Remarkable Animal Intelligences
Animals Famous for Their Intelligence
Over the past half-century, the field of animal cognition has grown
tremendously. This ever-increasing interest in both the scientific and public
spheres has allowed a spotlight to fall on animals who demonstrate
impressive levels of intelligence.
Alex the Parrot
Alex is perhaps one of the most famous animals in this list, and likely the
world's most famous parrot. Alex performed many feats as a part of
Pepperburg's studies. The parrot could correctly identify different colors,
shapes, and materials. He could also recognize distinct categories and
identify objects that belonged to certain categories despite the individual
objects being very different from each other. For instance, a researcher said,
"Alex would correctly identify keys as keys, even when they greatly varied in
size, shape, and color. He could even point out how certain keys differed
from each other."
Chaser the Border Collie
Chaser is a well-known Border collie dog who knows over 1,000 words. She
recognizes the names of her 900+ toys and is even able to use deductive
reasoning to figure out the names of unknown objects. You can watch her
perform this impressive reasoning task in videos from YouTube. In addition
to the names of all of her toys, Chaser also knows the meaning of certain
verbs, adverbs, and prepositions. She even comprehends phrases with
multiple elements of grammar (Ex: "take the ball to frisbee"). And like Alex
the parrot, Chaser can identify objects that belong to specific categories. For
instance, she knows that a "ball" can be any orb-shaped object.
Natasha the Chimpanzee
Natasha is a rescued chimp living at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee
Sanctuary in Uganda. There, she occasionally takes part in research
projects, through which she has developed a reputation for great
intelligence. She quickly distinguished herself as the smartest chimp at the
sanctuary because of not only her performance on tests, but also her
mischievous antics. Her caretakers began to recognize Natasha's smarts
after incidents such as her escaping from her enclosure or beginning to clap
her hands at feeding time to attract more attention (and thus food) from the
humans. Natasha has also made a hobby out of luring the sanctuary's
visitors toward her, then throwing water at them.
The aforementioned animals became famous for their intelligence because
they performed exceedingly well on various cognitive tests. These animals
