Almost Like Humans: The Smartest Animals on the Planet

Of the nine million species of living creatures that inhabit our planet, there are not so many intelligent animals. But some of them are capable of rivaling humans in intelligence. Many among homo sapiens consider the dolphin the smartest animal on earth. Scientists, however, place these sea dwellers in second place in the ranking of the planet's most intelligent animals. The dolphins yield the gold medal to the great apes. Besides these leaders, the top of the most intelligent animals on the planet, among all the diversity of the animal world, also includes elephants, crows, and rats. And also pigs, dogs, cats, and pigeons.

Chimpanzees: they look at themselves in the mirror and know how to be friends

Scientists call the great apes the smartest animals in the world. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans top the ranking of intelligent animals. They communicate with one another in the language of gestures and even graphic symbols. And primates also adore looking at themselves in the mirror and understand what a reflection is. Seeing itself, a chimpanzee will not be frightened, will not think that another individual is standing before it. The ape knows that it is seeing itself: it can make faces at itself or remove a stuck petal from its head.

The intelligence of chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans is distantly similar to that of humans. Chimpanzees are endowed with a sense of humor, and they are capable of reacting to amusing situations with a smirk, just as we do when we see someone slip on a banana peel.

The smartest animal on earth knows not only how to use tools but also how to invent and make them. For example, chimpanzees can make a spear. The apes find branches of the right length, remove the leaves, strip off the bark, and sharpen the tip with their own teeth. The smartest animals use these spears for hunting.

And chimpanzees also know how to be friends and to support a fellow they have grown attached to with all their heart and soul. Scientists have seen them as true empaths. An ape injured after a fight is comforted by its sympathetic fellows, who help it «heal» its wounds.

And after a clash with a male, a female extends her hand to the «man» as a sign of reconciliation, and the conflict is resolved.

Elephants: they know how to help and to weep

The second and third places on the list of the smartest animals are shared by elephants and dolphins. There is still debate over which of these animals is smarter. Some scientists rank elephants a step higher, others – dolphins.

Elephants also have an enormous brain: an adult elephant's brain weighs five kilograms. These mammals have an excellent memory and well-developed facial expressions. Elephants, like chimpanzees, can also help one another and comfort a sufferer, stroking it with their trunk. Elephants embrace and stroke their fellows when they give off signals of fright or pain.

Thick-skinned elephants are not as heartless as one might think. The powerful animals are capable of expressing emotions and even of weeping. Elephants grieve over the loss of their fellows and bury the dead, covering the body of a friend with branches and leaves.

And scientists have also discovered «bystander sympathy» in elephants. An elephant that watched a conflict from the sidelines but took no part in it was aware of what was happening on the «field of battle», and after the conflict it would approach the one who lost in order to comfort the vanquished. These intelligent animals can even talk among themselves.

But, contrary to the myth, elephants are not afraid of mice. It was believed that mice could crawl into an elephant's trunk, cut off its air, and one of the smartest animals on earth would suffocate. According to another version, elephants fear that mice will gnaw through their soles. According to a third, the rodents frighten the elephant with their rustling during sleep. But no matter how many experiments were conducted, the elephant did not react to the mice in any way. And it can even easily blow a rodent out of its trunk.

Dolphins: they care for the elderly and the young

By the ratio of brain mass to body mass, the dolphin could come out at the top spot as the smartest animal in the world. By this measure, the marine mammal outpaces the chimpanzee and yields only to humans. And dolphins even have more convolutions in their brains than humans do. But they cannot make tools.

Orcas – are social animals; they live in families or pods. The chief members of their family – are the females. And dolphins also respect the elders of the pod and care for them. As they do for the sick members of the family.

Another criterion of dolphins' intelligence – is language. The intelligent animals communicate with one another through a special whistling and clicking. And depending on the context and situation, they change the rhythm and timbre of their voice.

Dolphin mothers devote great attention to raising their young. Mothers teach the little ones tricks and how to behave in the pod. For example, they show how to «put» a sea sponge on the nose so as not to get hurt while hunting a sea urchin.

Dolphins are so intelligent that they are able to learn behavioral commands and not only take part in circus shows but also learn to locate underwater mines, and some of them are even taken into service in the army.

Crows: they have fun and chatter

These birds are placed in fourth place in the top ranking of intelligent animals. Crows are capable of figuring out how to skewer their prey onto a wire or a twig, like shashlik on skewers. To get a nut out of its shell, intelligent crows knock the nut against a hard surface.

Crows have learned to hide their prey from prying eyes. And then to watch that no one notices it. If they see that even a thief is approaching, they will re-hide the «treasure» in another, safe place.

Crows love to have fun – for example, they slide down a hill in winter. And they are also very trainable; they can even be taught to talk. 

Rats

Rounding out the top 5 smartest animals are these sociable rodents. Despite a small and far from the most complex brain, rats display wonders of ingenuity. These intelligent animals behave unconventionally in extreme situations and help one another not only in the search for food but also in times of trouble. If they notice that a companion has eaten poison, they will not touch such food themselves and will drive away the others who do not yet know about the threat.

And that is not even the limit. Rats remember their own mistakes and do not step on the same rake twice. The rodents are capable of abstract thinking, which was considered a privilege of humans; they can memorize a combination of light and sound signals and find their way out of difficult mazes.

The smartest and most beautiful animal – who is it?

Remember the joke: «The king of beasts announced to the animals: «The beautiful ones – to the left, the smart ones – to the right». The animals went off to their respective sides, while the monkey darts about: «What am I supposed to do now, tear myself in two?»

In life, the monkey does, after all, head off in the direction of the smart ones. But in terms of beauty, the great apes lag behind those who occupy the second and third places. However, beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. For some, the most beautiful animal – is the smiling dolphin, some are delighted by the stature and might of elephants, and some are fond of a pig's snout.

While scientists have settled on which animal is the smartest, they could not agree on whom to give the crown of «beauty queen». If one disregards the intellectual abilities of the representatives of the fauna, people name the panda, the quokka, the macaw parrot, the lion, and other felines as the most beautiful animals. But the smartest beautiful animal, the one that could ponder upon hearing the Lion's proposal from the joke, – is, after all, the dolphin.