哪些动物最聪明？

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　　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.

　　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.

　　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。

　　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 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.

　　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.

　　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。

　　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。

　　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。