7 Animals Smarter Than Humans

By Paula Alvarado, TreeHugger

Bodies that work with the Earth’s magnetic field to determine location. Female-only societies. Telling whether you’re a friend or a jerk there to make trouble with just one whiff. Homes so efficient they keep one steady temperature all the time. No, we’re not talking about new X-Men or other comic book characters, we’re talking about animals with skills we can only dream of.

These seven animals are way smarter than us — just another reason to pay some respect when we encounter them in the wild.

1. Homing Pigeons
While most humans need several types of maps and a compass to find their way home after a long journey, the homing pigeon can return from extremely long distances (more than 1,100 miles) without any guidance.

Well, as a matter of fact, they do have some help: According to research by the University of Frankfurt, these pigeons have iron-containing structures in their beaks, which help them sense the Earth’s magnetic field independent of their motion and posture, and thus identify their geographical position.

Research results released this year indicate this magnetic charm is present in other birds as well.

Image Credit: digitalART2 / Flickr

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Duane B.

7:02AM PDT on Apr 18, 2013

Thank you for sharing.

April 18
send a green star

marc h.

8:43AM PST on Feb 7, 2013

thankyou i already knew that though,hahah

February 7
send a green star

Malgorzata Z.

1:11PM PST on Feb 5, 2013

To człowiek jest najinteligentniejszą istotą, tylko nie zawsze potrafi tę inteligencje wykorzystać. Zwierzęta mają często zmysły bardziej rozwinięte od człowieka. Czasami strach pomyśleć, gdyby człowiek miał wszystkie zmysły najbardziej rozwinięte do czego by je wykorzystał.

February 5
send a green star

Mary D.

2:22PM PST on Feb 4, 2013

Great post.

February 4
send a green star

Cherie G.

3:35AM PST on Nov 26, 2012

Animals are smarter, most often cleaner, efficient, only eat what they need, have shown ,
acts of Bravery, and loyalty, far beyond some Humans are capable of.
I wish we as the Human Race could appreciate just what they are, unique, wonderful,
and without them, this World would indeed be a dark place, because they have no idea of
revenge , perhaps if we looked at them and just were happy to share our place,
with the rest of this Animal Planet.