Should it really be right to question whether humans are the smartest animal or not?”
Intelligence has been defined as the ability to achieve complex goals in complex environments. Some animals clearly are better than this at others, leading us to call them smarter. Humans are the smartest animals on the planet. This is not anthropocentric conceit talking — by any objective standard of ability to deal with complexity, humans beat all other animals, hands down. Even some of the least intelligent humans can solve problems no animal could hope to. Aside from humans, what are the smartest animals? Here’s where the territory gets murkier. The animal most often cited are chimps, followed by the other Great Apes (gorillas and orangutans). Jane Goodall, a primatologist famous for her 45-year study of Tanzanian chimp social and family life, made a list of five of the smartest animals for USA Today: 1. Great Apes, which have learned parts of ASL (American Sign Language), and even taught it to each other. Furthermore, some Great Apes have been able to perform some basic functions
msnbc.com: We humans have the ability to learn, to reason and solve problems. We’re self-aware, and we’re also conscious of the presence, thoughts and feelings of others. We make tools and practice the art of deception. We’re creative. We think abstractly. We have language and use it to express complex ideas. All of these are arguably signs of intelligence. Scientists may not agree on the best and fullest definition of intelligence – but they generally agree that humans are highly intelligent. Other members of the animal kingdom exhibit signs of intelligence as well, and some scientists might say the definition of animal vs. human intelligence is merely a matter of degree – a point that was brought home in 2005 when the London Zoo put “Homo sapiens” on display in the exhibit pictured here. Click the “Next” arrow above to learn about nine other species that stand out for their smarts. Chimps are almost like us If we humans possess intelligen
