My Z News

For those who don’t spend much time around animals, it’s easy to assume they aren’t intelligent and only act on pure instinct.

While animals are obviously incredibly instinctual creatures, they’ve also proven that they have the ability to think, reason, and even solve certain problems. Don’t take my word for it, though. Just check out how these 15 smart critters use their brains.

1. In a 2016 study, European scientists found that with homing pigeons, either the leader will fall back into the flock and let others take over when it doesn’t know where it’s going, or the flock won’t follow the leader when they realize they’re going the wrong way.

Flickr / schizoform

2. This gorilla at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, taught himself how to walk a tightrope.

Reddit / gugulo

3. This study tested whether New Caledonian crows could figure out how to get a drink of water from a half-filled pitcher. Not only did they find a way, but they were found to be as smart as the average five- to seven-year-old child!