Who is smarter than rats? - briefly
Primates, corvids, dolphins, elephants, and octopuses exhibit cognitive abilities that exceed those of rats.
Who is smarter than rats? - in detail
Rats display considerable problem‑solving capacity, yet several taxa surpass them in specific cognitive domains.
Primates, especially great apes, exhibit advanced planning, symbolic communication, and self‑recognition. Experiments with chimpanzees and bonobos demonstrate the ability to use tools in sequences, understand abstract concepts such as numbers, and anticipate future needs. Their prefrontal cortex development underlies these capabilities, providing a level of executive function beyond that of rodents.
Cetaceans—dolphins and certain whale species—show complex social structures, vocal learning, and mirror self‑recognition. In controlled tasks, bottlenose dolphins solve novel puzzles, understand syntactic elements of artificial languages, and exhibit cooperative problem solving, indicating a sophisticated mental model of their environment.
Corvids, including crows, ravens, and magpies, master tool manufacture, episodic-like memory, and future planning. Field observations record New Caledonian crows fashioning multi‑step tools to extract insects, while laboratory studies reveal their capacity to solve multi‑stage logical problems and remember the location of hidden food after delays.
Elephants demonstrate empathy, long‑term memory, and problem solving involving cooperation. They can navigate mazes, use objects to reach inaccessible resources, and display awareness of death, suggesting emotional cognition that exceeds rodent capabilities.
Octopuses, despite being invertebrates, possess remarkable learning speed, problem‑solving, and short‑term memory. In laboratory settings they open jars, escape complex enclosures, and adapt behaviors after observing conspecifics, reflecting a high degree of neural plasticity.
Collectively, these groups illustrate cognitive functions—such as abstract reasoning, advanced tool use, social learning, and self‑awareness—that are demonstrably more sophisticated than those observed in rats.