The Cleverest Animal

There are some skills which are key signs of intelligence in humans. They include memory, creativity, and communication. Recently, scientiests have been investigating these skills in animals too. They’ve found out some surprising things!

Biologist Keith Kendrick has been testing the memoryof sheep for several years. He’s prove that sheep can remember faces for about two years. They recognise both other sheep and humans, and they prefer faces that show happiness to anger or fear.

In the wild, orangutans make leaves into rain hats, pillow and even gloves. An orangutan called Fu Manchu has escaped from zoo three times, using a piece of wire to unlock his cage. Scientists have been studying how animals use tools. They’ve discovered that in addition to primates, elephants, many birds and even octopus use tools.

Kanzi is a bonobo. Bonobos are type of chimpanzee which only live in the Congo, but Kanzi has always lived in captivity. He’s been ‘talking’ to humans since he was a baby. He’s learned to use more than 360 keyboard symbols and he undertands thousand of spoken words. He’s been playing the piano.

Another one is a dog called Besty. Besty is so ceverest that she understands pictures as well spoken words. So, when you show her a photo of a ball, she brings you a ball. Do you thinks she’ll recognise herself in the photo?

Eko