what is the smartest species on earth, besides humans?

Question

any reasons why would be great

Answer 1

I think it's meant to be the cetaceans, particularly orcas and dolphins. I've actually read some articles suggesting their brains might be more developed than the human brain.
Their brains have lots of folds in them which as we all learnt in science class is linked to higher intelligence. They have special spindle brain cells also found in humans that are linked to increased cognitive abilities, intuition, social skills, tool use, communication and empathy, BUT they have a lot more of them than we do. The part of the brain used for making associations is much larger in whales than in humans.



The first link has a lot of info:
http://www.seashepherd.org/ocean_realm/ocean_realm_aut97.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10661&feedId=brain_rss20
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1267.html
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Nov10/0,4670,SmartManatees,00.html

Answer 2

What makes you think humans are the smartest?
We control the world thanks to our opposable thumbs and language as well as decent intelligence (and living on earth being able to build), but nothing proves we have the best capacities.
Do you know Elephants have better memories than humans? And there's many animals with bigger brains than humans, and come on, most people are complete idiots.
If we put our ego aside, we could doubt about being the smartest.
There is one species that was clearly smarter with no doubt than us: Neandertal. They almost were like us but had sognificantly bigger brains. We slaugthered all of them that were threatening our positions as leader (probably in some vicious betraying way, humans are the top species when it comes to sneaky lying and betraying)

Answer 3

You really think humans are the smartest species on earth? Maybe we're the second smartest, and are not smart enough to detect the smartest species....Nah, I'm just messing. I think chimps are the second smartest because they have like 94% of our DNA.

Answer 4

Q: If the chimp is the smartest animal, where does the dolphin stand in the rankings? What are the top 10 smartest animals? —Drew, Oceanside, California and Scott, Seattle, Washington

Pigs—fourth smartest animal [Corel]

A: It’s hard to say which are the top ten smartest animals but here’s my list: apes and monkeys, dolphins and some whales, dogs, cats, crows, ravens, parrots, pigs, squirrels, octopuses.

I’ve talked about chimps in an earlier question so I won’t go into apes and monkeys here.

Dolphins swim and live in highly organized family groups called pods. Females assist others in giving birth. They hunt cooperatively. They talk with one another—whistling, quacking, squeaking. We have taught dolphins sign language, which they interpret correctly—both the sign meaning and how sign order affects meaning.

Cats and dogs match or surpass all animals except apes, some monkeys, and dolphins.

Ravens, crows, and parrots solve problems and are highly social creatures. Ravens can talk with each other, count to 9 (compared with 4 for chimps), and steal. They play—sliding down long snow banks, for example.

People have trained pigs to find truffles. Mediaeval English used pigs to poach (pointing and retrieving) since commoners were allowed only tiny dogs. A researcher reported seeing an old woman in southern India speak to her pig, which immediately rounded up her buffalo herd like a well-trained collie.

Squirrels are highly intelligent animals and will investigate anything, especially if it resembles food. Theda Kane raised an orphan squirrel in the United Kingdom. "I had to give up wearing stud earrings as Oz kept taking them out of my earlobes and putting them in his mouth. He also methodically removed all the buttons from my favorite cardigan and persistently stole my cigarette lighter," she says.

Boneless octopuses can ooze through a hole as small as one of their eyes. Being boneless makes orientation challenging. They’ve developed phenomenal memories to compensate. They’re clever too. Investigators tell many such stories as this one: An octopus spies a transparent bottle containing live crabs and quickly puzzles out how to open it. What’s more, she remembers solutions and applies them to different problems.

Answer 5

Depends on how specific you want to get when saying species. There is a lot of debate on whether its dolphins, chimpanzees, or gorillas. All three use tools, communicate in subtle and rich ways, and exhibit complex social interaction and relationships.

Answer 6

I heard that pigs are quite intelligent.

I just found this on the web..

"Q: If the chimp is the smartest animal, where does the dolphin stand in the rankings? What are the top 10 smartest animals? —Drew, Oceanside, California and Scott, Seattle, Washington

Pigs—fourth smartest animal [Corel]

A: It’s hard to say which are the top ten smartest animals but here’s my list: apes and monkeys, dolphins and some whales, dogs, cats, crows, ravens, parrots, pigs, squirrels, octopuses.

I’ve talked about chimps in an earlier question so I won’t go into apes and monkeys here.

Dolphins swim and live in highly organized family groups called pods. Females assist others in giving birth. They hunt cooperatively. They talk with one another—whistling, quacking, squeaking. We have taught dolphins sign language, which they interpret correctly—both the sign meaning and how sign order affects meaning.

Cats and dogs match or surpass all animals except apes, some monkeys, and dolphins.


Ravens, crows, and parrots solve problems and are highly social creatures. Ravens can talk with each other, count to 9 (compared with 4 for chimps), and steal. They play—sliding down long snow banks, for example.

People have trained pigs to find truffles. Mediaeval English used pigs to poach (pointing and retrieving) since commoners were allowed only tiny dogs. A researcher reported seeing an old woman in southern India speak to her pig, which immediately rounded up her buffalo herd like a well-trained collie.

Squirrels are highly intelligent animals and will investigate anything, especially if it resembles food. Theda Kane raised an orphan squirrel in the United Kingdom. "I had to give up wearing stud earrings as Oz kept taking them out of my earlobes and putting them in his mouth. He also methodically removed all the buttons from my favorite cardigan and persistently stole my cigarette lighter," she says.

Boneless octopuses can ooze through a hole as small as one of their eyes. Being boneless makes orientation challenging. They’ve developed phenomenal memories to compensate. They’re clever too. Investigators tell many such stories as this one: An octopus spies a transparent bottle containing live crabs and quickly puzzles out how to open it. What’s more, she remembers solutions and applies them to different problems."

Answer 7

Sasquatches!

Unfortunately, most folk don't believe in us! Go Figure!!!

So, presuming that I am a figment of my own imagination --- Dolphins, Whales, Ants, Dogs (sorry, cats don't count as they are not really of this planet).

Primates? Perhaps, but I will side with with the Dolphins or the Canines for the moment.

The Ol' Sasquatch Ü

Answer 8

surprisingly, the smartest species on earth other than humans is the parrot. the smartest specimen known is a parrot named alex (ironically, thats my name!) has the mental capacity of a six-year-old child. he can talk in complete sentences.

Answer 9

Cephalopods are fairly intelligent. Some researchers report a language in use by squid and cuttlefish- those against this tend to be the ones that define "language" as something only humans can do... thus cephalopods can't (even if they could).
...No one really wants to look into this too much because we eat a lot of them and they're very tasty. "You want funding to study what?!! Hahahaha! Yeah... no."

Answer 10

Top 3 Smartest
1. Humans
2. Primates
3. Carnivors (Cats, Dogs, Lions, Tigers, ect.)