Of mice and men and minds - We’ve been looking and different unusually clever creatures—ants, bees, crows, octopus, elephants, whales, sea otters, dogs, racoons and monkeys. Along the way I was hoping to figure out some general idea of how intelligenc...

Monkey brain business - Primates, from the littlest monkeys to the largest apes, have rather large brains for their size. They also have high neural density, meaning that they pack a large number of neurons into whatever size brain they have.

That’s a good dog - Alright, I agree, some dogs are smarter than others. Some dogs are downright dumb—but we still love them. Still, depending on the dog, they can show language and memory abilities as good as those shown by two year old human childre...

Raccoons, brains, hands, and clever disguise - Raccoons have surprisingly crowded little heads. With as many neurons as a similar sized monkey, these furry little bandits have nimble hands, and a knack for cheating on intelligence tests.

Brains on the wing - If you compare brain size to body size, some animals have much more brain per pound than others. That includes the primates, who climb and swing through the trees. It also includes parrots and ravens and crows,

Elephants, their big brains and handy faces - The largest animal on land also has the largest brain. With complex social lives, cooperative problem solving, self-awareness and tool use, the elephants also have brains that have three times the number o...

Seals and sea otters - Last time we talked about the whales, and how some of them turn out to be rather clever. The whales and dolphins aren’t the only mammals who have returned to the sea. We’ve also got things like seals and sea otters.

Whales, songs and cerebrum - The largest creatures on the planet also have some good-sized brains. Why? What do they do with such large brains and how did they get them in the first place? Here’s a video about the evolution of whales. -

Octo smarts! - It’s a rough life. With no shell, octopuses are a delicious boneless morsel, just waiting for some big something or another to gobble them up. This bite-size snack uses its ability to hide, squeeze into the tiniest of hiding places,

Intelligent insects? - Building homes, farming crops, herding animals for milk and meat, and using tools—some of the insects do some impressively clever things. Join us as we examine the smartest of the bugs, and what might have made them that way.