盘点：世界上最聪明的动物们

能在代数上考满分或者写出优秀论文的动物在动物王国里并不存在，但是这不意味着它们智商低。动物王国中有些动物有着非常棒的认知能力和聪明的大脑。来看看世界上最聪明的动物都有哪些。

Chimpanzees 黑猩猩

Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. We share almost 99 percent of our DNA with them. It turns out that they share some of our brain power as well. In a study published in 2007, researchers gave adult chimps, adolescent chimps, and college students the same cognitive test. The exam involved remembering where a list of numbers—from one to nine—were located on a touch screen monitor.

黑猩猩是人类的近亲，与人类共享了将近99%的DNA。不仅如此，黑猩猩还共享了人类的一部分智力。2007年，研究人员开展了一项研究，他们分别对成年黑猩猩、未成年黑猩猩以及人类大学生进行了相同的认知能力测试。该测试的内容是记住一个触摸显示屏上数字1至9的位置。

Chimps and humans alike saw the numbers in their locations for less than a second. Then they were asked to remember where those numbers had been and show the researchers. The adult primates and humans performed about the same. But the adolescent chimps left them both in the dust. They remembered each number’s location with far better accuracy. Researchers think that these youngsters were using a type of photographic memory, which allows an individual to recall images with extremely high accuracy even if they only glanced at them for a split second.

黑猩猩和人类一样，要在不到一秒的时间内记住数字的位置，然后研究人员会让他们回忆并指出数字的位置。成年黑猩猩和人类大学生发挥的差不多，然而未成年黑猩猩的准确度令前两组望尘莫及。研究人员认为这些年轻的黑猩猩使用的是一种图形记忆方法，即使它们只瞥了一眼图形，也能用极高的准确度回忆起来。

Goats 山羊

Scientists have thought for a long time that goats are far smarter than their unassuming demeanor leads many of us to believe. Finally, a group of researchers in Australia decided to put these barn animals to the test. To do so, they set up a contraption that held fruit at the end. To access the tasty treat, the goats had to use their teeth to drag a rope down, which activated a lever they had to lift up with their mouths. If they could figure all that out, the fruit was theirs.

科学家长期以来都认为，看似低调的山羊实际上比我们想象的还要聪明。有一群澳大利亚的研究人员终于决定对山羊进行测试。测试用到了一个精巧的装置，里面放着水果。为了吃到美味的水果，山羊必须要用牙拽下绳子，绳子会激活一个杠杆，然后山羊需要用嘴将杠杆抬起。如果它们能搞定这些的话，里面的水果就是它们的了。

Nine out of 12 goats mastered the task after around four tries. When the researchers had all the goats try again 10 months later, the majority still remembered how to work the system.

经过4轮尝试之后，12只山羊里有9只完成了这项任务。研究人员在10个月后又对它们进行了相同的测试，发现其中大多数山羊还记得如何吃到装置中的水果。

Elephants 大象

Anyone who has interacted with an elephant knows these animals are very smart. But just how smart are they? Researchers have performed numerous studies on the subject. One found that elephants can understand the difference between languages and whether a man, woman, or child is speaking.

任何接触过大象的人都知道它们十分聪明。但它们有多聪明呢？研究人员对它们进行了很多项研究。其中一项研究表明大象可以分辨出人类语言的不同，以及分辨出说话者是男人、女人还是孩子。

How do they know? In Africa, only certain tribes hunt down elephants. Scientists played recordings of a group that does hunt them down and one that doesn’t. When the elephants heard the recordings of the elephant-hunting group, they became fearful and moved away from where the sound was coming from. When they heard the language of the group that doesn’t hunt them down, they didn’t move or change their disposition. Then, researchers played recordings of the language that scared them, but included women, children, and men. The elephants only became fearful when the voice came from men—they do the hunting.

研究人员又是怎么知道的呢？在非洲，某些部落会猎杀大象。研究人员播放了一组猎杀大象部落的语言和一组非猎杀大象部落的语言录音。当大象听到猎杀大象部落的语言之后，它们十分恐惧并开始远离声音的源头。而当它们听到的语言是非猎杀大象部落发出的，它们并没有逃走。然后，研究人员又播放了会让大象恐惧的语言，但是这次说话的人包括了女人、孩子和男人。大象听到男人的声音才开始表现出恐惧，因为只有男人会捕猎大象。

Dolphins 海豚

One way that scientists measure intelligence is something called the mirror-self recognition test. The idea behind this test is to determine whether an animal can recognize themselves in front of a mirror. To figure that out, scientists place a colored marking on the animal’s body. Then they place them in front of a mirror. Most often, if the animals recognize themselves, they will show signs of trying to remove the marking from their bodies, like scratching or rubbing it off.

科学家测试智商的方法之一是镜像自我认知测试。这个测试的目的是看动物是否能认出镜中的自己。首先科学家在被测试的动物身上放置一个有颜色的标记，然后把它们带到镜子前。通常，如果动物认出了镜中的自己，它们会表现出想弄掉标记的迹象，比如挠掉或者蹭掉身上的标记。

Many animals don’t pass this test. When they see their reflection in the mirror they think it’s another animal of their kind, and either run away and try to fight or scare the stranger.

很多种动物都没能通过这项测试，它们看见镜中的自己时以为是另外一只同类，所以它们要么逃走要么发出威胁要么试着和镜中的“敌人”打斗。

When researchers placed markings on dolphins, the aquatic critters investigated the smudges in their reflections. In other words, they knew the marking belonged to them, and not some other animal; they knew the dolphin in the mirror was them.

当研究者将标记放置在海豚身上时，这些海洋里的机灵鬼看了镜子以后发现了自己身上的标记。换句话说，它们清楚标记是在自己身上，而不是在别的动物身上。它们也很清楚镜子里的海豚就是自己。

Crows 乌鸦

It’s hard to imagine that a crow could be as smart as you, or perhaps even smarter. But scientists have done a series of studies that prove that they might be just as good, or better, at solving problems. In one study, researchers gave crows and humans the same puzzle: A toy floats on top of water inside a tall glass, too narrow for a bird to get its beak down or for a small child to place their hands into. Children younger than eight years old are completely stumped, and generally can’t figure out a way to get the toy. But crows aren’t confused at all. They simply drop pebbles into the narrow glass. Eventually the stones displace enough water at the bottom of the glass that the toy rises to the top, and the birds can quickly snatch it.

你一定想象不到乌鸦可能和你一样聪明，或许比你还要聪明。科学家为此做了一系列的研究来证明，在解决难题这一方面，乌鸦可能不比人类差。在其中的一项研究中，研究人员给了乌鸦组和人类组相同的题目。在一个装着水的高玻璃瓶里漂浮着一个小玩具，瓶口很窄，乌鸦的嘴无法伸进去，人类小孩也无法把手伸进去。人类8岁以下的孩子完全懵了，根本不知道怎么拿出玩具。但是乌鸦完全不在话下。它们简单地将小卵石叼进玻璃瓶，最终玻璃瓶底聚集的卵石将水面抬高，小玩具漂浮到瓶口，然后乌鸦一下就把玩具叼了出来。

Bees 蜜蜂

Bees are known mostly for their sting. But they are also highly intelligent little creatures. Researchers taught bees to identify which of two horizontal lines was above the other. When they got the answer right, they received a sugar-syrup reward. The thing is, the researchers only taught them how to identify whether lines that were horizontal were above or below. So, when the researchers showed the buzzers vertical lines, the bees simply flew away. They knew there was no way to get that tasty treat!

说起蜜蜂，第一反应多是它们屁股上的刺会蜇人。但蜜蜂也是一群有着相当高智商的小家伙们。研究人员教会蜜蜂分辨两条水平线中哪一条更高。当蜜蜂选对了，会得到糖浆作为奖赏。结果，蜜蜂只学了分辨水平线，当研究人员让它们分辨垂直线的时候，它们完全不予理睬。因为它们知道，除了水平线都没糖吃。

Octopuses 章鱼

Octopuses are in a league of their own. Most invertebrates don’t have the level of intelligence that scientists say these weirdly shaped sea creatures do. In one cool study, researchers tested whether the creatures would be able to distinguish between two different people. They had two individuals interact with an octopus, with one acting extremely friendly and another being cold and standoffish. After a short while, when the two people would enter their living area, the octopus would ignore the impersonal one in favor of the more friendly guest.

章鱼可谓别具一格。科学家认为，这些海底的异形拥有大多数无脊椎动物无法企及的智商。在一项构思巧妙的研究中，研究人员针对章鱼是否可以分辨两个不同的人进行了测试。他们让两个人和章鱼互动，一个人表现得极为友善，而另外一个人表现得很冷漠还有些不友好。经过一小段时间，当这两个人进入章鱼的居处的时候，它会忽视掉讨厌的那个人，而选择友善的那一个人。