Rats are the smartest animals. The smartest creatures on the planet

Among all the inhabitants of the planet of the animal world, there are representatives endowed not only with primitive intelligence, but with a well-developed mind, which in some ways can surpass the human.

Top 10 includes the smartest animals in the world, a list of which is presented to the attention of readers below.

Pigeons

Unlocks the ten smartest animals in the world. These birds are able to recognize their image in a mirror, remember faces, places and events. The fact that in ancient times it was pigeons that were used as postmen indicates the presence of high intelligence.

Pigs

The ninth line among the smartest animals is taken. It is believed that lop-eared pigs are somewhat superior in intelligence to cats and dogs. They are easy to train and can perform some tricks with ease. The biological clock works very well in pigs. They know exactly what time they should wait for feeding. In the event of a delay in eating, smart pigs begin to worry and grunt displeasedly. Academician Pavlov proved that it is not only one of the most intelligent animals, but also the most nervous. An elementary hand clap can cause alertness in the entire flock, which freezes in anticipation of something unknown.

The eighth place among the smartest animals goes to proteins... They are not afraid of humans, they are easily tamed and often settle near human settlements. If you start feeding a squirrel, then it will definitely return there for a new portion the next day. Everything that the animal cannot eat, it will surely hide for a "rainy day". Making huge reserves of provisions for the winter, the tailed fluffies remember for several months each of their caches where the hidden food is kept.

Crows

They occupy the seventh position among the most intelligent animals. These incredibly quick-witted birds are able to steal any object they like, showing amazing ingenuity. To hunt for large prey, they often gather in flocks to defeat the prey. They can act in pairs when hunting other people's eggs. In this case, one crow distracts the bird, and the other pulls off the egg. If the feathered one decides to eat a nut, he knows that he needs to be smashed. To do this, the crow flies up high and throws the fruit so that it can break on a hard surface. Many experiments have shown that these birds, when preying for food, can show incredible ingenuity.

Rats

They took the sixth place among the smartest animals. They are able to outwit the most difficult mousetrap and leave with their prey, leaving the trap with nothing. Scientists suggest that rodents are endowed with a collective intelligence that allows them to get out alive from the most difficult situations. In a flock of these animals, there is always a leader and scouts who, at the cost of their lives, can taste poisoned food. If the product contains poison, other rodents will bypass it.

Cats

Ranked fifth among the smartest animals in the world. These mammals do not lag behind dogs in intelligence. They are able to understand human speech and are very quick-witted. In some cases, cats are incredibly smart and can follow certain commands.

Dogs

The fourth place among the smartest animals on the planet was taken dogs... The poodle is endowed with a higher intelligence among all breeds. This animal is able to memorize and understand up to 250 words and gestures. They can count to 5 and perform basic mathematical operations. Pets are not only well trained, but they can also distinguish between images in photographs. In addition, tetrapods are endowed with amazing intuition and flair: they can notice the slightest changes in human behavior and mood. Despite the high intelligence, people are not endowed with such a flair. Also, many stray dogs tend to cross the road on a pedestrian crossing at a traffic light.

Dolphins

The three smartest animals are revealed. The unique inhabitants of the underwater world have been raising their offspring for a long time. They prefer to live in packs and learn to work collectively. Dolphins are able to imitate the actions of humans and other animals. These huge fish are not averse to showing off in front of the mirror, in which they recognize their image. They are easy to train and tend to get creative when performing tricks. With the help of the emitted sound signals, animals communicate with each other even at a great distance. By whistling, they identify their relatives with incredible accuracy. Dolphins' ability to imitate elementary human words, birds chirping and other sounds is simply amazing. It has been proven that the number of convolutions of the brain in this animal is twice as large as in humans. It is surprising that the dolphin is awake all the time: the two hemispheres alternately turn back. Thus, he never sleeps.

Elephants

They occupy the second line in the ranking of the most intelligent animals. They are some of the largest mammals on earth. At first glance, these clumsy, huge animals give the impression of infantilism and passive attitude towards everything. But this impression is deceiving. Aristotle himself said about elephants that this is "an animal that surpasses all others in wit and intelligence." Elephants treat their generation with tenderness and care. In the event of the death of one of the tribe, the animal may not leave the deceased body for several days, and then cover the corpse with the available foliage, arranging a semblance of a funeral. Having offended this animal, it is better not to meet on its way: the four-legged one has a unique memory that allows you to remember faces and events for a lifetime. In addition, the mammal has excellent hearing and musical sensitivity. The elephant is easily trainable and can perform complex and responsible tricks, which is why it is one of the main participants in the circus show. In addition, the elephant sometimes likes to play games, for example, soccer, or paint landscapes.

Monkey

Topping the ranking of the smartest animals monkey, in particular chimpanzees. Nature has endowed primates with large, complex brains similar to those of humans. They communicate freely with their own kind and have certain language skills. Chimpanzees can use various tools to get food: stones to break up coconut fruits, sticks to extract termites, and more. They can also make their own rudimentary spears for hunting. This animal is able to recognize its reflection in the mirror. In terms of intelligence, sometimes a humanoid monkey surpasses a three-year-old child. But despite its developed intelligence, the capabilities of the monkey still never compare with human capabilities.

When we learned how intelligent some animals have, we felt uncomfortable. Perhaps we are not watching them, but they are watching us.

20. Turtles

The tortoise Tortilla in the tale of Alexei Tolstoy was not in vain the personification of wisdom. A lot of modern research confirms that some species of turtles have remarkable intelligence.

Turtles are trainable, they easily find a way out of the maze, they can learn the skills of other turtles, they are well domesticated, they quickly cease to be afraid of a person and feed from his hands.

19. Cephalopods

Cephalopods are the smartest of the molluscs. Many of them have the ability to mimic, octopuses successfully pass the "look and remember" test and have excellent navigational abilities.
Squids live in flocks, and scientists have already suggested that they have their own codified language.

18. Bees

Bees are supermen among insects. They can navigate by the Sun, sense the Earth's electromagnetic field, and remember visual objects. In addition, bees are social creatures. They know how to communicate with each other using the so-called wagging dance.

17. Crocodiles

Scientists today admit that crocodiles are unnecessarily demonized. American zoologist from the University of Tennessee Vladimir Dinets observed crocodiles for 10 years and came to the conclusion that they are, firstly, trainable, and secondly, playful.
There is a known story when a crocodile until his death lived with a man who cured him after being wounded. He calmly swam with his friend in the pool, played with him, tried to scare him, allegedly attacking, and even allowed himself to be stroked, hugged and kissed in the face.

16. Sheep

Sheep are generally considered dimwitted animals. However, modern research suggests that sheep have a good memory for faces, they are social animals and are capable of building relationships. Their main problem is fearfulness. They do not want to show their weakness so much that they do not complain of sores until it becomes impossible. Quite humanly.

15. Pigeons

We all know about pigeon mail. This kind of connection, which has existed much longer than most modern ones, is based on the ability of pigeons to "homing" - the instinct to return home. In Russian history, Princess Olga took advantage of this.
The pigeon's brain is capable of processing and storing huge amounts of information. Pigeons collect it using all their senses. The eyes of a pigeon are designed in such a way that they remember only the necessary information, cutting off all unnecessary ones. Pigeons have very keen eyesight combined with an excellent memory. This allows them to form a route based on visual impressions.

14. Horses

Horses are quick-witted and cunning, they have a good memory. Akhal-Teke horses are monogamous. They serve one master all their lives.

All horses are trainable. So, the Arabian horse will never step on your feet, and the police breeds "Budenovtsy" and "Donchaks" train to disperse the crowd, so you should not expect delicacy from them.

13. Parrots

Everyone knows the ability of parrots to onomatopoeia, but parrots can not only talk funny.

In terms of its intellectual and emotional development, the African gray parrot can be compared with a 3-4 year old child. Parrots have a good memory, they are capable of empathy and the manifestation of emotions, they are trained and have a rare quick wit. So, parrots living in the wild put nuts under the wheels of cars so that they split them.

Interestingly, parrots continue to evolve and their analytical thinking skills are increasing.

12. Seals

Seals are not only cute but also very smart. They are trainable, easy to train. The cats have a great built-in navigation system. Despite the fact that these are gregarious animals, seals go hunting alone and generally show individualism.

11. Raccoons

Raccoons are trending today. These intelligent sociable animals have an outlandish ingenuity. To get food, they are able to solve logical "multi-moves" and actively use tools in order, for example, to open a trash can. They are able to remember the solution to the problem for three years.

10. Raven

Ravens can remember and distinguish not only the volume and weight of an object, but also the material and which it is made of. So, crows will never put a piece of wood in a vessel to raise the water level, but they will put a stone.
It is not in vain that the ravens are called "feathered primates" - they know how to use a mirror and a digging stick

9. Jays

Jays are the Einsteins of the avian world. Like all corvids, they have a phenomenal ability to memorize and imitate sounds. When jays hide food, they do it very cleverly, and then, if their cache is found, they can spy on the thief. This led scientists to the conclusion that jays are able to put themselves in someone else's place, to look at the situation with someone else's eyes - through the eyes of a potential thief. This is a rare property in the animal kingdom.

8. Proteins

If you go now to the forest to feed the squirrels, you can see that the squirrels themselves will hardly eat - they will prepare food for the winter, hiding it in hiding places. Squirrels have a very good memory. They remember all their thousands of bookmarks for two whole months.

Squirrels are excellent thieves, and they can not only run / grab / run away, but also wait and predict the behavior of a potential raid victim.
Squirrels are tricky. If they see a threat, they can pretend that they are burying the treasure in one place, and then hide it.

7. Pigs

Academician Pavlov also noted that "the most nervous animal around us is the pig." Pigs are smart and cunning animals. Hunters say: "You go to the bear - make the bed, go to the wild boar - prepare the coffin." You will never catch a wild boar with the same bait, these wild pigs have good analytical skills. Domestic pigs are purists in terms of daily routine. They remember feeding times especially quickly.

6. Rats

Rats are one of the smartest animals. Rats, like us, have dreams; they communicate with each other in the ultrasonic range so as not to be heard by predators. In this case, rats are able to suddenly change the frequency of signals.

Rats have the richest vocabulary of screams with special meanings. The rat is the only mammal, apart from humans, that can laugh. Scientists recently discovered that rats react to funny situations.

Rats, as you know, are not alone. They know how to build a hierarchy in their society. Experiments conducted by Didier Dezor, a scientist at the Behavioral Biology Laboratory at the University of Nancy, showed that the exploiters suffered the most from stress-induced brain degradation - they were afraid of losing power.

5. Cats

Domestic cats are able to express their feelings with the help of facial expressions, gaze, movements, accurately recognize the intonation of a person, and even imitate them. Cats have a better memory than dogs. If the cat is on the street, it adjoins the flock. They have a strict hierarchy and distribution of responsibilities. Some researchers consider such flocks a sign of secondary feralization, that is, returning to the wild.

4. Dogs

The intelligence of dogs is a scientifically proven fact. These animals are trained, they have a good memory. Recent research confirms that the dog is a very intelligent human friend.
Scientists at Harvard University, USA, working under the guidance of Professor Mark Hauser, have proven that dogs are able to "parody" human facial expressions and gestures. They are echoed by scientists at the Vienna University of Psychology, who published research results in the journal Current Biology, convinced of the ability of these animals to "selectively imitate."

3. Elephants

Sharikov said in Bulgakov's novel: “Well, I don’t understand, or what? The cat is another matter. Elephants are useful animals. " In some ways, he was right: in applied terms, an elephant is really more useful than a cat. They have been faithful helpers of man for many centuries.

He echoes Polygraph Paligrafovich and Aristotle: "The elephant is an animal that surpasses all others in wit and intelligence." Elephants have a really good memory and flexible mind. They even turned out to be capable of learning the human language. An elephant named Koshik, who lives in Asia, has learned to imitate human speech, or rather, five words: annyong (hello), anja (sit), aniya (no), nuo (lie down) and choah (good).

2. Whales

When we say whales, we mean whales, dolphins, and killer whales. These are some of the smartest representatives of the fauna. Much has been written about their abilities and superpowers.
In captivity, whales can even learn to imitate human speech. They imitate it by sharply increasing the pressure in their nasal cavities and making their sound lips vibrate.
The abilities of cetaceans are already recognized at the state level: in India this year, dolphins were recognized as individuals and dolphinariums were banned.

1. Primates

A man and a monkey have a genetic similarity of about 98%. We put monkeys in the first place in our rating. Their learnability is amazing, their memory and intellectual abilities have amazed scientists for many years.

Monkeys have learned to live next to a person, to steal from him, to fool. In India, the langurs of khanuman - temple monkeys - are recognized as one of the sacred animals. They are renowned for their ability to steal whatever they like. Nothing can be done about it - langurs are untouchable.

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

Yes, yes, we were not mistaken. Usually, the word "rat" immediately gives rise to the appearance of a gray, unpleasant creature with a long tail. In criminal jargon, a "rat" is a person who steals from his own people. But read the next few paragraphs and you may change your mind about these very intelligent 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 are building their dark kingdoms right under our feet. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. And they are not going to go anywhere. This is a well-oiled machine for conquering the world.

The fact that rats are among the most intelligent animals has been known for a long time. For example, we will give the story of the head of one of the departments 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, unnoticed by these gray rodents, observation was carried out in the basements of Eliseevsky. And here's what turned out. “In order not to damage the fragile shell,” says Larisa Darkova, “these clever girls came up with the following: one rat lies on its back and rolls a chicken egg with its muzzle into a hollow on its stomach. At this time, another "accomplice" grabs her by the tail, and thus they drag the egg into the hole. "

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.

It is the collective intelligence that helps the rats to avoid certain death. The well-known phrase "rats flee from a sinking ship" has numerous officially registered cases when rats leave 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 the aftershocks that can destroy buildings. Perhaps the rat collective mind is able to see the future better than we humans.

Rats have a clear hierarchy. In addition to the leader and subordinates, there are so-called "scouts" in the rat society. Thanks to this, all the efforts of mankind in the invention of ingenious mousetraps and rat poisons are nullified. "Suicide bombers" "appointed" by the leader go on reconnaissance and try poisoned baits. Having received the SOS signal, the other members of the rat flock stop paying attention to poisonous foods. And the "kamikaze" sit in their holes and drink water, trying to flush their stomachs. The same is the case with traps. If the rats notice their relative in the trap, then the flock will immediately leave the dangerous place.

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

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.

They climb perfectly on 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 up to 10 km / h, swim and dive well (a case is known when a rat swam 29 kilometers) ...

When bitten, a rat's teeth develop a pressure of 500 kg / cm 2. This is enough to gnaw through the bars. A wild rat in an aggressive state can jump up to 2 meters. Rats can survive in absolutely extreme conditions in which other animals would most likely die. So, these, in general, thermophilic animals can live in refrigerated chambers at a temperature of minus 17 degrees and even reproduce at the same time.

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 invented anything smarter than a simple mousetrap.

9th place: Octopus

# 9 on our list of the smartest animals is 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 invertebrates, and the closest species are squid and cuttlefish. In total, there are more than 200 species of various octopuses in the world that inhabit the seas and oceans of the Earth.

Octopuses are adept ambush hunters. Open battle is not for them. This tactic of attack also performs the function of protecting the octopus itself. If necessary, the octopus ejects a cloud of ink that 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. The maximum speed of movement of the octopus is just over 30 km / h, but they can keep 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 figure out that glass is transparent. This is proved by the following simple experiment: we give the octopus a treat in the form of its favorite crab, but in a "package" - a glass cylinder without a top lid. He can continue for a very long time his fruitless attempts to get food, knocking his body against the walls of a transparent vessel, although he only had to climb the glass by 30 centimeters, and he would freely penetrate through the open top of the cylinder to the crab. But it is enough to accidentally jump his tentacle once over the upper edge of the glass vessel, 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 the severity;
• build nests with tentacles;
• open the shells of molluscs;
• attach their eggs to stones;
• they also carry a guard service.

The upper pair of hands is intended for feeling and examining the surrounding objects. Octopuses use longer tentacles as an attacking weapon. When attacking prey or defending themselves from the enemy, they try to grab the enemy with them. In "peacetime" the "fighting" hands turn into legs and serve as stilts when moving along the bottom.

The development in animals of such organs, which they can use as the simplest tools, leads to the formation of a more complex brain.

Various experiments show that octopuses have a great 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.

Over the past 10 years, the most advanced experiments on the behavior of octopuses have been carried out at the naval station in Naples. Scientists have found that octopuses are trainable... They no worse than elephants and dogs distinguish geometric shapes- a 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 rhombus and a triangle. For the right choice, the octopuses were given goodies, for a mistake they received a weak electric shock.

Octopuses are easy to hypnosis, which indicates a fairly high organization of his brain. One of the methods of hypnosis is to hold the octopus in the palm of your hand with your mouth up for a while, the tentacles should hang down. When an octopus is hypnotized, you can do whatever you want with it - it doesn't wake up. It can even be thrown 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 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.

The most common and well-known pigeon is the dove (lat.columba livia) - a bird whose homeland is Europe. 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 experiments were carried out as follows. Pigeons were shown 3 videos at the same time. 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 a few hours earlier. 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 taught to perform a sequence of movements and distinguish between two objects with slight differences - quite impressive for a simple pest.

In tsarist Russia, pigeons were valued no less than large farm animals. In noble families, their own breeds of pigeons were bred, and these birds were a matter of special pride and were inherited.

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: Squirrel

This nimble animal has a brain the size of a large pea. However, studies show that proteins are perfectly oriented in space, 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 all corners of the globe. Squirrels are everywhere. From alpine marmots on snow-capped mountain peaks, to squirrels living in the hot Kalahari desert in South Africa. Underground squirrels - prairie dogs and chipmunks - have infiltrated underground space. Squirrels have infiltrated all cities. AND the most famous of the squirrels is gray.

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 efforts.

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

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 that the best proof that proteins have intelligence?

Planning and remembering the correct route to food is vital. Test of mind and memory: at the top of the wall there are 2 round holes, both of which have a door opening to one side. One leads to a dead end that will force the squirrel to start over, and the twisted tube — the more difficult path — leads to nuts. Question: Will the squirrel pick the right hole?

Research shows that squirrels have excellent spatial orientation and can see from the ground which hole leads to the nuts. Squirrels do not hesitate to crawl 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.

Protein is often considered a pest. After all, they gnaw everything they can and cannot.

6th place: Pigs

Despite the reputation of voracious and eternally dirty creatures (dirt will be found everywhere), pigs, in fact, are very intelligent animals. Domesticated or wild, pigs are known for their ability to adapt to a variety of environmental conditions.

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

Thanks to 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.

The biggest stress for pigs is moving from one place to another. No wonder Academician Pavlov stated that the pig is the most nervous of the animals around man.

Some scientists argue that the intelligence of a pig 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 even surpass them. Even Charles Darwin believed that pigs were at least as intelligent as dogs.

Were carried out various studies on quick wits 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 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 were excellent at handling the joystick with a piglet and moved the cursor to the desired location! Dogs cannot repeat this experiment and lose their intelligence to pigs.

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

In terms of blood composition, physiology of digestion and some other physiological characteristics, pigs are very close to humans. Closer only monkeys. That is why donor material taken from pigs is often used in transplantation. Many organs of pigs are directly or indirectly used in the treatment of dangerous human diseases, and their gastric juice is used in the manufacture 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: Ravens

Crows are extraordinarily intelligent animals. Scientists believe that their analytical skills are on par with those of great apes.

Ravens are extremely adaptable and extremely adaptable to life around humans. Our actions force them to adapt in a new way every time. Ravens do not survive with us, they thrive. They are found everywhere on the planet, except for Antarctica and parts of South America. And throughout the territory you are unlikely to find crows further than 5 km from a human dwelling.

We find 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.

understand better than many people, which means red and green lights when crossing the street. Crows 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 - it's a fact!

Another incredible study conducted with a crow from New Caledonia. On this island, crows use twigs to pluck insects from the bark of trees. In this experiment, a crow tried to get a piece of meat from a narrow glass tube. But the raven was not given the usual stick, but a piece of wire. She had never had to deal with such 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 after all the use of tools is one of the highest forms of animal behavior indicating their ability to act intelligently.

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.

You can talk endlessly about the intelligence of crows. These observations were made at the University of Washington and speak of amazing memory of the crows... Here, the researchers had to catch a couple of crows flying around the area. The students went out, caught the birds with a net, measured, weighed, and then released them back. And they could not forgive such an attitude towards themselves! Subsequently, crows flew up to those students when they walked around the 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 it went on for a month. And after summer vacation ...

Writer Joshua Klein has been studying crows for over 10 years. To confirm the presence of intelligence in these birds, he decided to stage a rather complex experiment. In short, he created a special vending machine and put it in a field and scattered coins around. The machine was filled with nuts, and to get them, you need to throw a coin into a special slot. Surprisingly, the crows quickly figured out this problem, picked up coins, lowered them into the slot and received nuts.

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

4th place: Elephant

These are not just clumsy giants with big ears and good memories. The philosopher Aristotle once said that the elephant is "an animal that surpasses others in wit and intelligence."

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

Elephants are animals that are good know how to demonstrate 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 to other species of animals, which are considered a highly advanced form of intelligence... For example, elephants are very deeply affected by the loss of someone from the herd. They can congregate 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 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.

As we already know use of tools animals directly points to ability to act intelligently... To determine this, the following studies were conducted at the Washington Zoo. Fruits and young bamboo shoots were suspended in the elephant enclosure high on a tree. The animals, standing on the ground, could not reach them even with their trunk. Not far from this place, the researchers put 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 the elephant had an illumination: 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 - a car tire and a large ball.

Elephants are believed to have good ear for music and musical memory, and are also able to distinguish between three-note melodies. 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 in which several Thai elephants drew abstract drawings in full view of the audience. True, it is not known whether the elephants really understood what they were doing.

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. So, on the 3rd place in the list of the smartest animals is the orangutan or "forest man" (orang - "man", hutan - "forest").

They 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 over 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.

We humans have the ability to learn, solve problems, and create. We have self-awareness, the ability to be aware of the presence, thoughts and feelings of other people. We make tools and practice the art of deception. We have language and we use it to express complex ideas. All of these are, perhaps, signs of intelligence. Scientists cannot agree on the best and complete definition of intelligence - but they generally agree that humans are highly intelligent. However, in the kingdom of fauna there are other creatures that are not much inferior to many people in intelligence. Introducing top 10 smartest animals in the world.

The eternal companions of civilization are usually perceived as spreading diseases and have a bad reputation. However, any rat breeder will confirm that his pet is one of the smartest animals on Earth. According to researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, rats, although unable to solve cognitive problems using inherent strategies in humans, are often successful on their own terms. Rats very quickly navigate in unfamiliar rooms and communicate with relatives in the ultrasonic range so as not to attract the attention of predators. Moreover, they can vary the frequency of signals during a conversation and have a supply of shouts with different meanings. There is mutual assistance in a pack of rats. If one rat tries something unfamiliar, the rest wait a few days. If nothing happened to the taster rat, its relatives also try a new dish.

9. Ravens

They have the largest brain of any bird, with the exception of some species of parrots. They are smart enough to recognize human faces and hide their food from other birds. Ravens use a variety of tools (for example, twigs to reach insects hidden under tree bark).

They also know how to break nuts by dropping them onto uneven surfaces. Crows also used stones and pebbles to repel the attacks of birds of prey. The raven vocabulary is very rich, it contains sounds for courtship, general gathering, swearing, distress signals, addressing chicks and threats.

8. Cows

Cows seem to be calm and even melancholic animals. However, they have a rich and complex emotional life. The researchers found that cows have friends and enemies. In addition, these animals are capable of feeling strong emotions such as fear and even anxiety about the future.

7. Pigs

Not the smartest animals in the world in the top 10, but some of the most underestimated and unfairly ranked "dirty". They equip their toilet far from home, the main thing is to give them such an opportunity. Pigs are one of the most intelligent, playful and social animals. They eat together, play together, and sleep closer together. These animals use 20 different types of sounds to communicate. Even a newborn pig can understand what the mother wants to say to him by sound.

According to research, pigs have more cognitive energy than dogs and human babies.

6. Octopuses

The smartest and most sensitive creatures among invertebrates. They are the only invertebrate cousins ​​who use tools. Small octopuses easily learn the habits of other octopuses. Octopuses have the ability to reshape their bodies to avoid predators. And they know how to make a shelter using such scrap materials as stones, shells and shells of eaten crabs. In all this "goodness" the octopus makes a crater, in which it settles down. Sometimes it is closed on top with a flat stone, like a saucepan lid.

5. Dogs

The smartest pets (although owners of cats and mini-pigs might argue with that). Dogs have been a faithful companion of man since ancient times. The average dog is as smart as a 2 year old human child. They have a deeper understanding of the human world than any other animal, are distinguished by the fastest learning abilities of pets, and are able to respond to many different commands. The most trained dog breeds can be found at. Dogs' brains can identify a million types of odors.

4. Whales

Because of the enormous size of the whales, training them is a difficult task for humans. However, social behavior and communication methods make whales one of the smartest animals on our charts. Whales have larger brains than any other living thing. Their cognitive abilities are due to the presence of spindle cells in the brain. These cells are responsible for social behavior and coherence between thoughts and feelings. They are also found in humans, chimpanzees and dolphins. Whales communicate with each other using complex vocal tones. They are extremely social, traveling and hunting in groups. And beluga whales are capable of imitating human speech.

3. Elephants

They have the largest brain in comparison with other land animals. They can recognize hundreds of individual sounds. These gray giants can exhibit a wide range of emotions such as joy, playfulness, and sadness, and they can mimic a wide range of sounds. They are capable of using a variety of tools to find food.

2. Dolphins

The smartest animals on the planet after monkeys are in second position on the list. People use the intelligence of dolphins to solve many of the mysteries of the oceans. These graceful and cheerful children of the sea can express different kinds of emotions and have great learning abilities. During rest, only one side of the dolphin's brain sleeps, the second is awake in order to perceive a possible threat in time.

Dolphins are also the only marine animals to successfully pass the mirror test. They recognize themselves in him.

1. Hominids

Hominid monkeys are the smartest animals on Earth after humans. They have a developed and rich social life and are capable of expressing various types of emotions. The family includes the great apes chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, and bonobos (a close relative of chimpanzees).

Hominids can build houses, use a variety of tools to find food. Gorilla DNA shows similarities to humans. Monkeys can understand what individuality is and are able to learn the words of the human language, as well as the language of signs and symbols. They defend against enemies with tools.

It is impossible to answer the question of which animal is the smartest until numerous tests have been carried out with the participation of all representatives of this rating. Maybe this is for the best, because for each owner, it is his pet that is the smartest.

Everyone knows that humans are the smartest creatures on planet Earth. However, the animal kingdom has many other creatures who are also very intelligent. Here are the 10 smartest animals in the world. Every living creature in this top ten is considered smart for different specific reasons.

Rat

The rat is one of the most intelligent animals in the world. Although considered a pest, the rat is actually a very intelligent animal. The rat is known to have the ability to easily find loopholes, the smallest crevices, and always has an escape route. One of the reasons the rat is an important laboratory animal is its psychology, which is similar to that of humans. Research has shown that rats have metacognition (the ability to direct their cognitive activity) as well as an amazing sense of smell and hearing. In Chinese culture, the rat is highly revered for its resourcefulness and cunning. It is also the first animal in the Chinese zodiac.

Chimpanzee

The chimpanzee is considered the smartest among the primates. His intelligence is known to be in close proximity to humans. Chimpanzees can easily create and use tools, hunt collectively, and find solutions to complex problems. Chimpanzees are able to learn sign language in order to communicate with humans. However, perhaps the most amazing part of chimpanzee intelligence is its ability to use symbols to represent objects and combine those symbols in the correct sequence to convey an idea.

Dolphin

Have you ever wondered why dolphins are the stars of attractions in theme water parks and aquariums? It is because of their intelligence. Dolphins are known to be smarter than almost any other creature on earth. They are highly social creatures. Dolphins have a "complicated" language that humans have only recently begun to unravel. They can use a variety of tools available in their natural environment and they can easily recognize a wide variety of behavioral commands.

Comparing the size of an elephant's head to the size of its body, it might come as a surprise that the elephant is considered one of the 10 smartest animals in the world. The elephant is known to have an excellent memory, one of the best in the animal kingdom. Elephants have been observed to help other animals when needed, comfort family members, communicate with each other using sounds, and play in the water. Elephants are known to show self-recognition in front of a mirror, and this is possible only for a few mammals in the animal kingdom. Among various other abilities, elephants are known to have the ability to create mind maps (a special technique for visualizing thinking).

Cat

Among the 10 smartest animals in the world, the cat is beyond question. Cats can easily observe and imitate. They say cats cannot be trained. However, there are examples where cats have been successfully trained in various tricks and obediently performed them. Cats are known to be motivated by a survival instinct. They are easily adaptable to a wide variety of home environments.

Octopus

You may have heard of Paula the octopus, which predicted some interesting results during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The octopus is considered one of the smartest underwater invertebrates. The octopus brain shares all the complexity of the human brain. It has specific areas for processing visual as well as tactile information. The octopus is curious, has the ability to use tools as well as the ability to learn. Researchers have found that the octopus has incredible short-term and long-term memory.

Dog

Among the 10 smartest animals in the world, man's best friend and one of his favorite pets is the dog. They are known to have the ability to observe and learn. This is one of the reasons why the dog is easily trainable. But what is her intelligence? Dogs communicate not only through their barking, but also through their body language. If you are a dog owner, you can easily recognize when the dog is hungry or bored. They are also known for having the ability to empathize and understand a person's mood. The dog is one of the animals known to have the ability to perceive sounds outside of the human audio frequency. And what other animal in the animal kingdom can show loyalty better than a dog?

Crow

The raven is a frequent character in many instructive tales and stories. This bird is really very cunning. The raven's IQ ranks first among birds. The raven can make simple tools from twigs, feathers, and other pieces of debris. Some of them can even create sophisticated tools like fish bait.

Pig

It is very difficult to believe that a pig can be among the ten smartest animals in the world. But wait! Here's another shocking news. Did you know that a pig is actually a very clean animal? The pig is one of the smartest and cleanest pets, in fact, even more than a cat or dog. So why is a pig always viewed as an unkempt animal? The pig lacks sweat glands. Therefore, in order to regulate body temperature, she must wallow in the mud. Experiments carried out in the 1990s prove that the pig has a high level of intelligence. The pigs were trained to use the cursor (with their muzzles) to distinguish between the scribbles they saw the first time and the scribbles they already knew. Pigs learned this as quickly as chimpanzees.

Ant

The ant is not only a well-known worker, but also a very intelligent creature. Ants are highly social animals. They communicate with each other using pheromones. Some ant species are smart enough to use their pheromones to confuse enemies. Ants also leave scent trails to remember their tracks. Learning by imitation is one thing, but ants are known to learn through interactive learning. This is incredible for such a small creature.

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