We know that primates are highly trainable. It turns out that in addition to them, pigs are quite smart, dogs understand humans very well, and dolphins confirm their mental abilities.
Pigs are smart animals
Among domestic animals, the smartest, no matter how surprising it may seem, are pigs. Their level of intelligence is comparable to that of dogs and cats. Moreover, by performing certain tasks, pigs confirm that they are superior in mental abilities to cats and dogs.They quickly understand how a mirror works and enjoy looking at their reflection. However, scientists cannot answer whether pigs identify their reflection with themselves, as monkeys do, or not.
It is known that pigs quickly get used to a certain daily routine. They sense time and begin to worry shortly before feeding. They are also easy to train. The pig can be called one of the cleanest animals. If there is a clean, dry place, it will never lie on a dirty one. In the United States, it is not uncommon to see pigs as pets.
Understanding dogs
It is known that the dog was domesticated approximately ten thousand years ago. Dogs are called the most understanding animals. They are able to distinguish two hundred and fifty words and gestures, understand counting to five, and are even capable of performing simple mathematical operations. 
Sometimes it seems that the dog understands literally everything that the owner tells it, but this is an illusion. In fact, she does not understand, but perceives our speech. Knowing more than two hundred words, this animal is not able to understand them in a sentence, or to link the meaning of several such words into one whole. Man's friend is able to catch emotional coloring what was said, understand the intonation.
A dog's mind lags behind a human's by a huge distance, however, the feelings of this animal are the same as those of a human. When making a decision, the dog is primarily guided by its feelings. It is known that the more the owner and the dog are emotionally connected, the more it “understands” its owner.
How intelligent are dolphins?
Much has been written about dolphins and their intelligence. It is believed that they are the smartest animals. In the mid-twentieth century, when their study and training began, the results obtained surprised researchers, trainers and scientists. Some have expressed the opinion that their intelligence is comparable to that of a human being. 
It is known that the average weight of the human brain is one kilogram four hundred grams, and average weight the brain of an adult dolphin is one kilogram, seven hundred grams. Their brains have twice as many convolutions, but their cubic centimeter There are far fewer neurons than in the primate brain. The dolphin never sleeps completely. In this his brain is completely unique. Sleeps then his left, then his right hemisphere- one by one.
Dolphins have a very Difficult language. Man has recently learned to partially understand it. Like people, dolphins live social life. In order to teach her children all the features of life in dolphin society, the female takes care of them for several years after birth.
What can monkeys learn?
Among the ten most intelligent animals on the planet, the first six places are occupied by primates - gibbons, chimpanzees, orangutans, monkeys, baboons and gorillas. This list was compiled by biologist Edward Wilson. The most intelligent among primates, in his opinion, is the chimpanzee. 
Primates have very complex and large brains. They are capable of building a complex culture, and even have some control over their environment. As a result of long-term observations, it became clear that all primates communicate freely with members of their own species, which indicates the development of certain language skills.
Experiments aimed at discovering what can be taught to monkeys have yielded many interesting findings. Those primates who were not afraid of snakes were taught to be afraid of them. To do this, they were forced to listen to terrible and loud sounds sounds made by snakes. The most amazing thing is that the monkeys, who were not afraid of snakes, but observed the fear of other monkeys, also began to be afraid of them.
Scientists have proven that a monkey, like a human, can be taught to swim well. It is known that monkeys such as chimpanzees enthusiastically imitate humans. They can easily learn to eat with a knife and fork.
Many species of primates are able to learn to speak sign language, which is used by deaf and mute people. They can master several dozen characters in just a few months.
The smartest animal in the world
There are several opinions regarding which animal in the world is the smartest. Opinions were divided. Most often, monkeys are considered the smartest, with chimpanzees and gorilla in first place. But the abilities of orangutans have not yet been sufficiently studied, however, there is an assumption that they may well displace even chimpanzees. 
Another opinion is that the smartest animal is the dolphin. There are grounds for such a conclusion. Firstly, they have twice as many convolutions in the cerebral cortex as humans. Well, secondly, dolphins can control their brains much more better than man. After all, none of the living beings is able to force either the right or the left hemisphere to work.
But the smartest person in the world turned out to be a woman...
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People inhabiting almost the entire planet consider themselves the most intelligent on it, capable of developing and achieving success. But few people think about the fact that some animals also have high mental abilities. Scientists have long been interested in the question of what kind. After all, some of them simply amaze with their intellectual capabilities, which consist in the ability to count and speak, in the ability to obtain food for themselves using improvised means. Yes, and you can train an animal in a lot of ways, the main thing is to put in the effort and patience.
Top smartest animals
In 10th place are rats. These creatures are characterized by a collective mind that controls the actions of each individual. It helps to avoid death from, for example, poisoned baits. Rats are excellent at moving on any surface. They can survive at temperatures of -17 ° C and still reproduce.
Octopuses take 9th place. These creatures are able to play, distinguish shapes and patterns, solve riddles, and navigate labyrinths. They have short-term and long-term memory, and are easily hypnotized. In nature, they often build stone shelter houses.
8th place in the list of the smartest animals that exist on the planet belongs to pigeons. Birds easily remember and recognize thousands of images; they retain this memory for many years. These birds can recognize their own image in the mirror. Pigeons are excellent at finding their way home, and their speed of flight makes it possible to use them to transmit mail.
7th place is occupied by proteins. The brain size of this nimble animal is about the size of a large pea; it allows them to perfectly navigate in space, have a brilliant intellect and a rare memory. They are able to think and analyze. So, squirrels do not hibernate until they find about 3,000 nuts. After 2 months they can remember the location of the nut.
Pigs, known for their ability to adapt to different conditions, occupy an honorable 6th position. They are able to respond to music by grunting in rhythm with the sound. However, pigs are very susceptible to stressful situations: for example, if a baby piglet is separated from its mother. The intelligence of a pig is approximately equivalent to that of a three-year-old child, and in terms of learning ability, these animals are at the level of cats and dogs. These creatures have a wonderful sense of smell, which people use to find truffles or various drugs. The physiological characteristics of pigs make it possible to use them as donor material for humans.
5th place is occupied by crows. These are incredibly savvy creatures. They perfectly understand the meaning of red and green traffic lights, have amazing memory and learn from each other. The birds collect nuts, place them on the road under the wheels of cars to open the shells, and use twigs to get insects out of the bark of trees.
What are the smartest animals? Undoubtedly - elephants! They occupy 4th place in the ranking. These are not just awkward giants with huge ears and a good memory. Their brain weight is more than 5 kg. Elephants show their emotions by movements of their head, ears and trunk, expressing a particular mood. Elephants are very sensitive and caring towards their group and other animals. For example, they greatly experience the loss of a member of the herd, spending many days near the body and covering the deceased with vegetation. In addition, these giants have a good memory, distinguishing melodies consisting of three notes.
Who is in 3rd place? When considering the question of what are the smartest animals on Earth, one cannot ignore orangutans. These (sometimes called " forest people") have high culture and social connections. Females care for their offspring for many years, teaching them survival skills. By the age of 10, these animals can taste and identify more than 200 species of edible plants. Orangutans use tools to wildlife and are able to recognize themselves in
Dolphins rightfully take 2nd place. Appearing on Earth for tens of millions of years before people, dolphins are much more intelligent than almost all creatures. They easily remember and repeat the actions of their fellow birds, they can carry out commands, come up with tricks with objects, distinguish the voices of members of the flock, imitate the chirping of birds, gnashing, and even repeat some words or human laughter.
The championship in the ranking of which are the smartest animals that live around us belongs to chimpanzees. These apes are leaders in the manufacture and use of tools. When it comes to ingenuity, they are much smarter than children. These monkeys are able to build complex figures, are able to control their environment and communicate with animals of their own species using certain “linguistic structures”.
People are rightfully considered the most smart creatures planets, because they are capable of thinking and developing. But few of them thought about the fact that there are animals that are no less intelligent than humans. After all, they also have the ability to think. Scientists never stop arguing over who can be called the smartest. After all, the intellectual abilities of some of them are simply amazing. Some are able to speak, others can count, and some can get food for themselves using available materials.
Unfortunately, these small rodents are perceived by humans exclusively as carriers of various infections. But anyone who lives at home pet rat, will confirm that this animal has a very developed intelligence. Scientists have proven that they are able to communicate with each other using ultrasound and are perfectly oriented in space. There is always mutual assistance between rats. It was noted that if one of the rats tasted something new, the others will wait a certain time and only then, if nothing bad happens to the taster, will they also decide to try the new product.
Among all birds, it is crows that have the most big size brain They are able to recognize faces, as well as hide prey from other crows. To do this, they use available materials: leaves, branches, etc. Using uneven surfaces, they are able to open nuts. Crows use stones for protection from birds of prey. Amazes lexicon these birds. They have separate sounds for communicating with chicks, swearing, courtship, etc.
At first glance, they are slow and melancholy. But they have a rich emotional life. Scientists noted that a cow can have both friends and enemies among its relatives. In addition, they are able to experience vivid emotions, fear and anxiety.
When people think of pigs, the first thing people think of is dirt. But it turns out that these animals are quite clean. If possible, they arrange their toilet in certain place, which will be located far from their habitat. At the same time, they are playful and friendly. Living in one place, pigs will eat, play and even sleep together. They use about 20 types of sound to communicate with each other. Studies have shown that pigs have cognitive energy that exceeds that of a dog and the energy of a human baby.
Among invertebrates, octopuses are considered the most intelligent, as they are able to use tools. To protect themselves from predators, they can change the shape of their body and create shelters from stones and shells.
Since ancient times, the dog has been man's faithful companion. A dog's intelligence can be compared to that of a 2-year-old human child. A dog's ability to learn is simply amazing. They easily learn great amount commands that no other animal can do. A dog's brain can remember and distinguish more than 1 million odors.
Scientists have not yet been able to fully study this giant. But when observing them, they noted different social skills and communication abilities. This is thought to be facilitated by spindle cells found in their brains, which are responsible for feelings, thoughts and social behavior. The same cells are found in the brains of dolphins, some monkeys and humans. To communicate with each other, whales use complex sounds. They prefer to travel or hunt in groups.
Among all land animals, elephants have the largest brains, which can easily recognize hundreds of different sounds. Elephants are capable of a wide range of emotions: joy, sadness, playfulness, etc. They easily use various tools in search of food.
Scientists are successfully using the intelligence of these mammals to understand the secrets of the World Ocean. They are cheerful, playful and graceful, capable of learning and expressing emotions. Interestingly, when a dolphin sleeps, only half of its brain rests, while the other half is awake. They need this property to protect them from potential danger.
The most intelligent, naturally after humans, turned out to be monkeys of the hominid family, which include chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos. Hominids build their homes and use different tools to find food. They can copy human speech, master the language of symbols and gestures, and protect themselves from enemies using improvised means.
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10th place - Pigeons
They usually live in big cities. The smaller the city, the smaller their number. Pigeons can be found in any place, even the most small town and almost anywhere globe. They also recognize their reflection in the mirror; only 5 creatures, including humans, have this ability.
They are excellent at navigating cities and are able to remember a route of more than 1,000 kilometers, which allowed them to be used as letter carriers in the 18th century.
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9th place - Pigs
Ninth place among the smartest animals is occupied by pigs. It is believed that pigs are somewhat superior in intelligence to cats and dogs. They are easy to train and can perform some tricks with ease. Pigs have a very good biological clock. They know exactly what time to expect feeding. If food is delayed, these intelligent animals begin to worry and grunt with displeasure. Academician Pavlov proved that this is not only one of the smartest animals, but also the most nervous. A simple clap of the hands can cause alertness in the entire flock, which freezes in anticipation of something unknown.
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8th place - Belki
Considered to be intelligent animals, populated areas They are able to feed from bird feeders, dig up planted plants in search of seeds and take up residence in rooms such as attics. Squirrels can be trained for hand feeding. Since they are designed to hide excess food, they will take from you as much as you offer. If a person begins to feed a squirrel, it will return to him in a day for a new portion. Squirrels living in parks and gardens within the city have long learned that humans are a source of food. It is still not recommended to feed squirrels by hand, as they may be infected with plague or other animal diseases. Even if they are not sick, they can injure your hand or bite painfully.
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7th place - Ravens
This is not a simple bird; scientists believe that its intelligence is close to that of the great apes. They adapt perfectly to any habitat; by the way, they live on all continents except Antarctica.
There is a lot of evidence of their intelligence. For example, to crack open a nut shell, they place it on the road, guessing where the car wheel will end up. And after the car drives over the nut, they collect the insides.
This method was first noticed 12 years ago in Japan, in the city of Tokyo. After some time, all the crows in the nearby cities adopted this method. This shows that they are learning innovation from each other.
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6th place - Rats
Very intelligent creatures, to say the least. They live all over the world, except for one continent - Antarctica. Their diet is very similar to humans, they can live with people in the same house and people will not even know about their habitat. But what is amazing is their collective intelligence, thanks to which they survive so successfully.
Rats have their own hierarchy, where there are certain “scouts” who check the house, trying different foods and checking the surroundings for habitability. These suicide bombers are controlled by the leader of the pack, who can send reconnaissance to several houses at once. If the scouts die, then the flock goes to another house, which was checked in advance.
Rats are used for experiments because of their resourcefulness and tenacity. There are cases when rats outsmarted experimenters, finding surprising loopholes in experiments that the scientists themselves did not notice or could not calculate. And of course, rats learn from their mistakes and will not step on the same rake twice, unlike people.
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5th place - Cats
By nature they are lonely and independent. However, they can easily adapt to the group without much difficulty, quickly accepting rules, hierarchies and restrictions. Only a human being has the same expanded capabilities of adaptation both psychologically and socially. Being a cat also means having qualities such as curiosity, an observing spirit and the ability to analyze raw data.
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4th place - Dogs
Capable of understanding more than 250 different words and gestures. Just by a person's facial expressions, they understand his mood. And by the tone in the voice they can recognize the person himself. They also have an excellent sense of smell and love their owners.
Scientists have recently proven one interesting fact. Of the animals, only dogs perceive the pointing gesture, and they will look in the direction where the finger is pointing.
But they can not only do this; if you point a trained dog at one of the objects with your finger, then it will bring it. The scientists went further and conducted a test, placing several identical objects, one of which was closed to humans, but the dog saw it.
When given the fetch command, the dog took the object that was visible to the person. This shows that they perceive human reality and realize that it is different from theirs. Of the animals, only Dogs have this.
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3rd place - Elephants
Elephant confidently takes 3rd place, because they have a phenomenal memory. They remember people well and if they are treated poorly, they will definitely remember this for the rest of their lives and may even take revenge at some point.
Elephants are highly trainable and trainable. Once they conducted an experiment where an elephant had to get food, but it was too high. In order to get it, he used all available means: a cube, a tire, a stick.
They are also very caring towards their relatives, as well as other animals and even humans. When a relative dies, they can gather at the site of his death for several days. And if the elephant good mood, then he can have a lot of fun with people.
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2nd place - Dolphins
Some say that dolphins The smartest animals in the world because of their amazing abilities. One of which is to sleep with one hemisphere of the brain turned on, when, say, oxygen is needed, the dolphin rises to the surface in a state of sleep, gaining oxygen without even waking up.
They are able to teach each other and share experiences, constantly swim in a flock and are well trained to search for prey, as well as fight back from more large fish. The dolphin perfectly remembers the actions of other animals and even tries to repeat them.
It has been proven that the number of brain convolutions 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 retract. So he never sleeps.
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They very quickly learn to speak the language of the deaf and mute and can communicate both with humans and with their fellow humans in this language. Anyone they don't like is called dirty, in the language of the dumb.
Monkeys have all the skills of humans, only in the initial stages. Their brains are very similar to humans, not to mention their habits and expression of emotions. Surprisingly, knowing the language of the dumb, not one of the monkeys has yet asked a single question to a person, although they know the sign indicating a question.
A huge number of beautiful animals live on our planet. Scientists and specialists have been trying for a long time to determine who is the smartest among them? .
10th place: Rats
Yes, yes, we were not mistaken. Usually, when you hear the word “rat,” the image of a gray, unpleasant creature with long tail. In criminal jargon, a “rat” is a person who steals from his own people. But read the next few paragraphs and perhaps you will change your mind about these very smart 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 building their dark kingdoms right under our feet. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. And they are not going anywhere. This is a well-oiled machine for conquering the world.
It has long been known that rats are among the most intelligent animals. As an example, let’s give a story from the head of one of the branches 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 surveillance was carried out, unnoticed by these gray rodents, in the basements of Eliseevsky. And this is what turned out. “In order not to damage the fragile shell,” says Larisa Darkova, “these clever people came up with the following: one rat lies on its back and rolls its muzzle into the hollow formed on its stomach egg. At this time, another “accomplice” grabs her by the tail, and thus they drag the egg into the hole.”
Humanity has been waging war against rats for centuries, but we cannot win. Some biologists are confident that gray rats have a collective intelligence that controls the actions of each individual. This hypothesis explains a lot: the speed with which gray rodents dealt with other species, and the success in their fight against people.
It is the collective mind that helps rats avoid inevitable death. Famous phrase“rats fleeing a sinking ship” has numerous officially recorded cases of rats leaving 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 tremors that could destroy buildings. Perhaps the rat hivemind is able to see the future better than us humans.
Rats have a clear hierarchy. In addition to the leader and subordinates, there are also so-called “scouts” in rat society. Thanks to this, all the efforts of mankind in inventing ingenious mousetraps and rat poisons are coming to naught. The “suicide bombers” “appointed” by the leader go on reconnaissance and try poisoned baits. Having received the SOS signal, the remaining members of the rat pack stop paying attention to poisonous products. And the “kamikazes” sit in their holes and drink water, trying to wash out their stomachs. The same is true with traps. If rats notice their relative in a trap, the flock will immediately leave the dangerous place.
The whole point is that, unlike a person, a rat never steps on the same rake twice, and therefore it is practically indestructible.
We may hate these gray rodents, but when you recognize their abilities, a feeling of respect automatically arises. The rat is a true superorganism, capable of living and thriving in almost any environment, the vitality of which has been developed over 50 million years.
They climb perfectly on almost any surface, pipes and trees, and can climb steep brick walls, crawl through a hole the size of a five-ruble coin, run at speeds of up to 10 km/h, swim and dive well (there is a known case when a rat swam 29 kilometers).
When biting, a rat's teeth develop a pressure of 500 kg/sq.cm. This is enough to chew through the bars of the grill. wild rat in an aggressive state it can jump to a height of up to 2 meters. Rats can survive in absolutely extreme conditions, in which other animals would probably die. So, these, in general, heat-loving animals can live in refrigerators at a temperature of minus 17 degrees and even reproduce.
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 come up with anything smarter than a simple mousetrap.
9th place: Octopus
No. 9 on our list of the smartest animals is octopus is one of the smartest sea creatures . They know how to play, distinguish various shapes and patterns (such as colored light bulbs), solve puzzles, navigate mazes, and have short-term and long-term memory. As a sign of respect for the intelligence of octopuses, some countries in the world have even passed laws requiring the use of anesthesia before performing operations on them.
Octopuses are invertebrates, and the closest species to them are squid and cuttlefish. In total, there are more than 200 species of different octopuses in the world that inhabit the seas and oceans of the Earth.
Octopuses are skilled hunters, acting from ambush. Open battle is not for them. This attack tactic also serves as a defense for the octopus itself. If necessary, the octopus throws out a cloud of ink, which 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. Maximum speed The octopus's movement is just over 30 km/h, but they can maintain 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 realize that glass is transparent. This is proven by the following simple experiment: we give the octopus a treat in the form of his favorite crab, but in a “package” - a glass cylinder without a top lid. He can continue for a very long time in fruitless attempts to get food, knocking his body against the walls of a transparent vessel, although all he had to do was climb 30 centimeters along the glass, and he would freely penetrate through the open top of the cylinder to the crab. But it is enough for its tentacle to accidentally jump over the top edge of a glass vessel once, and it develops 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 heavy loads;
- build nests with tentacles;
- open shellfish shells;
- attach their eggs to stones;
- They also perform guard duty.
The upper pair of hands is intended for feeling and examining surrounding objects. Octopuses use longer tentacles as attack weapons. When attacking prey or defending against an enemy, they try to grab the enemy with them. In “peaceful” times, “combat” arms turn into legs and serve as stilts when moving along the bottom.
The development of organs in animals that they can use as simple tools leads to the formation of a more complex brain.
Various experiments show that in octopuses excellent memory . And the “intelligence” of an animal is primarily determined by the ability of its brain to remember experiences. When everything is in order with memory, the next step is intelligence, which helps to draw conclusions from the experience gained.
Over the past 10 years, the most advanced experiments on the behavior of octopuses have been carried out at the marine station in Naples. Scientists have found that Octopuses are trainable. They they can tell the difference between elephants and dogs just as well geometric figures - 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 diamond and a triangle. For making the right choice, the octopuses were given goodies; for a mistake, they received a weak electric shock.
Octopuses are easily hypnotized, which indicates a fairly high organization of his brain. One of the methods of hypnosis is to hold an octopus in the palm of your hand for some time with its mouth up, the tentacles should hang down. When an octopus is hypnotized, you can do whatever you want with it - it doesn't wake up. You can even throw it, 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 in large quantities can be found in all major cities, and most of us consider these birds to be “bad” creatures that get under our feet. But numerous scientific experiments show that these are very smart birds. For example, pigeons can remember and recognize hundreds of different images over many years.
The most common and well-known pigeon is the rock pigeon (lat. columba livia) - a bird whose homeland is considered to be Europe. A group of scientists from the Japanese Keio University showed through experiments that rock pigeons are able to recognize themselves in the mirror better than small children. Before these studies, it was believed that only humans, primates, dolphins and elephants had such abilities. 
The experiments were carried out as follows. The pigeons were shown 3 videos simultaneously. 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 several hours before the present moment. 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 trained to perform a sequence of movements and distinguish between two objects with small differences - quite impressive for a simple pest.
IN Tsarist Russia pigeons were valued no less than large farm animals. Noble families bred their own breeds of pigeons, and these birds were a source of special pride and were passed on through generations.
The useful skills of pigeons have always been valued. For example, these birds' ability to find their way home and fly quickly made it possible to use them to transmit mail.
7th place: Belka
This nimble animal has a brain the size of a large pea. However, research shows that squirrels have excellent spatial orientation, 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 every corner of the globe. Squirrels are everywhere. From alpine marmots on snowy mountain peaks to squirrels living in the hot Kalahari Desert in South Africa. Underground squirrels - prairie dogs and chipmunks - penetrated into the underground space. Squirrels have penetrated all cities. AND The most famous of the squirrels is the gray one.
One of the widely known distinctive features protein is their ability to store nuts for the winter. Squirrels do not hibernate and must find up to 3,000 hidden nuts to survive. They bury some types of nuts in the ground, others hide them in tree hollows. This work requires incredible effort.
Thanks to their phenomenal memory, squirrels can remember the location of a nut 2 months after they buried it. Fantastic! Try hiding 3,000 coins. We guarantee that in a month you will be able to find only the one that is in your wallet.
Squirrels also have their own thieves, who decide not to get nuts, but wait and watch from ambush until other squirrels begin burying their winter food. But for every action there is a counteraction. If the squirrel notices that they are starting to follow it, it pretends to bury the food. While the thief is wasting time on an empty hole, the squirrel transfers his nut to another, more secret place. Isn't this the best proof that squirrels have intelligence?
Planning and remembering the correct route to food is vital. Brain and memory test: At the top of the wall there are 2 round holes, both with doors that open in one direction. One leads to a dead end that will force the squirrel to start over, and the twisted tube - a more difficult path - leads to nuts. Question: Will the squirrel choose the right hole?
Research shows that squirrels have excellent spatial orientation, and even from the ground they can see which hole leads to the nuts. Squirrels without hesitation fit 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.
Very often, squirrels are considered pests. After all, they chew everything they can and cannot.
6th place: Pigs
Despite their reputation as gluttonous and always dirty creatures (they will find dirt anywhere), pigs are actually very intelligent animals. Whether domestic or wild, pigs are known for their ability to adapt to different environmental conditions.
American zoologist E. Menzel believes that in terms of the development of their own language, pigs occupy second place among animals after monkeys. Pigs respond well to music, for example, they can grunt to the beat of the melody.
Thanks to high intelligence pigs are highly stressed. Piglets are very attached to their mothers, and if they are separated, especially in early age, they experience this very painfully: the piglet does not eat well and loses a lot of weight.
The greatest stress for pigs is moving from one place to another. It is not for nothing that Academician Pavlov stated that the pig is the most nervous of the animals surrounding humans.
Some scientists claim that a pig's intelligence 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 surpass them. Even Charles Darwin believed that pigs were at least as intelligent as dogs.
Conducted various intelligence tests 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 a joystick. Also, a special area was shown on the monitor: if you hit it with the cursor, the feeder automatically opens and food pours out. Amazingly, the pigs were excellent at controlling the joystick and moved the cursor to Right place ! Dogs cannot repeat this experiment and are inferior to pigs in intelligence.
Pigs have a fantastic sense of smell! They are, for example, used as truffle finders - underground mushrooms - in France. Pigs were used to find mines during the war; trained sniffer pigs easily cope with the search for various drugs.
In terms of blood composition, digestive physiology and some other physiological characteristics, pigs are very close to humans. Only monkeys are closer. That is why donor material taken from pigs is often used in transplantology. Many pig organs are directly or indirectly used in the treatment of dangerous human diseases, and their gastric juice is used in the production 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: Crows
Crows are incredibly intelligent animals. Scientists believe that their ability to analytical thinking is not inferior to similar abilities of higher primates.
Crows are extremely adaptive and are exceptionally adapted to living around humans. Our actions force them to adapt in new ways every time. Crows don't survive with us, they thrive. They are found everywhere on the planet except Antarctica and parts South America. And throughout the entire territory you are unlikely to meet crows further than 5 km from a human dwelling.
We are finding 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.
understands 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 roadway under the wheels of passing cars to open the shells. Then they wait patiently, waiting for the necessary light, return to the road and take their shelled nuts. An impressive example of innovation in the animal kingdom! The important thing is not that the crows learned to do this, but something else is important. This method was first observed in crows about 12 years ago in Tokyo. After this, all the crows in the area adopted this method. Crows learn from each other - that's a fact!Another incredible study was carried out with a crow from New Caledonia. On this island, crows use twigs to pick insects from the bark of trees. In the experiment, a crow tried to get a piece of meat from a narrow glass tube. But the crow was given not the usual stick, but a piece of wire. She had never had to deal with this kind of 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 the use of tools is one of higher forms animal behavior, indicating their ability for intelligent activity.
Another example from Sweden. Researchers noticed that crows wait for fishermen to cast their fishing rods into the water, and when they move away, the crows fly in, reel in the fishing rod and eat the fish that was bait.
We can talk endlessly about the intelligence of crows. These observations were made at the University of Washington and indicate crows have amazing memory. Here the researchers had to catch a pair of crows flying around the area. The students went out, caught the birds with a net, measured them, weighed them, and then released them back. And they could not forgive such an attitude towards themselves! Subsequently, the crows flew up to those students as they walked across 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 this continued for a month. And after the summer holidays...
Author Joshua Klein has been studying crows for more than 10 years. To confirm the presence of intelligence in these birds, he decided to conduct a rather complex experiment. Long story short, he created a special vending machine and placed it in a field with coins scattered around it. The machine was filled with nuts, and to get them, you need to throw a coin into a special slot. Surprisingly, the crows figured out this task quite quickly, picked up the coins, dropped them into the slot and received nuts.
We know a lot about the species that are disappearing from the planet as a result of human habitat expansion, but no one pays attention to the species that are alive and thriving. In Moscow alone there are about 1 million crows. These smartest representatives of birds have perfectly adapted to the human environment.
4th place: Elephant
These are not just lumbering giants with big ears and good memory. The philosopher Aristotle once said that the elephant is “an animal that excels others in wit and intelligence.”
With a mass of over 5 kg, the elephant's brain is larger than that of any other land animal, but small compared to the total body mass: only ~0.2% (chimpanzees - 0.8%, humans - about 2%). Based on this, one might think that elephants are quite stupid animals. But the evidence suggests that relative brain size may not be an accurate measure of intelligence.
Elephants are animals that are good know how to show their emotions, both positive and negative. Their “facial expressions” consist of 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 species, which is considered a very advanced form of intelligence. For example, elephants feel very deeply the loss of someone from the herd. They may gather near dead body for several days. There have been recorded cases of “funerals” when elephants covered their dead comrades with a layer of vegetation.
Elephants incredible good memory . 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.
Like us we already know, use of tools animals directly points to capacity for intelligent activity. To determine this, the following studies were conducted at the Washington Zoo. In the elephant enclosure, fruits and young bamboo shoots were hung high on a tree. The animals, standing on the ground, could not reach them even with their trunks. Not far from this place, the researchers placed 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 inspiration descended on the elephant: 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 - car tire and a big ball.
Elephants are believed to have good ear for music and musical memory, and are also able to distinguish melodies from three notes. 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 where several Thai elephants painted abstract drawings in front of spectators. True, it is unknown whether the elephants actually understood what they were doing.
3rd place: Orangutans
Apes are considered the most intelligent creatures on Earth after humans. Of course, people are biased in this matter, but mental capabilities great apes hard to deny. So, In 3rd place on the list of the smartest animals is the orangutan. or “forest man” (orang - “man”, hutan - “forest”).
They are highly cultured and strong social connections. Females stay with their children for many years, teaching them everything they need to survive in the forest. For example, orangutans cleverly use leaves as umbrellas from the rain, or remember places where different time years the trees bear fruit. By the age of 10 years, an orangutan can taste and identify more than 200 species of different edible plants. 
Great apes, such as chimpanzees and orangutans, are able to recognize themselves in the mirror, while most animals react to their image in the mirror as if they were another individual.
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