What are some signs of smarts in the animals in your lives, and do you think animals have more intelligence than we give them credit for?

As a lifelong dog lover (I'm 92 and until recently, shared my life serially with more than 15 dogs) I can say without blushing that dogs think, communicate. and learn. Damn right they're smart. Historically, dogs lived in packs, and a household with two or three humans and one or more dogs constitutes a pack. When a dog is left alone, it's lonely, and it will watchfully lie by the door to await someone's return. But if that dog has one or more canine companions, the pack remains intact, and one (which I'd call the "leader") is likely to remain on watch while the others sleep. A dog's joy at our return is genuine -- a celebration because the entire pack is again in palace. All dog packs have a leader, whose responsibility is the discipline and welfare of the pack and. It's like a naval crew. We humans are the officers, and the leader of the dogs is the Chief Warrant Officer. Scent is a dog's most impressive sense, which is what makes dogs so good at sniffing out drugs in an airport or people in rubble. I will admit, however, that I've never observed on of my many canine friends scratch his back with a stick. On the other hand, I wager that I could teach one to. They do pay close attention.

From Mumbai, India.

Crows around our buildings have mastered the fine art of stealing metal "coat hangers" from inside the house - getting in through spaces in the winnow grill (otherwise, these never crows venture indoors). Then they deftly manipulate the hanger through the window grill and fly away with the hanger. They use these hangers as strong foundation for their nest building in nearby trees. This skill spread to many nearby crow population. Unfortunately, i have no images or videos of this happening. I no longer live in that neighbourhood.

Intelligence as a tree:

Brain=Roots

Awareness=trunk

Emotion and base instinct=first big limbs (very similar in appearance, but different)

Memory of events=branches on the limbs (cuddling makes a branch on one, kicking makes a branch on the other---feeding makes one one both!)

Learned behavior=twigs from whatever branch...

Complex and planned behavior=leaves

Every interaction with the world adds branches and twigs and eventually leaves!

Human brains can add limbs that other animals may not have available. Math, Science, Philosophy, Art. They have their own branches, etc. Dogs will not be astronomers or physicists.

But an animal with a well-grown trunk, limbs, and a few good branches will grow many twigs and beautiful leaves!

Just like us, pets are born with abilities and limitations. The only way to find them is to look!

We live with an Indian Ring Neck so we are reminded every day.

I'd offer this anecdotal observation of animals in enriched environments. When I grew up, dogs were objects with specific parameters to how we related to them. They were "pets", there to fill a limited role in our lives, and when we were finished with them, going into their pens until we needed them again. (The pens were sizeable, but had very limited stimulation.) After my mid-20's, I didn't have dogs again.

Cut to my second marriage many years later. My wife wanted to get dogs, and insisted the dogs be treated as intelligent beings with needs and potentials of their own. I was game to do it and see what happened. The dogs are cross breeds, like all the ones we had when I was a kid.

They live with us as family, receive daily enrichment activities - usually multiple enrichment ones daily - and are treated as intelligent beings with a capacity for communication. Their ability to "read" our feelings, learn words from listening to us, communicate their wants and needs to us, and pick up complex concepts (such as pointing in the direction of a wanted object), is SO far beyond anything I saw in the dogs of my youth.

I feel embarrassed now at how I objectified dogs in my youth and completely failed to see their potential, just as with all objectification of intelligent beings.

My beloved cat Lusie was taking care of me when I was sick with a flue.

Sitting next to me on my bed for hours, she was grooming me by licking my hair and chewing on my fingernails "loosing dirt"! She figured out that my nails are an equivalent of her claws.

Isn't it being smart.

It has been decades ago now but I won't never forget this tender moment in my life.

I have an African Gray Congo; named Dolores (after my mother)…I have raised her since she was 6 weeks and she will be turning 3 the first of October! I play with her daily and have been teaching her different things, for example what water is, whistling the Andy Griffins theme song, and many more, but there are way too many to write about! One of the funniest things she’s learned, on her own, is ALEXA! She has heard me many times turning it on/off, volume up/down, and changing radio stations…if she does not like the music I play for her in the glass, small bedroom size bird aviary room ( which she shares with 2 other parrots) she will turn ALEXA off or change radio station to what genre she wants to hear and if it’s not loud enough she’ll ask ALEXA to turn the volume up!!! She’s even asked ALEXA to play stations I never listen to and she remembers them! How she figured that out is beyond me!!

Without a doubt, humans typically underestimate the capabilities of animals. Very recently, Science.org documented how an Austrian cow uses a brush, both the stick end and bristle end, to scratch various parts of its body; https://www.science.org/content/article/no-bull-austrian-cow-has-learned-use-tools. I have lived with two cats that read my anxiety levels to interact in supportive ways.

The extreme end of recognizing external sentience is held by students who appreciate panpsychism. As such, this opens a very broad area of ongoing research, some of which can be quite engaging.

Anyone ever heard of a scratching post.

I absolutely think animals have more intelligence than we give them credit for! We're so used to thinking about intelligence within the framework of the human experience that we miss things.