YouTube is loaded with evidence of what some might call octopus intelligence. One does an uncanny impression of a flounder. Another mimics coral before darting away from a pushy camera.

Actually, chimps are smarter than both you or I.

Matsuzawa Tetsuro, a Kyoto-based primate researcher has tested 5-year old chimpanzees in a game where they had to recognize multiple numbers that were revealed to them very quickly, and the chimps walked away with an astounding 80% accuracy. For comparative purposes, a fantastic human score, posted by a first-year doctoral candidate is around 10 percent.

via environmentalgraffiti

Despite inhabiting a very different world to ourselves, dolphins perform brilliantly in our 'intelligence tests'. There is still much to learn about these flexible problem-solvers, but from the evidence so far, it seems that dolphins do indeed deserve their reputation for being highly intelligent. 

Up to now, many scientists have concentrated on the cultural transmission of behaviour from mother to offspring, but new research by Stan Kuczaj and his team have revealed some surprising results. They have noticed that, during play, calves are more likely to copy and learn from dolphins closer to their own age group.

via bbc.co.uk