Knowing Without Question How Smart Animals Are…

Animals are pretty impressive. Most of them are faster than us humans. Many of them are stronger. And now we see that some are even smarter than some of us.This isn’t a new story, but it just keeps floating around and has finally made its way to my inbox. Researchers in Japan have showed that chimpanzees can outdo college kids with some counting and memory games. Watch some of the videos below (and then scour YouTube for more). Along a related note here’s a nice clip of a crow using a tool. Chimpanzee
vs.HumanFor those who like to reader in the audience, here’s a great piece from the Sunday New York Times Magazine about “the two greatest nonhuman linguists of our day: Washoe, the sign-language-wielding chimpanzee with an intense footwear fetish; and Alex, the wildly outspoken parrot.” It all begs the question, what are we going to do in 2008 knowing now without question how smart animals are?– Joel