National Geographic has just published a terrific article summarizing the many ways in which animals think.   Here’s the article.  You can watch a short accompanying video on this topic of animal cognition here.

I like the approach to both the article and the video.  They are both centered around large beautiful portraits of many of the animals discussed, including Azy the orangutan, now-deceased Alex, the (famous) gray parrot, Kanzi, the (also famous) bonobo, Betsy the border collie, JB the giant Pacific octopus (an invertebrate that exhibits play behavior), tool-using New Caledonian crows, and an unnamed cichlid (a type of fish that is surprisingly savvy about social rank).  Even earthworms make a cameo appearance, based upon their ability to carefully select the right kind of leafy matter to block their tunnels.

I found the information to be clearly presented and startling, even though I was already familiar with many of these animal accomplishments.  Seeing these demonstrations of animal intelligence gathered in one article, accompanied by these wonderful portraits, brings home Darwin’s conclusion that the diversification of species has common roots; that there is, indeed, a biological unity of all life. 

The take-away message from the National Geographic article: “A whole range of animal studies now suggest that the roots of cognition are deep, widespread, and highly malleable.”

I can’t say enough good things about National Geographic.  In a perfect world, every household would have a subscription to National Geographic.