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Anyone know. Or is it possible to know such a thing. I heard once that Dolphins were smart but then recently I read that it wasn't true. They aren't smart. I read that blackbirds were highly intelligent.
Anyone know. Or is it possible to know such a thing. I heard once that Dolphins were smart but then recently I read that it wasn't true. They aren't smart. I read that blackbirds were highly intelligent.
Dolphins an whales are smart, they just might not be the smartest. It is not blackbirds but ravens and crows that are deemed the most intelligent birds and may even be smarter than dolphins which is maybe what you read. Chimps are pretty smart too. As are some humans
I posted this a while ago on a thread about skunks, but for the intelligent level, I'll post it again.
I saw a show on PBS a few weeks back about African Honey badgers. That is one smart little bugger!
He had about an 8 foot or so high concrete enclosure. A large wood branch in middle of
his compound gave him an idea. A ladder! He took it to a corner of the cage and used it to walk up and out!
When that was removed, he made mud pies and stacked them in the same corner, so he could
again escape!
It's impossible to know because we have no way to test animals for intelligence. We can't talk to them and ask them.
We can test for train-ability and that's about it. An animal who won't be trained might be too stupid to learn, or then it might just not be interested in doing tricks for humans.
We also want to test intelligence to mean the same things it means in a human. Animals are not humans and very likely use their intelligence in different ways. We tend to think animals are smart if they use their intelligence in the same ways that humans do, which really isn't a valid criteria.
We also tend to label animals smart if they can communicate with us, or at least understand and comply with orders. Again, not really a valid criteria.
We have no way of knowing if, perhaps, the three toed sloth is the greatest philosopher of all times. Maybe he moves slow becasue all of his energy goes towards thinking. But he won't learn to do tricks for humans because he is too smart to let us know how bright he is or to spend his energy doing tricks for us.
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