- [Narrator] We humans often
think that as a species, we have a monopoly on
intelligence here on Earth. But the truth is our furry, feathered, and finned friends can
be pretty darn smart. Sure, they won't be reciting
Shakespeare anytime soon, but some of these clever creatures have their own remarkable
degrees of intelligence. From problem solving whales
to skateboarding dogs, join me as we take a look at
some moments of animal genius. (upbeat music) He was a skater boy. Meet Rush. Rush isn't your average dog. Far from it in fact. This Australian shepherd
who lives in Vasto, Italy with his owner, Marco Spadaccini, prefers his four paws on the board and the wind in his fur. This smart pupper is at his best gliding through complex agility courses and showing us humans how it's done. Crazy, right? And Rush isn't a one trick pup, either. Putting the rest of the dog's species and their juvenile rollovers to shame, this pooch can balance just about anything on top of his snout while skating. (relaxing music) Excuse me, just gimme a moment
while I pick up the pieces of my blown up mind. From stacks of shot glasses
to eggs and wine glasses, there's no limit to what Rush can balance. Well, maybe not your bank balance. He's not an accountant yet. Regardless, Russia's
breed Australian Shepherds are known for their
intelligence and athleticism, with the American Kennel
Club advocating them as one of the smartest dog breeds. And joining Rush as an
exemplary ambassador for the breed is a fellow
Australian Shepherd called Secret, from Bellingham, Washington. Secret and her human mom, Mary, have amassed over 1.2
million Instagram followers. All thanks to Secret's
not so secret brilliance. And among many other hobbies and talents, one of Secret's favorite
pastimes is sledding. (relaxing music) Astonishing, right? Whether she was trained to do this, or figured it out by observing
as Australian Shepherds are often capable of doing, it's clear how independent
this pooch really is. And when she's not
dashing through the snow, Secret enjoys a game of Jenga. Experts encourage
Australian Shepherd owners to keep their dog's intelligent
brains nimble with puzzles. And with her precise
and careful maneuvers, testing the stability of
blocks before pulling them out, it seems Secret has a seriously impressive understanding of the game. When you're standing in the park with a filled poop bag in hand, it's easy to wish our dogs could just do their business in a civilized manner. Well Cara Marshall and
her dog training husband have managed to make that happen. Their sophisticated canine, Bear, can apparently take himself
to the John all by himself. (plopping sounds) (farting noise) What a toot of an ending. I guess the only thing to do
now is teach Bear how to flush. While these three wise pups
are definitely geniuses, and let's be honest, show offs. How are they trained to do such things? One popular method commonly
used in training support dogs like Bear is called operant conditioning. Though, I'd call it bribery. Essentially the trainer
asks the dog for a behavior, such as sit. Usually luring it into
the position with a treat. If the dog actually sits, it is then rewarded with a treat. Over time and repetition, the dog comes to associate
the command "sit" with sitting down and
earning a tasty treat. And eventually you can
remove the treat altogether. As the understanding grows and the dog to trainer bond deepens, more complex commands are possible. And before you know it, your
pooch is using the toilet with even better aim than you. Play fetch. Everyone always credits
dogs for playing fetch, but the truth is ravens are just as adept. Albeit with a little less
slobber and excitement. (man speaks foreign language) - [Narrator] Impressed? Well, it turns out Ravens can
be as cognitively intelligent as an ape, or even a child
under the age of seven. As part of the corvid family,
the raven and its relatives, which includes crows,
magpies, and jays are renowned for their intelligence,
exhibiting a degree of self-awareness being
among the few animals thought to be able to recognize
themselves in a mirror. They're also highly skilled in puzzle solving and the use of tools. Which honestly is more than I can say for a lot of the humans I know. The little iguana's room. Everyone, I'd like you to meet Sparky. Sparky is a wild caught Green
Iguana from the Florida Keys with an ability you'd probably
never expect from a reptile. He's potty trained. Just take a look for yourself. Though, I'll warn you, there may or may not be iguana poop involved. It's so gross, but at the same time, you kinda can't stop watching. And while Sparky's toilet training is undoubtedly remarkable, it's surprisingly not unique to him. In fact, toilet training is
pretty common among pet iguanas. That isn't toilet training
in a literal sense as with Sparky, but rather training them to do their business in a designated spot. According to reptile experts, with a little coaching,
rewarding, and repetition, it's pretty easy to train them to do so. In fact, iguanas naturally
like to do their business in water as it masks
the scent in the wild. So you simply leaving the
toilet seat up may be enough to prompt your scaly
friends to go number two. Just don't sit on them by mistake. That's not a bite you'd
forget about quickly. Who's at the door? Bears showing up at your
door is a nightmarish idea for most of us, but for Susan Kehoe, who lives in the mountains of the Highland Lakes in New Jersey, bears at her doorstep is
just another ordinary day. Fortunately, these bears
can be pretty accommodating if you just talk to them. - Close the door, Mr. Bear. Close the door, please. Close the door. Close the door. You have to finish closing it, sweetie. The cold air is coming in. Close the door, sweetie. Thank you. - [Narrator] Now isn't
that the most polite bear you ever did see? Having coached this bear to close her door with treats over several encounters, there's something surprising about seeing a usually fearsome
beast carry out commands, particularly in such a gentle manner. But should Susan be so
trusting of these wild bears? Well, while it's said
that bear intelligence is comparable to higher primates,
and are able to be trained using the conditioning
methods I mentioned earlier, bears are instinctively solitary and very unpredictable creatures. There's always the
possibility a bear might act on its predatory instincts. And using food to train a wild one, and hence making them
associate humans with food, is asking for trouble. Susan, if you're watching, maybe you just close your curtains and pretend no one's home the next time the bear's at your door. Lunch break. Nobody likes seagulls. And for good reason, they're thieves. And with their track record
of dive bombing people's food, their manners leave a lot to be desired. They are however, pretty brainy. In the wild, researchers
have observed seagulls stamping their feet on the ground as a way to imitate rainfall. Why? Well, when it rains, worms
come up to the surface, as it's easier for them to move and navigate through moist soil. Seagulls take advantage of this as a way to get some good grub. However, many modern day
gulls put their brains to use, to hunt for food in a
very different habitat. The grocery store and check it out. (relaxing music) Yep, that seagull just
committed petty theft. And even knew to open the bag of Doritos. Research has indicated that
seagulls learn, remember, and even pass on behaviors. And being the great
observers that they are, it's no surprise that they've
put two and two together. Humans enter the big rock
with magical opening doors. Humans leave magical
opening doors with food. Therefore, if seagull enter
magical door, seagull get food. Either that or their keen
sense of smell navigates them to the source of food. Either way, once the seagull knows where food sources are
plentiful, it will remember, return, and tell its friends too. So as the gulls continue
to spread the word, who knows how bad this
bird crime wave will get. All about that bass. You must be pretty special to get a private bass guitar lesson from the Red Hot Chili
Pepper's bassist, Flea, and you don't get much more
special than Koko the gorilla. This female western lowland
gorilla, who was born in 1971, sadly passed away at the
age of 46 back in 2018. But in her lifetime she
demonstrated incredible levels of intelligence that blew
the world's collective minds. Thanks to her gorilla smarts, she proved a dab hand at many hobbies. (Koko strumming guitar) - Awesome. Yeah, you could be so good at the bass. - [Francine] She's holding
her fingers on the upper part. - Right? Yeah, she gets.
- She gets it. - [Narrator] She's a natural, right? And while her musicality
isn't quite there yet, take note of how she
attempts to place her fingers on the fret and pluck the strings, showing observational skills, extending beyond
mindlessly strumming away. Much of Koko's talent
is thanks to her carer, Francine Patterson, who devoted
her time to nurturing Koko. Patterson even managed to teach Koko a simplified version of
American Sign Language. Patterson claimed that
Koko mastered sign language with a vocabulary of around 1000 signs. Thanks to this, Koko was
able to express her emotions and ask for things. For instance, at Christmas in 1983, Koko allegedly asked for a pet kitten. When they instead gave her a stuffed toy, she signed "sad," expressing
her disappointment. She later adopted a kitten
who she named "All Ball." Unfortunately just five months later, All Ball escaped Koko's cage
and was killed by a car. Upon learning of this, Koko apparently signed words
like "sad," "frown," and "cry." Even letting out a sound
similar to human weeping. As impressive as Koko's emotional
intelligence clearly is, some sources argue that claiming
Koko mastered sign language is a little bit of an exaggeration. Considering the average human vocabulary is made up of around 40,000 words compared to Koko's 1000 signs. It's also worth noting
that not a huge amount of scientific data has ever
been released about Koko besides the claims of Patterson. Who some critics have suggested would creatively interpret Koko's signs to have much deeper meaning
than they actually did. Regardless of how complex
Koko's communication really was, there's no denying her intelligence. She was a true case of
cross species communication, learned clever behaviors, and exhibited high levels
of emotional intelligence. Making her a true genius in my eyes. Pitch-perfect parrot. Everyone knows that
parrots can talk the talk, which props to them is very impressive. But did you know they can also interpret and participate in music? Yep, the same part of their
brain that enables them to mimic sound also allows
them to understand music, detect a rhythm, and move to a beat. And one little guy with the
voice of an angel is Ollie, the African Grey. Listen here as he effortlessly
whistles along to the piano. (piano playing)
(Ollie mimicking tune) Pretty incredible, right? Not only does Ollie manage to successfully reproduce
two bars of music to pitch perfection, even adding vibrato, but he also creates his own metronome to keep time by producing a
clicking sound with his mouth. (piano playing)
(Ollie clicking tongue) Still, the question remains, how and why do parrots mimic
sound in the first place? Without teeth, lips, and the palate, which we use to produce our
sounds, consonants, and vowels, it seems inconceivable that parrots should be able to mimic our speech. I mean, just pause the video and try to produce a B, M, or P sound without your lips touching. Impossible. Right? So how do parrots do it with a beak? Well, they use a vocal
device called the syrinx. This is a muscular Y
shaped structure located at the base of the
trachea in their throat. Each branch of the syrinx
has a movable valve, which can work independently. Similar to human burping, suddenly forcing bursts of
air up through the trachea allow for the production of
plosive sounds, like Ps and Bs. And researchers suggest parrots
move their tongues forwards and backwards and adjust
their beak openings to finely tune a vowel or sound. In the wild, parrots
imitate the calls made by their families and flocks
as a means of communication and keeping the flock unified. As pets, scientists
suggest parrots mimic us for the same reason. They want to integrate
themselves by learning and reproducing our calls, as
they see us as flock members. How sweet. Because they are merely imitating sound, words largely have no
real meaning to them. Although they have a vague understanding of the context of words. For instance, when a parrot
says, "hello, how are you?" Like most people, they probably aren't genuinely
interested in your wellbeing. The parrot more likely understands that phrase to mean, oh, look,
someone has entered the room, as it's a phrase often
used in such a context. Which if you ask me is pretty
good going for a bird brain. Enjoying seeing these super
intelligent animals so far? Well, why don't you mosey on
down to the comment section and let me know. And feel free to drop a
like and subscribe too if you're feeling generous. Done? Alright, let's continue. Intelligent elephant. I think we can all agree that elephants are the big friendly giants
of the animal kingdom. But it just so happens that
they're incredibly clever too. Research has revealed elephant brains are similar to human
brains in both structure and complexity, meaning they're able to exhibit highly intelligent behaviors, such as grief, mimicry,
play, and use of tools. One particularly clever
behavior is their ingenious way to combat sun damage. While they often seek out shade, another common coping mechanism is coating themselves with sand or mud. The mud aids their normal skin care through providing moisture
and helpful bacteria. And once it dries, it
acts as a muddy barrier between their skin and the sun. So now you know what to do next time you forget your sunscreen. But perhaps more impressive is the fact that elephants can
seemingly create artwork. Yep, besides snorkeling water, elephants can use their big old trunks for some pretty extraordinary doodles. Insane. Right? And while you probably
won't catch a wild elephant commissioning portraits, when guided, they're able to recreate
some incredible artworks. Even from memory after enough training. With their cognitive ability
to follow instructions, learn, and remember, coupled
with their dextrous trunk, elephants can wield a
paintbrush like a pro. Of course the elephants aren't coming up with the ideas themselves, and are being guided as to what
colors and shapes to place. But the true intelligence on show is in the precision with
which the paints are applied. One reason elephants might be so receptive to being trained is
their brain development. Most mammals are born with
close to fully developed brains at around 90% of the adult weight. Making them more instinctive creatures equipped for the specific
demands of their environment. Us humans on the other hand
are born with around 28%, meaning we're less instinctive and more open to learning over time. A surprising similarity runs in elephants, as they're born with just 35%
of their adult brain weight. So much like us, it's suggested
that elephants rely more on what's taught to them
rather than pure instinct to inform their
interactions with the world. So maybe if we teach them
how to feel a whole lot of self-loathing and general angst, we'll end up with an elephant Van Gogh on our hands after all. Hobo hermits. Without shells of their own, hermit crabs are
essentially born homeless. Yet must find one to protect
their delicate abdomen. Thankfully, they've evolved a genius, though slightly shady way
of solving this problem. They beg, borrow, and steal
the shells of sea snails. Even sometimes killing the owners for their pretty little shells. As the shells don't grow, the hermit will continue to shop about for bigger and better shells, or maybe even just shells
in the prettiest color that really brings out his eyes. As shells can be scarce
and difficult to come by, when a housed hermit
dies, it emits a chemical to notify other hermits that
a shell has become vacant for them to come use. And while this real estate
system is incredibly smart, it is sometimes to their own detriment. Homeless hermits often
mistake bits of plastic and garbage as vacant shells
due to human pollution. Consequently, they can become trapped in things like plastic buckets and die. And if that wasn't bad enough, that handy chemical that
notifies other hermits of a vacant shell proves not
so handy as it invites more and more hermits to
come and meet their fate in the same death trap. One man's trash is actually
another hermit's grave. So let's stop dumping trash
in the ocean, shall we folks? Connect coati. Moving on to something
a little less bleak now, and who better than Sunny the coati? Yep, this ray of sunshine lives in Germany with his owner, Nicole. And like his name suggests,
Sunny's pretty bright. So much so that he's gotten
quite skilled at a popular game. (Nicole cheering) Ah, the sweet taste of victory. Nicole adopted Sunny back in 2008. And since then, she's trained
him to play Connect Four. And although he did technically win, I'm pretty sure Nicole let him. As I doubt that he fully
understands the aim of the game. I mean, just look at his token
placement, rookie mistake. Still, as part of the Procyonidae family, the coati is closely
related to the raccoon. Which is especially
apparent seeing how Sunny uses his dextrous paws
to grip and hold items, much like we humans do. Though, these agile claws were evolved for the purpose of climbing and digging, they serve just as well
for playing Connect Four. And the mental stimulation
given by the game to Sunny's brain is a pretty
big plus for everyone involved. While coatis aren't
typically domesticated, if nurtured from a young age, they can grow into
loving affectionate pets. And hey, who knows? Maybe one day they'll be
smart enough to play Cluedo. Octo-push. Octopuses, or octopi are
basically the aliens of the Earth. From their slimy eight
legs and lack of bones, to their ability to change color, morph their texture, and
regenerate lost limbs. These slinky ocean creatures
can do just about anything. And added to the list of their
other worldly superpowers is their ability to fit
through almost any size hole. With octopuses commonly
reaching four feet in length, it's pretty mind boggling
to think they can fit through a hole as small
as an inch in diameter. And with this, they've become
pretty good escape artists. So much so that zoos often
have to weigh the lids of their tanks down with
bricks as to avoid any escapes. Watch here as this particularly
adept escape artist breaks free through a tiny hole. - No way he can't get through.
- You are wrong, my friend. - You're kidding me.
- No. - [Worker] That's like
trying to get my wife in her wedding dress,
it ain't gonna happen. - Hey.
- Oh man. - That was harsh.
- Look at him. - I'm gonna tell her-
- Way through. - Wow.
- I'm dead serious. - [Worker] Oh, look at that, look at it. It's popping hole. Look at that, he's popping through. - Yeah.
- That's nasty. It's like- - [Worker] Wait, do
you wanna see it, Ally? Ally? Oh, nevermind. He is kind of squeezing through. - [Worker 2] (laughs) Oh
my gosh. Look at that. (workers overlap talking) - [Worker] There's his nose. He's just all the way through it now. - Except for oh-
- Just his nose. Yeah. - [Worker 2] Whack off a leg. - Oh (quack sound). - What will he do?
- Oh, he's out. - [Narrator] So gross, and yet
mesmerizing at the same time. Like I mentioned earlier,
octopuses lack of bones means they can easily slither and slime their way out
of a lot of situations. In fact, the only thing
the octopus has to worry about fitting through
a hole is their beak, which is hidden at the center
of their eight tentacles. These beaks are lethal weapons, sharp enough to tear
through the flesh of prey, and tough enough to
break clam shells open. As for their internal organs, octopuses have a lot more
flexibility than us humans. Due to their organs
being loosely contained, as opposed to our rigidly
organized internal structure, octopuses can easily maneuver and squish down their insides
without causing any damage. It's somewhat like a
half full bag of water. Everything inside can interchangeably become rounder or flatter when compressed, without becoming too pressurized
and damaging the organs. And beside all these physical advantages, octopuses are also highly
intelligent problem solvers. They're actively curious and
engaged with their environment. Quite literally feeling out
all potential escape routes. Incredibly, each of their
tentacles has a cluster of nerve cells that can
function as a mini brain, which communicates with the rest to flawlessly coordinate both the planning and execution of an escape attempt. Man, with eight escape obsessed
mini brains per octopus, I'd sure hate to be a prison guard at the cephalopod state penitentiary. Wonder whales. It's no secret that whales are smart. And while it's not exactly
like we can have them sit down and take an IQ test, their intelligence can still
be recognized in other ways. Among many things they're known to be highly social creatures. And research suggests they
experience high levels of emotional intelligence,
like grief and maternal love. Not only that, but they're
also astoundingly proficient in the problem solving department. And while problem solving
sure helps in hunting and survival situations, it also comes in pretty
handy in other situations, like when you throw your
toys out of the pool. (water splashing) Now that's what I call an animal genius. With just a little bit of simple physics, this beluga whale managed to figure that shooting a water jet
could bounce the object against the wall, back to them. And their genius doesn't stop there. Perhaps the most useful superpower whales, toothed whales and dolphins especially, have at their disposal is echo location. But what is echolocation and
how exactly does it work? Well, this physiological process
is used to locate distance or hard to see objects such
as prey by using sound waves. Whales, for example, use echolocation by bouncing high pitched clicking sounds off underwater objects. They essentially call out
and wait for a response to reflect back to them through echos. Hence the name echolocation. They make these sounds by squeezing air through nasal passages
near their blow hole. These sound waves then
travel into the forehead where the melon, AKA a big blob of fat, focuses them into a beam. If the whale's call
happens to hit something, the sound reflects back and is picked up through the whale's lower jaw
and then passed to its ears. This process allows the whale to work out an object's distance, direction, speed, density, and size. It's kind of like online
shopping, but for whales, as they can decide whether or not to pursue the
location of the object based on the information
provided by the echoes. In using this process,
whales are instinctively able to carry out some pretty
complex mathematics, as their brains can
automatically calculate distance based on the time it takes for the sound to be reflected back. while this is definitely an innate skill, little is known about
whether whales are born with the ability to echolocate. Though, some experts suggest it's a skill that is developed over time. Either way, it's hard not to respect these vastly intelligent
creatures for their ability to create a virtual world
of sound around themselves. I do something similar on occasion, but it requires a nice pair of headphones and my lofi hip hop beats playlist. So which of these moments of
animal genius blew your mind? Let me know down in the comments below. Thanks for watching guys, and
I'll see you in the next one. (upbeat music)
