u2014 let alone be served as dinner. Given the evidence, challenging the way that we think about animals and the role they play in the world is an essential next step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some animals are constantly proving themselves to be capable of thought, empathy and intelligence in ways we never expected. Our increasing understanding of the minds of animals continues to shock us. What\u2019s becoming more and more obvious is that there aren\u2019t just some highly intelligent animals, but rather a vast number, all of whom demonstrate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9011,"featured_media":85276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21720],"tags":[68905,68904,68913,68918,68921,68911,68914,68917,68908,68919,68916,68909,68920,68912,68910,68915,68907,68906,68922],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85277,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85274\/revisions\/85277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.articlesreader.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}