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Ten smartest animals. Our smaller brothers - rating of the smartest living creatures on the planet

People don't always treat animals with the respect they deserve. Of course, we love our pets, we like to admire the accidentally spotted wild animal, but most people consider them "just animals" that are not as smart as people. It should be noted that many of them are underestimated. Often times, animals are more cunning and clever than we expect. Of course, we are still far from the "Planet of the Apes", but this does not mean that we are surrounded by primitive amoebas. We offer you a list of the ten smartest animals on our planet.

10. Octopus

These invertebrates have amazing intelligence. Their brains are the same size as a human's. A certain part of it is used for visual recognition, and it is slightly different from that of most animals. These cephalopods love to play games and find solutions to problems, use various objects and do their best to avoid boredom. Their short-term memory is much larger than that of other species. In the course of various experiments, scientists observed with what brilliance octopuses found solutions to complex problems and exits from labyrinths. Oddly enough, we still know very little about these amazing creatures.

9. Rats

The mind is the reason why rats are commonly used as experimental animals. Given their modest brain size, rats exhibit incredible miracles of intelligence. They even manage to outsmart scientists during laboratory experiments. They often discover hidden loopholes during experiments that laboratory technicians themselves have not noticed before. It should be noted that rats are not only able to survive anywhere in the world, but thanks to their cunning and instincts, they managed to achieve prosperity in the most unsuitable conditions for this.

8. Proteins


Squirrels are damn creative. Try installing a bird feeder in your yard and try to keep squirrels away from it. No matter what you do, squirrels can fool you into eating all of your bird food. Moreover, squirrels remember with incredible accuracy absolutely all the caches where they hid food supplies during the summer.

7. Ravens


Ravens are much smarter than you think. If you happen to step on or drive over an acorn thrown in the middle of the city streets, no doubt the crows did it. And this is just one example of their intelligence. Second only to parrots, crows have the largest brain among birds. They can easily recognize people's faces, are smart enough to hide food and can use objects for their own purposes. Well, let's hope they can never form a collective mind and recreate an Alfred Hitchcock film.

6. Otters


Otters are considered one of the smartest marine mammals in the world. Probably everyone has witnessed how they play and what kind of ingenuity they show at such moments. They are able to use such things as stones to open oysters, as well as the shells of crabs and crayfish. It is believed that sea otters are so intelligent that they are able to determine the approach of predators by fluctuations in the water.

5. Pigs


Pigs lead an incredibly active social life. It is widely known that sows are able to sing songs to calm their piglets. Pigs eat together, sleep together and even walk together just like that, for the company. They have a wide range of sounds that they use to communicate. In addition, they are able to steal food from other animals and have an amazing gift for finding their way home from anywhere. And most importantly, pigs have the ability to learn from past mistakes and not repeat them again.

4. Elephants


Elephants have the largest brains of any land animal, although this should come as no surprise given their physical size. Like pigs, elephants also lead an active social life and are able to perform complex tasks and learn from the experience of their elders. Elephants are able to reproduce hundreds of different sounds and even imitate others. They are able to use tools and even sense certain emotions.

3. Dogs


The average dog has the intelligence of a two-year-old. She can be guided by her sense of smell, understand human commands, find hidden objects by smell, and learn. Dogs are social animals, able to find their way home from far away. Some scientists believe that dogs are able to understand human emotions and respond accordingly. For the record, a dog's brain is capable of distinguishing up to a million different odors.

2. Dolphins


Dolphins can do amazing things. They can recognize their reflection in the mirror, moreover, they are able to experience the pleasure of looking at their bodies. Dolphins are capable of laughing, problem solving and learning. Also, during the experiments, if they did not know the answer to some question, they chose the item where it was written “I don’t know”. Among the interesting features of dolphins is their ability to sleep with only one hemisphere of the brain. At this time, the second hemisphere provides a timely rise to the surface for air and notifies of approaching predators.

1. Monkeys


Monkeys are the closest animal related to humans. Monkeys are able to learn from each other and stand at home using various tools for this. They can learn other languages, use stones and sticks as weapons against other animals, and, of course, monkey DNA is closest in structure to human DNA.

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

10th place: rats

Humanity has been at war with rats for centuries, but we cannot win. Some biologists believe that gray rats have a collective intelligence that controls the actions of each individual. This hypothesis explains a lot: both the speed with which the gray rodents dealt with other species, and the success in their fight against humans.
We may hate these gray rodents, but when you recognize their abilities, then an involuntary feeling of respect arises. The rat is a real superorganism that can live and thrive in almost any conditions, the vitality of which has been worked out for 50 million years.

9th place: octopuses

The octopus is one of the smartest sea creatures. They can play, distinguish between different shapes and patterns (such as colored lights), solve puzzles, navigate mazes, and have short- and long-term memory. As a sign of respect for the mind of octopuses, in some countries of the world laws have even been passed that prescribe the use of anesthesia before undergoing surgery on them.
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.
Various experiments show that octopuses have excellent memory. And the "intelligence" of an animal is primarily determined by the ability of its brain to memorize experience. When memory is all right, the next step is intelligence, which helps to draw conclusions from the experience.

8th place: pigeons

Pigeons can be found in large numbers in all major cities, and most of us consider these birds "bad" creatures getting underfoot. But numerous scientific experiments show that these are very intelligent birds. For example, pigeons can remember and recognize hundreds of different images over the years.
A group of scientists from Keio University, Japan, has shown experimentally that rock pigeons are better able to recognize themselves in a mirror than little children. Prior to these studies, it was believed that only humans, primates, dolphins and elephants had such abilities.
The useful skills of pigeons have always been appreciated. For example, the ability of these birds to find their way home and fly quickly made it possible to use them for sending mail.

7th place: proteins

One of the well-known distinguishing features of squirrels is their ability to store nuts for the winter. Squirrels do not hibernate, and in order to survive they must find up to 3,000 hidden nuts. They bury some types of nuts in the ground, others hide in the hollows of trees. This work requires incredible effort.
Thanks to their phenomenal memory, squirrels can remember the location of the nut 2 months after it was buried. Fantastic!
Squirrels also have their thieves, who decide not to get nuts, but wait and watch from an ambush until other squirrels begin to bury their winter diet. But for every action there is a counter-action. If the squirrel notices that they are starting to follow her, she pretends to bury her food. While the thief wastes time on an empty hole, the squirrel carries its nut to another, more secret place. Isn't this the best proof that proteins have intelligence?
Research shows that squirrels have excellent spatial orientation, and from the ground they can see which hole leads to the nuts. Squirrels do not hesitate to crawl into the right hole leading to food.

6th place: pigs

Some scientists argue that the intelligence of a pig is roughly the same as that of a three-year-old child. Due to their high intelligence, pigs are highly stressed. Piglets are very attached to their mothers, and if they are separated, especially at an early age, they experience it very painfully: the piglet does not eat well and loses much weight. No wonder Academician Pavlov stated that the pig is the most nervous of the animals around man.
In terms of learning ability, pigs are at least at the level of cats and dogs, and often even surpass them. Even Charles Darwin believed that pigs were at least as intelligent as dogs.
Various intelligence studies have been conducted among pigs. In one test, the feeder was connected to a computer. A cursor was displayed on the monitor screen, which could be moved using the joystick. Also, a special area was displayed on the monitor: if you hit it with the cursor, the feeder automatically opens and the food is poured out. Amazingly, the pigs perfectly controlled the joystick with a patch and moved the cursor to the right place! Dogs cannot repeat this experiment and lose their intelligence to pigs.

5th place: crows

Crows are extraordinarily intelligent animals. Scientists believe that their analytical thinking ability is on par with that of the great apes.
Crows understand better than many people what red and green lights mean when crossing the street. Ravens living in the city collect nuts from trees and place them on the road under the wheels of passing cars to break the shells. Then they wait patiently, waiting for the light they need, return to the road and pick up their peeled nuts. An impressive example of innovation in the animal kingdom! The important thing is not that the crows have learned to do this, but something else is important. This method was first seen in crows about 12 years ago in Tokyo. After that, all the crows in the vicinity adopted this method. Ravens learn from each other - that's a fact!
Another example from Sweden. The researchers noticed that the crows wait for the fishermen to throw their fishing rods into the water, and when they leave, the crows flock, reel in the line and eat the fish that was the bait.

4th place: elephants

Elephants are animals that are good at showing their emotions, both positive and negative. Their "mimicry" consists of the 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 animal species, which is considered a highly advanced form of intelligence. For example, elephants are very deeply affected by the loss of someone from the herd. They can gather near a dead body for several days. Cases of "burials" have been recorded, when elephants covered their dead comrades with a layer of vegetation.
Elephants have an incredibly good memory. The 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.

3rd place: orangutans

Great apes are considered the smartest creatures on Earth after humans. Of course, people are biased in this matter, but the mental capabilities of great apes are difficult to deny.
Orangutans have a high culture and strong social bonds. Females stay with their children for many years, teaching them everything they need to survive in the forest. For example, orangutans are adept at using leaves as umbrellas against rain, or remembering places where trees bear fruit at different times of the year. By the age of 10, the orangutan can taste and identify more than 200 species of various edible plants.
Great primates such as chimpanzees and orangutans are able to recognize themselves in a mirror, while most animals react to their image in a mirror as if they were another individual.
If intelligence is defined as the ability to solve various problems, then orangutans in this sense have no equal in the animal kingdom.

2nd place: dolphins

Like other most intelligent animals, female dolphins stay with their children for many years, passing on their knowledge and experience to them. Much of the behavior of dolphins is passed down through the generations.
Dolphins are adept at using tools, which we know is a sign of intelligence. For example, the researchers observed a female dolphin, who taught her dolphins to look for food, after putting on a sea sponge on their nose, so as not to get hurt and not get burned by a stone fish that has poisonous thorns on its back.
Dolphins are very social animals. They are characterized by self-awareness and division into individuals, who, moreover, think about the future. Research shows that dolphin "society" has a complex social structure and consists of individuals who collaborate with each other to solve complex problems, forage, and so on. In addition, dolphins pass on new behaviors and acquired skills to each other.
Dolphins have very well developed imitative behavior. They easily remember and repeat the actions of both their fellows and other individuals from the animal world.

1st place: chimpanzee

These great apes are leaders in the use of tools. Thus, during observations of chimpanzees in the savannah in southeastern Senegal, more than 20 cases of these animals using 26 different tools, from stone hammers to sticks for picking out termites, were recorded.

But the most striking thing was to observe the manufacture and use of half-meter copies. Chimpanzees not only broke off branches of the required length and thickness, but also cleared them of smaller leaves and branches, peeled off the bark and even sometimes sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.

Another impressive example of chimpanzee intelligence. When scientists set a task for the monkeys - to get a nut from the bottom of a firmly fixed plastic test tube - some of the monkeys (14 out of 43) guessed that if you take water from the tap into your mouth and spit it out into a narrow neck, the nut will rise to the surface. 7 chimpanzees brought this task to the bitter end and got to the nut. In addition to chimpanzees, researchers at the Monkey Sanctuary in Uganda and at the Leipzig Zoo have done similar experiments on gorillas. However, none of the gorillas managed to lift the nut to the surface by transferring water in their mouth from a tap to a test tube.
Moreover, in this matter, chimpanzees were smarter than children. Scientists conducted the same experiment with several groups of children: 24 children of four years of age and the same number of six and eight years. Only instead of a tap, the children were given watering cans so that they did not have to carry water with their mouths. The results of four-year-old children were worse than those of chimpanzees: only two out of 24 coped with the task. As expected, the highest success rate was found in 8-year-olds: 14 out of 24.

There are countless organisms living on our planet, including animals. For a long time, scientists and narrow specialists have been trying to figure out who is the smartest animal on the planet.

But today, unfortunately, it is still impossible to determine the IQ level of each animal, since tests for them have not yet been invented. But you can rank the smartest animals without convincing any of you that someone is smarter and someone is dumber.

5 smartest animals

Smart representatives of the fauna

Intelligent representatives of the fauna

  • Raccoons, as many have noticed, is in trend today. These cute creatures are endowed with incredible intelligence. In search of food, they are able to solve many difficult logical problems, and also actively use available tools to achieve the desired goal. They are able to remember the solution to the problem for three long years.
  • Seals are not only cute and charming creatures, but also extremely smart. They are trainable and easy to train. The cats are "equipped" with an excellent built-in navigation system. Despite the fact that these representatives of the fauna belong to schooling animals, they prefer remoteness and show individualism in everything. They go hunting in the wild one by one.
  • Parrots possess not only the ability to onomatopoeia. For example, the African gray parrot can be compared to a three-year-old human cub in intellectual development. Parrots are characterized by excellent memory, they are capable of empathy, and also know how to show their emotions, have good intelligence and learning ability. So, parrots living in the wild put nuts under the wheels of a car so that they, after moving, split them. An interesting fact is that scientists have proven the development of the analytical abilities of parrots, they continue to develop rapidly.
  • Horses not only smart animals, but also extremely cunning ones with excellent memory. Akhal-Teke horses are considered monogamous, throughout their life they can serve only one owner. Absolutely all types of horses are trainable. For example, the Arabian Scanoon will never step on a person's foot under any pretext, and the police breeds who are trained to disperse crowds are not so delicate.
  • Pigeons, oddly enough, are also very smart birds. Everyone knows about the existence of "pigeon mail", which appeared earlier than all that existed today. "Pigeon mail" is based on the ability of pigeons to "homing" - an innate instinct to always return home. The feathered brain activity is striking, since it can not only process, but also store large amounts of information. Pigeons collect it, skillfully using all their senses. These birds are endowed with sharp eyesight combined with excellent memory. This feature allows them to form a route home based on visual impressions.
  • Sheep it is considered to be narrow-minded and stupid animals. However, numerous modern studies break stereotypes, they have shown that sheep have good memory for faces, they are social mammals, and they are also able to build relationships. Their main problem is cowardice.
  • Crocodiles overly demonized - modern scientists admit. For 10 years, the American zoologist Vladimir Dinets observed crocodiles and made the following conclusions: firstly, crocodiles are amenable to training, and secondly, they are quite playful. The whole world knows the story when the crocodile lived until his death with a man who saved him from certain death. He let his friend quietly swim with him in the pool, hug and kiss him in the face, they were fooling around.
  • Bees are considered the smartest insects in the world. They are able to navigate in space according to the Sun, as well as perfectly feel the electromagnetic field of the Earth and remember visual objects. In addition, it is worth noting that bees are social insects. They know how to communicate with each other thanks to the floating dance.
  • Cephalopods are considered the smartest representatives of molluscs. Most of them have the ability to mimic, and octopuses succeed in passing the "look and remember" tests. Among other things, they feature an excellently developed built-in navigation system. Squids form in flocks and scientists believe that they are social and communicate with each other through codified language.
  • Turtles... Numerous studies show that turtles are highly intelligent. Turtles lend themselves to training, they manage to find a way out of the labyrinths. Within a short period of time, they are domesticated, after which they quickly cease to be afraid of a person and begin to eat from his hands.
  1. The smartest parrot lives in Britain in a world that knows how to sew. His professionalism as a tailor is estimated at 90%.
  2. Toothed whales belong to warm-blooded animals that are able to mysteriously move and find each other in the ocean.
  3. Dogs are able to memorize up to 250 gestures and words, and count up to 5 no worse than clever crows.

Output

Scientists continue their active research and scientific achievements do not stand still, perhaps something will change. But people should always remember that they are responsible for those they have tamed!

Very often in human society you can hear the following saying: "They are greeted by their clothes, but they are escorted by their minds." A huge number of animal species live on our planet. I wonder if this statement can be applied to them? Can some representatives of the fauna show off their intelligence and ingenuity? It turns out that it is. Let's try to find out which are the smartest animals in the world.

Rating of the clever animals of the animal world

For a long time, scientists have been conducting their research to study the mental abilities of our smaller brothers. Most zoologists are convinced that there are also animals among animals that are one step above the rest in terms of intelligence. Here is a list of 10 representatives who almost unanimously earned the title of smart and smart:

  1. The chimpanzee is rightfully ranked first.
  2. On the second - dolphins, probably no one doubts this.
  3. The giants of the animal world - elephants - are in fourth place.
  4. Oddly enough, the crow also made it to the list of the smartest animals on the planet.
  5. Domestic pigs are in sixth place.
  6. The red bouncing squirrel ranks seventh.
  7. People have long used pigeons as postmen, they occupy the 8th place.
  8. The octopus is in 9th place.
  9. The rat closes the top ten.

Many, probably, never thought that animals from this list are capable of much. As evidence, you need to get acquainted with their merits.

Leader among the smart

Chimpanzees belong to the family of great apes, they are our close relatives, which is probably why they have not gone so far from us in their mental abilities.

Here are just some of the abilities that can convince anyone that chimpanzees are ranked first for a reason:

  1. Not only can they use various tools, but also some of them make themselves, for example, hammers from stone, sticks for getting termites, spears.
  2. With the help of their tools, chimpanzees can hunt, in this they resemble primitive man at the dawn of their development.
  3. Chimpanzees are one of the few animals on earth that are able to recognize themselves in a mirror.
  4. The chimpanzee will guess to use a stick to knock down the banana.
  5. In some experiments, chimpanzees are even superior to children in their intelligence.

But no matter how smart these animals are, they are naturally far from humans.

Dolphins are smart

These marine animals appeared on our planet much earlier than humans. Almost everyone will agree that dolphins are distinguished by an enviable mind, they, as humans, pass on their outstanding abilities and capabilities to the younger generation.

Females are engaged in raising offspring for a long time, thereby teaching them everything that they can do themselves. Here are just some of their abilities:

  • Dolphins are capable of doing collective work, such as foraging for food or solving other complex problems.
  • They are able to perfectly imitate the actions of their fellows and even other animals.
  • Dolphins in the mirror not only see themselves, but also try to show off in front of him, agree that this is a purely human trait.
  • Trainers note the dolphins' creativity in performing various tricks.
  • The ability to distinguish one's own from another's by whistling is well developed in dolphins.
  • With the help of a sound signal, they communicate well with themselves, even at a distance.
  • Dolphins are able to imitate the chirping of birds, the creak of a door, even some words of human speech.

Agree, quite an impressive list of possibilities.

Clever "forest man"

Another representative from the world of primates claims to be an intelligent animal - this is the orangutan. These animals form strong social bonds. From generation to generation, they pass on the accumulated experience to their babies. Orangutans deftly use huge palm leaves instead of rain umbrellas. By about 10 years of age, more than 100 edible plants can taste.

They, just like chimpanzees, are capable of using various tools to achieve their goal. For example, a sharpened stick is used to fish in a river.

All this once again confirms the presence of mind in these animals.

Clumsy giants

Elephants are in fourth place in terms of intelligence. These giants of the animal world are only outwardly clumsy, infantile, but in fact they can compete with many in wit and display of intelligence.

Despite the small brain volume, relative to the entire body weight, elephants are able to show extraordinary abilities.

  1. They perfectly demonstrate their emotions: they rejoice when they feel good, and cry in moments of grief.
  2. Elephants know how to show sensitive care for their fellow tribesmen. They may not leave the dead body for several days, and in some cases even arrange a semblance of a funeral, throwing foliage over the corpses.
  3. The elephant remembers the person who offended him for life. There are cases in history when, even after tens of years, he killed his offender when he met.
  4. These huge animals have excellent artistic abilities, they have good hearing and musical memory.

Probably, it is not for nothing that in India these animals are practically family members, help with the household, even raise children.

Winged clever

Of the bird world, crows are considered the smartest. They deservedly occupy the fifth place. Their merits can be attributed to:

  1. The ability to distinguish between the colors of traffic lights and to cross the road correctly.
  2. Some specimens guess to put nuts under the wheels of cars so that they can be easily eaten later.
  3. Ravens are able to learn from each other's skills and abilities.
  4. During one experiment, a crow guessed to bend a wire into a hook to get a treat from a glass container. But the use of various tools just demonstrates the presence of intelligence.
  5. The ravens even learned to throw coins into the machine so that in return he would give them nuts. Isn't this a manifestation of the mind?

Smart "dirty"

Researchers have noticed that the pigs are so intelligent that they can grunt to the beat of the melody. These animals are quite susceptible to stress, babies react painfully to weaning from their mother, they can refuse to eat for a long time.

Some biologists believe that the intelligence of a pig is at the level of a 3-year-old child. And in terms of training, they are in no way inferior to dogs and cats.

Experiments have been conducted in which this pet has learned to operate a joystick to move the cursor on the computer to get the next portion of food.

Redhead bouncy

Despite the fact that the brain of a squirrel is only about the size of a bean, many scientists note its extraordinary abilities. What is it worth to stock up on nuts for the whole winter, which must be hidden in different places, because all this stock will not fit in one hollow.

Even after a few months, they perfectly remember their hiding places, not every person will remember in a week where he hid his stashes. Is this not a confirmation of the presence of intelligence?

Smart pigeons

Pigeons are frequent residents of large cities, calmly walking around the squares and waiting for something to come from a treat.

In fact, these birds are also considered quite intelligent. During the experiments, it was found:

  • Pigeons after many years are able to store various images in their memory.
  • They recognize themselves in the mirror as well as chimpanzees.
  • If you try, then pigeons can be taught to distinguish objects and memorize movements.

Is it a secret for someone that pigeons were used as postmen, who delivered letters for many kilometers. Is it possible to find a way back if intelligence and ingenuity are not enough?

Eight legs than not a sign of intelligence

It turns out that even among the invertebrates, there are quite intelligent ones. This is the well-known octopus. With its tentacles, this sea creature is capable of:

  • Move masterfully.
  • To carry heavy loads.
  • Build nests.
  • Opening clam shells.
  • Attach eggs to pitfalls.
  • It is great to defend your home.

In the course of experiments, it was proved that these animals are no worse than dogs amenable to training, they can distinguish geometric shapes, and this indicates the presence of good memory and quick wits.

Closing the top ten

Rats, oddly enough, also ranked among the ten smartest animals. They live almost everywhere except Antarctica.

Most scientists are of the opinion that these animals have a kind of collective intelligence that allows them to avoid death in any situation. Like, for example, leaving a sinking ship before the crash.

In the rat family there is a strict distribution of responsibilities, there is not only the leader of the pack, but also scouts who, sacrificing their lives, taste the poisoned bait. After that, everyone else just bypasses her. Isn't this a cleverness and a manifestation of the mind?

If a person can constantly step on the same rake, then the rat never allows such a thing, which is probably why they are practically indestructible.

One can argue for a long time which animal is the smartest, only there is no doubt that not only a person can boast of his mental abilities. He, of course, as a creature from the animal world, takes the palm, but we should not underestimate the intellectual abilities of our smaller brothers. In some situations, representatives of the animal world can be much more resourceful, quick-witted and smarter than humans. This is what allows them to survive next to people and thrive at the same time.