Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A female bottlenose dolphin performing with her trainer. They are considered one of the most intelligent cetaceans. Cetacean intelligence is the overall intelligence and derived cognitive ability of aquatic mammals belonging in the infraorder Cetacea (cetaceans), including baleen whales, porpoises, and dolphins.
Using rewards to reinforce responses is often used in laboratories to test intelligence. However, the ability of animals to learn by observation and imitation is considered more significant. Ravens have been noted for their ability to learn from each other. [44] Scientists have discovered that birds know to avoid the plants where toxic animals ...
Pigs are among the most intelligent mammals on the planet; as such, they display a wide range of complex behaviors, like being able to play video games, understanding human instructions and even a pig species has been observed using tools.
In addition pigeons have unusual, perhaps unique, abilities to learn routes back to their home from long distances. This homing behaviour is different from that of birds that learn migration routes, which usually occurs over a fixed route at fixed times of the year, whereas homing is more flexible; however similar mechanisms may be involved.
The results showed that "Seventy-four percent of the time, the animals correctly picked the fullest bucket. An African elephant named Ashya scored the highest with an amazing eighty-seven percent … Humans in this same contest managed a success rate of just sixty-seven percent." The study was also filmed to ensure its accuracy. [61]
The wolverine's questionable reputation as an insatiable glutton (reflected in its Latin genus name Gulo, meaning "glutton") may be in part due to a false etymology.The less common name for the animal in Norwegian, fjellfross, meaning "mountain cat", is thought to have worked its way into German as Vielfraß, [5] which means "glutton" (literally "devours much").
Bowheads have the largest mouth of any animal representing almost one-third of the length of the body, the longest baleen plates with a maximum length of 4 m (13 ft), and may be the longest-lived mammals, with the ability to reach an age of more than 200 years. The bowhead was an early whaling target.
Animal ability to process and respond to stimuli is correlated with brain size. Small-brain animals tend to show simple behaviors that are less dependent on learning than those of large-brained animals. Vertebrates, particularly mammals, have larger brains and complex behavior that changes with experience.