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Intelligent animals

Animals can learn, communicate, remember individuals or solve problems in different ways. Intelligence takes different forms in different species.

Which animals show complex learning and behaviour?

Examples include dolphins, orcas, octopuses, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, other monkeys and apes, ravens, elephants, parrots, dogs, cats, horses and pigs.

African grey parrot with a black bill, pale face and grey feathers perched on a branch

African grey parrotPsittacus erithacus

Blue-and-yellow macaw in flight with spread wings and a black bill

Young black-furred bonobo with large eyes resting against its mother in the forest

BonoboPan paniscus

A green budgerigar with a yellow head, blue cere and black throat spots

BudgerigarMelopsittacus undulatus

Capuchin monkey with brown fur and a black cap holding food in its hands

Capuchin monkeyCebinae

cat

chimpanzee

ChimpanzeePan troglodytes

White sulphur-crested cockatoo with a yellow crest and dark bill perched on a sloping branch

CockatooCacatuidae

Common starling perched on a mossy branch, showing a pointed yellow bill, pink feet and green-violet iridescent feathers

Common starlingSturnus vulgaris

dog

DogCanis lupus familiaris

dolphin

DolphinDelphinidae and several river-dolphin lineages

elephant

ElephantLoxodonta africana; Loxodonta cyclotis; Elephas maximus

Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) with pinkish-brown plumage and barred blue wing feathers

Eurasian jayGarrulus glandarius

Eurasian magpie, Pica pica, perched on a branch with white shoulder and belly patches and a long iridescent tail

Eurasian magpiePica pica

Goldfish (Carassius auratus) with orange scales

GoldfishCarassius auratus

gorilla

GorillaGorilla spp.

Great tit on a mossy branch showing white cheeks and the black stripe down its yellow breast

Great titParus major

horse

HorseEquus ferus caballus

Barbary macaque with yellowish-brown fur sitting on a rock

monkey

Monkeys and apesSimiiformes (monkeys and apes)

octopus

OctopusOctopoda

orangutan

OrangutanPongo pygmaeus, Pongo abelii and Pongo tapanuliensis

orca

OrcaOrcinus orca

Large dark Oscar fish with orange patches and a red eye on a black background

Oscar fishAstronotus ocellatus

parrot

ParrotPsittaciformes

pig

PigSus scrofa domesticus

A brown rat, Rattus norvegicus, with whiskers and a scaly tail curved on the ground

raven

RavenCorvus corax

Sea otter with thick brown fur and a pale head floating on its back in the water

Sea otterEnhydra lutris