能在代數上考滿分或者寫出優秀論文的動物在動物王國裏並不存在，但是這不意味著它們智商低。動物王國中有些動物有著非常棒的認知能力和聰明的大腦。來看看世界上最聰明的動物都有哪些。

　　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.

　　黑猩猩是人類的近親，與人類共用了將近99%的DNA。不僅如此，黑猩猩還共用了人類的一部分智力。2007年，研究人員開展了一項研究，他們分別對成年黑猩猩、未成年黑猩猩以及人類大學生進行了相同的認知能力測試。該測試的內容是記住一個觸摸顯示屏上數字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.

　　黑猩猩和人類一樣，要在不到一秒的時間內記住數字的位置，然後研究人員會讓他們回憶並指出數字的位置。成年黑猩猩和人類大學生發揮的差不多，然而未成年黑猩猩的準確度令前兩組望塵莫及。研究人員認為這些年輕的黑猩猩使用的是一種圖形記憶方法，即使它們只瞥了一眼圖形，也能用極高的準確度回憶起來。

　　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.

　　科學家長期以來都認為，看似低調的山羊實際上比我們想像的還要聰明。有一群澳大利亞的研究人員終于決定對山羊進行測試。測試用到了一個精巧的裝置，裏面放著水果。為了吃到美味的水果，山羊必須要用牙拽下繩子，繩子會激活一個杠桿，然後山羊需要用嘴將杠桿抬起。如果它們能搞定這些的話，裏面的水果就是它們的了。

　　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.

　　經過4輪嘗試之後，12只山羊裏有9只完成了這項任務。研究人員在10個月後又對它們進行了相同的測試，發現其中大多數山羊還記得如何吃到裝置中的水果。

　　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.

　　任何接觸過大象的人都知道它們十分聰明。但它們有多聰明呢？研究人員對它們進行了很多項研究。其中一項研究表明大象可以分辨出人類語言的不同，以及分辨出説話者是男人、女人還是孩子。

　　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.

　　研究人員又是怎麼知道的呢？在非洲，某些部落會獵殺大象。研究人員播放了一組獵殺大象部落的語言和一組非獵殺大象部落的語言錄音。當大象聽到獵殺大象部落的語言之後，它們十分恐懼並開始遠離聲音的源頭。而當它們聽到的語言是非獵殺大象部落發出的，它們並沒有逃走。然後，研究人員又播放了會讓大象恐懼的語言，但是這次説話的人包括了女人、孩子和男人。大象聽到男人的聲音才開始表現出恐懼，因為只有男人會捕獵大象。

　　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.

　　科學家測試智商的方法之一是鏡像自我認知測試。這個測試的目的是看動物是否能認出鏡中的自己。首先科學家在被測試的動物身上放置一個有顏色的標記，然後把它們帶到鏡子前。通常，如果動物認出了鏡中的自己，它們會表現出想弄掉標記的跡象，比如撓掉或者蹭掉身上的標記。

　　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.

　　很多種動物都沒能通過這項測試，它們看見鏡中的自己時以為是另外一只同類，所以它們要麼逃走要麼發出威脅要麼試著和鏡中的“敵人”打鬥。

　　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.

　　當研究者將標記放置在海豚身上時，這些海洋裏的機靈鬼看了鏡子以後發現了自己身上的標記。換句話説，它們清楚標記是在自己身上，而不是在別的動物身上。它們也很清楚鏡子裏的海豚就是自己。

　　Crows 烏鴉

　　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.

　　你一定想像不到烏鴉可能和你一樣聰明，或許比你還要聰明。科學家為此做了一係列的研究來證明，在解決難題這一方面，烏鴉可能不比人類差。在其中的一項研究中，研究人員給了烏鴉組和人類組相同的題目。在一個裝著水的高玻璃瓶裏漂浮著一個小玩具，瓶口很窄，烏鴉的嘴無法伸進去，人類小孩也無法把手伸進去。人類8歲以下的孩子完全懵了，根本不知道怎麼拿出玩具。但是烏鴉完全不在話下。它們簡單地將小卵石叼進玻璃瓶，最終玻璃瓶底聚集的卵石將水面抬高，小玩具漂浮到瓶口，然後烏鴉一下就把玩具叼了出來。

　　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!

　　説起蜜蜂，第一反應多是它們屁股上的刺會蜇人。但蜜蜂也是一群有著相當高智商的小傢夥們。研究人員教會蜜蜂分辨兩條水準線中哪一條更高。當蜜蜂選對了，會得到糖漿作為獎賞。結果，蜜蜂只學了分辨水準線，當研究人員讓它們分辨垂直線的時候，它們完全不予理睬。因為它們知道，除了水準線都沒糖吃。

　　Octopuses 章魚

　　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.

　　章魚可謂別具一格。科學家認為，這些海底的異形擁有大多數無脊椎動物無法企及的智商。在一項構思巧妙的研究中，研究人員針對章魚是否可以分辨兩個不同的人進行了測試。他們讓兩個人和章魚互動，一個人表現得極為友善，而另外一個人表現得很冷漠還有些不友好。經過一小段時間，當這兩個人進入章魚的居處的時候，它會忽視掉討厭的那個人，而選擇友善的那一個人。

　　翻譯&編輯：丹妮

【糾錯】

責任編輯： 李雪梅