1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:04,540 In the natural world, 2 00:00:04,540 --> 00:00:06,300 you need to be smart... 3 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:09,820 ..to stay alive. 4 00:00:11,860 --> 00:00:13,380 But we're only just discovering 5 00:00:13,380 --> 00:00:15,300 that some animals are brighter... 6 00:00:16,740 --> 00:00:18,980 ..than we ever imagined. 7 00:00:18,980 --> 00:00:23,380 I've never failed to be impressed by nature's sheer ingenuity. 8 00:00:25,420 --> 00:00:28,700 Now brand-new science using innovative techniques 9 00:00:28,700 --> 00:00:30,340 and the latest technology 10 00:00:30,340 --> 00:00:34,020 is revealing some surprising brainboxes. 11 00:00:34,020 --> 00:00:37,860 You can get bees to learn almost anything. 12 00:00:37,860 --> 00:00:39,620 Researchers across the globe... 13 00:00:39,620 --> 00:00:41,100 LAUGHTER 14 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:43,340 ..are uncovering the mind-blowing tricks... 15 00:00:43,340 --> 00:00:45,180 KEA CRIES 16 00:00:45,180 --> 00:00:49,820 ..and clever strategies that give certain species the upper hand... 17 00:00:49,820 --> 00:00:53,220 It is an animal showcasing its intelligence 18 00:00:53,220 --> 00:00:54,620 in front of your eyes. 19 00:00:57,340 --> 00:00:59,140 ..as they build their homes... 20 00:01:00,820 --> 00:01:02,860 ..navigate their world... 21 00:01:03,860 --> 00:01:06,700 ..and raise their young. 22 00:01:06,700 --> 00:01:11,580 It's time to get inside the minds of nature's savviest species. 23 00:01:12,780 --> 00:01:16,020 But I warn you, there's going to be a few surprises 24 00:01:16,020 --> 00:01:18,180 and some controversial candidates. 25 00:01:19,140 --> 00:01:22,380 But most importantly, it's going to give us an opportunity 26 00:01:22,380 --> 00:01:25,380 to learn from these animal Einsteins. 27 00:01:25,380 --> 00:01:27,500 And that's really exciting. 28 00:01:29,700 --> 00:01:33,620 In this programme, I'll discover how nature's masterminds 29 00:01:33,620 --> 00:01:37,180 measure up against human brain power, 30 00:01:37,180 --> 00:01:40,340 how a crow can be smarter than a five-year-old child... 31 00:01:42,060 --> 00:01:44,060 ..that bees can do maths... 32 00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:47,180 ..and whales have culture. 33 00:01:48,580 --> 00:01:51,980 But the question is, are these animal Einsteins 34 00:01:51,980 --> 00:01:54,100 as intelligent as us? 35 00:01:54,100 --> 00:01:58,140 Or perhaps that should be, are we as intelligent as them? 36 00:02:09,220 --> 00:02:13,740 Meet Bran, an 11-year-old common raven. 37 00:02:13,740 --> 00:02:15,420 Absolutely stunning. 38 00:02:16,620 --> 00:02:19,380 And as one of the corvid family, the crow family, 39 00:02:19,380 --> 00:02:21,380 famed for his intelligence. 40 00:02:21,380 --> 00:02:23,660 And on that account, I've set him a little test. 41 00:02:23,660 --> 00:02:27,340 He has a favourite S-T-O-N-E. 42 00:02:27,340 --> 00:02:30,380 And when I say that word, he'll start to look for it. 43 00:02:30,380 --> 00:02:32,300 So, come on, finish your treat. 44 00:02:32,300 --> 00:02:34,660 Now, Bran, where's your stone? 45 00:02:34,660 --> 00:02:36,180 Where's your stone? 46 00:02:36,180 --> 00:02:38,300 Is it on the ground? 47 00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:40,100 Is it in the tree, Bran? 48 00:02:44,180 --> 00:02:47,140 It's in neither of those places. 49 00:02:47,140 --> 00:02:49,500 We've actually hidden it under this branch. 50 00:02:55,780 --> 00:02:58,420 There's clearly no fooling this raven. 51 00:02:59,740 --> 00:03:01,060 Top work, Bran. 52 00:03:02,260 --> 00:03:04,300 Bran, come on. 53 00:03:04,300 --> 00:03:05,940 Come on. 54 00:03:05,940 --> 00:03:07,540 Now, that was pretty clever. 55 00:03:07,540 --> 00:03:10,100 Pretty smart for a bird like this. 56 00:03:10,100 --> 00:03:12,260 But I've got a test for him today 57 00:03:12,260 --> 00:03:15,340 that's going to really challenge his bird brain. 58 00:03:16,700 --> 00:03:19,100 Bran, you just wait there for a second, please. 59 00:03:19,100 --> 00:03:22,380 This is the challenge that we built for Bran today. 60 00:03:22,380 --> 00:03:26,060 In order to secure the meat treat hidden at the back, here, 61 00:03:26,060 --> 00:03:28,740 he's got to do a number of things - 62 00:03:28,740 --> 00:03:31,380 push the heavy ball out of the way, 63 00:03:31,380 --> 00:03:34,580 withdraw each one of these three sticks, 64 00:03:34,580 --> 00:03:36,380 drop the latch on the door, 65 00:03:36,380 --> 00:03:39,420 pull the door down using this piece of string, 66 00:03:39,420 --> 00:03:42,700 reach inside, pick up another piece of string, 67 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:44,220 which is tied to the meat. 68 00:03:44,220 --> 00:03:47,780 That's seven stages that he will have to complete 69 00:03:47,780 --> 00:03:50,100 to get the treat. 70 00:03:50,100 --> 00:03:51,820 He's been waiting in the wings. 71 00:03:51,820 --> 00:03:55,900 Let's see how our avian mastermind might get on. 72 00:03:57,340 --> 00:03:58,620 Come on, then, Bran. 73 00:03:58,620 --> 00:04:00,780 Come on. 74 00:04:00,780 --> 00:04:02,100 Right... 75 00:04:03,380 --> 00:04:05,500 Straight in... Oh, the door's gone. 76 00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:06,860 The door's gone. 77 00:04:06,860 --> 00:04:09,340 And so are both of the sticks. Pretty smartish. 78 00:04:09,340 --> 00:04:10,940 Come on. 79 00:04:10,940 --> 00:04:13,380 No, get that out of the way. You're absolutely right. 80 00:04:15,020 --> 00:04:17,980 Now, bear in mind, he's never seen - ouch! - 81 00:04:17,980 --> 00:04:20,260 this particular challenge before. 82 00:04:24,140 --> 00:04:27,100 Come on, Bran, get that string. 83 00:04:29,260 --> 00:04:31,820 He's done it. 84 00:04:31,820 --> 00:04:33,700 He's got the reward. 85 00:04:33,700 --> 00:04:38,340 Absolutely sensational display of avian intelligence. 86 00:04:40,420 --> 00:04:43,860 But I'm afraid it's my sad duty to tell him that he has a cousin, 87 00:04:43,860 --> 00:04:45,700 another crow species, 88 00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:49,260 who's going to steal his mastermind crown. 89 00:04:49,260 --> 00:04:50,540 Sorry, Bran. 90 00:04:53,140 --> 00:04:56,100 Now, let's take a trip to the tropical paradise 91 00:04:56,100 --> 00:04:57,500 of New Caledonia. 92 00:05:00,540 --> 00:05:03,540 900 miles from the east coast of Australia. 93 00:05:08,460 --> 00:05:11,980 The New Caledonian crow is capable of solving 94 00:05:11,980 --> 00:05:14,300 some seriously complex puzzles. 95 00:05:19,660 --> 00:05:22,500 But what really sets them apart 96 00:05:22,500 --> 00:05:27,380 is that they are smart enough to routinely use tools to do it - 97 00:05:27,380 --> 00:05:31,300 something usually associated with human-like intelligence. 98 00:05:32,660 --> 00:05:35,460 When the tool in their beak isn't quite long enough, 99 00:05:35,460 --> 00:05:38,260 they know they must find one the correct length... 100 00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:43,780 ..even if that means using a third tool to get it. 101 00:05:45,380 --> 00:05:47,220 There you go. 102 00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:48,620 Mission accomplished. 103 00:05:51,860 --> 00:05:55,740 And these clever crows are just as good at selecting tools 104 00:05:55,740 --> 00:05:59,420 in the wild as they are under scientific conditions. 105 00:06:01,220 --> 00:06:04,260 So how did they evolve this amazing skill 106 00:06:04,260 --> 00:06:07,140 when their common corvid cousins didn't? 107 00:06:08,140 --> 00:06:11,660 New Caledonian crows really are master tool users. 108 00:06:11,660 --> 00:06:14,460 They never fail to impress me. 109 00:06:14,460 --> 00:06:18,740 Well, Professor Christian Rutz from the University of St Andrews 110 00:06:18,740 --> 00:06:22,340 believes it could be down to the remote Pacific island 111 00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:24,020 that they call home. 112 00:06:24,020 --> 00:06:26,740 There are two things that are unusual about that island. 113 00:06:26,740 --> 00:06:30,300 The first one is the kinds of birds that would normally go 114 00:06:30,300 --> 00:06:32,380 for hidden grubs, they don't exist. 115 00:06:32,380 --> 00:06:36,580 So the crows are effectively filling a woodpecker niche. 116 00:06:36,580 --> 00:06:40,020 But rather than using their bills, they use tools. 117 00:06:41,380 --> 00:06:44,140 The second thing that is unusual is that there are no 118 00:06:44,140 --> 00:06:46,300 major crow predators. 119 00:06:46,300 --> 00:06:48,060 When these birds use tools, 120 00:06:48,060 --> 00:06:50,780 that requires an awful lot of attention. 121 00:06:50,780 --> 00:06:54,460 It forces them into a head-down body posture 122 00:06:54,460 --> 00:06:58,700 where they can't pay attention to any threats in the environment. 123 00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:02,980 That's very different from, say, a primate using tools. 124 00:07:02,980 --> 00:07:06,420 We can make tools and still look over our shoulder 125 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:10,380 to check whether there are any predators sneaking up upon us. 126 00:07:15,180 --> 00:07:19,260 But maybe we humans should be watching our backs after all, 127 00:07:19,260 --> 00:07:24,100 as it takes some serious smartness to use the right tool for the job. 128 00:07:27,060 --> 00:07:30,380 Time to get a human perspective on tool use, 129 00:07:30,380 --> 00:07:32,140 and to help us explore that, 130 00:07:32,140 --> 00:07:36,300 I've invited Elliot along to take a test. 131 00:07:36,300 --> 00:07:39,340 Now, Elliot is five years and 31 days old, 132 00:07:39,340 --> 00:07:42,940 and when he grows up he wants to be a tractor driver. 133 00:07:42,940 --> 00:07:47,500 But his test today is to remove a sweet from that plastic tube 134 00:07:47,500 --> 00:07:50,300 using a piece of wire like this. 135 00:07:51,420 --> 00:07:53,340 How are you getting on, Elliot? Good. 136 00:07:54,580 --> 00:07:56,580 Well, you keep trying. 137 00:07:56,580 --> 00:07:59,580 There is a method of getting that sweet out. 138 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:01,900 See if you can figure that out. 139 00:08:07,980 --> 00:08:09,860 He's showing remarkable diligence - 140 00:08:09,860 --> 00:08:11,300 he's certainly not giving up - 141 00:08:11,300 --> 00:08:13,420 but he's not getting the sweet either. 142 00:08:13,420 --> 00:08:16,780 And that's because, to get it, what he actually needs to do... 143 00:08:18,340 --> 00:08:23,260 ..is to bend the end of the wire into a little hook like this, 144 00:08:23,260 --> 00:08:26,660 and then use it to reach down inside the tube 145 00:08:26,660 --> 00:08:29,420 to hook the sweet out. 146 00:08:29,420 --> 00:08:32,140 Now, it's casting no aspersions on his intelligence 147 00:08:32,140 --> 00:08:33,860 that he can't do this, 148 00:08:33,860 --> 00:08:37,340 because only 5% of children Elliot's age 149 00:08:37,340 --> 00:08:40,300 have the capacity to make that sort of tool. 150 00:08:40,300 --> 00:08:43,140 And in fact, when children get to the age of eight, 151 00:08:43,140 --> 00:08:45,700 only 50% of them can do it then. 152 00:08:50,780 --> 00:08:53,100 I think I'm going to have to go and help him out. 153 00:08:55,100 --> 00:08:57,740 See if you can get the sweet using that hook. 154 00:09:05,700 --> 00:09:09,940 I think no-one deserves that sweet more than you do. 155 00:09:09,940 --> 00:09:11,140 You have the sweet. 156 00:09:14,180 --> 00:09:15,620 Tasty? Mm-hm. 157 00:09:15,620 --> 00:09:17,220 Excellent. Thanks for your help. 158 00:09:20,980 --> 00:09:23,180 It might take Elliot another few years 159 00:09:23,180 --> 00:09:25,780 to master the art of making hooked tools. 160 00:09:28,020 --> 00:09:29,660 But just watch this. 161 00:09:32,900 --> 00:09:34,940 From just two years old, 162 00:09:34,940 --> 00:09:38,220 the New Caledonian crow is already smart enough 163 00:09:38,220 --> 00:09:41,340 to craft a hook to fish out its favourite food. 164 00:09:43,300 --> 00:09:45,180 No, not blue bonbons... 165 00:09:46,900 --> 00:09:50,140 ..but the juicy grubs of the longhorn beetle. 166 00:09:51,580 --> 00:09:56,260 This corvid is the only non-human species on the planet 167 00:09:56,260 --> 00:09:59,500 to make a hooked tool in the wild - 168 00:09:59,500 --> 00:10:02,820 so it's quite understandable that Christian is proud 169 00:10:02,820 --> 00:10:04,740 of his beak-whittled sticks. 170 00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:08,860 They vary in shape, 171 00:10:08,860 --> 00:10:12,900 but they all have this beautiful little hook 172 00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:14,340 at the end. 173 00:10:18,180 --> 00:10:19,820 And actually, in the human case, 174 00:10:19,820 --> 00:10:22,500 hook-making is a very recent innovation. 175 00:10:23,500 --> 00:10:28,580 The oldest known fish-hooks were dated to about 23,000 years ago. 176 00:10:29,620 --> 00:10:33,220 Our species went from whittling their first fish-hooks 177 00:10:33,220 --> 00:10:36,660 out of seashell to constructing space shuttles 178 00:10:36,660 --> 00:10:39,500 in the span of 1,000 generations. 179 00:10:40,940 --> 00:10:44,380 So we may ask what these birds will come up with 180 00:10:44,380 --> 00:10:46,860 in the next 1,000 generations. 181 00:10:46,860 --> 00:10:51,900 Nasa had better get to work on those crow-sized spacesuits. 182 00:10:58,420 --> 00:11:02,380 There are, of course, other clever animals that use tools - 183 00:11:02,380 --> 00:11:04,140 albeit without hooks. 184 00:11:06,140 --> 00:11:08,780 Before we knew about corvid intelligence, 185 00:11:08,780 --> 00:11:10,180 there were chimps. 186 00:11:12,220 --> 00:11:15,860 The first species to prove that we humans weren't quite 187 00:11:15,860 --> 00:11:17,300 so special after all. 188 00:11:20,340 --> 00:11:22,980 Here comes a little history lesson. 189 00:11:27,100 --> 00:11:31,740 Now, let's roll back the clock to the heady days of 1960, 190 00:11:31,740 --> 00:11:34,140 when the world was still in black and white. 191 00:11:39,740 --> 00:11:43,100 Lift-off. The clock has started. Roger. 192 00:11:47,140 --> 00:11:49,220 The United States had already launched 193 00:11:49,220 --> 00:11:52,340 the first monkey astronauts into space, 194 00:11:52,340 --> 00:11:54,700 with chimpanzees soon to follow. 195 00:11:59,140 --> 00:12:03,220 But despite this remarkable feat of science and engineering, 196 00:12:03,220 --> 00:12:06,660 we still knew very little about our closest living relative... 197 00:12:07,700 --> 00:12:11,020 ..the chimpanzee, and how they lived in the wild. 198 00:12:12,580 --> 00:12:17,420 But in October of 1960, a monumental discovery 199 00:12:17,420 --> 00:12:19,300 would give colour to our understanding 200 00:12:19,300 --> 00:12:21,380 of animal and human intelligence. 201 00:12:26,780 --> 00:12:29,860 Primatologist Dr Jane Goodall made history 202 00:12:29,860 --> 00:12:34,060 when she was the first to observe chimpanzees breaking off a twig, 203 00:12:34,060 --> 00:12:35,540 stripping away the leaves 204 00:12:35,540 --> 00:12:39,340 and using it as a tool to fish for termites. 205 00:12:39,340 --> 00:12:42,220 And when paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey 206 00:12:42,220 --> 00:12:46,060 received her excited telegram telling him of this news, 207 00:12:46,060 --> 00:12:47,980 he was moved to remark, 208 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:52,340 "We must redefine tool, redefine man, 209 00:12:52,340 --> 00:12:55,340 "or accept chimpanzees as humans." 210 00:12:57,820 --> 00:13:00,580 Fast forward 60 years. 211 00:13:00,580 --> 00:13:03,940 We now know that hundreds of other species have an intelligence 212 00:13:03,940 --> 00:13:06,980 closer to our own than previously thought. 213 00:13:12,940 --> 00:13:17,220 And it's the bottlenose dolphins of Shark Bay, Western Australia, 214 00:13:17,220 --> 00:13:20,820 who spend more time hunting with tools than any other animal. 215 00:13:22,940 --> 00:13:25,300 These dolphins seek out marine sponges 216 00:13:25,300 --> 00:13:28,700 and use them as kind of a natural crash helmet 217 00:13:28,700 --> 00:13:30,140 over their sensitive snouts... 218 00:13:32,180 --> 00:13:36,380 ..protecting them from sharp rocks, stingrays and urchins 219 00:13:36,380 --> 00:13:38,860 as they forage for food along the sea floor. 220 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:42,420 Genius. 221 00:13:43,980 --> 00:13:46,620 But there's much more to being a mastermind 222 00:13:46,620 --> 00:13:50,220 than simply being able to use and make tools. 223 00:13:52,940 --> 00:13:57,980 If we humans are to be considered as a benchmark of brain power, 224 00:13:57,980 --> 00:14:02,020 what's so smart about the goings on inside our head? 225 00:14:03,660 --> 00:14:07,540 Let me give you a very basic guide to the brain. 226 00:14:07,540 --> 00:14:09,980 Held within its bony shell, the skull, 227 00:14:09,980 --> 00:14:12,420 and washed with protective fluids, 228 00:14:12,420 --> 00:14:15,420 my brain and yours is the source of everything 229 00:14:15,420 --> 00:14:18,300 that defines our humanity. 230 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:23,020 Each brain is a complex mass of nerve cells called neurons. 231 00:14:23,020 --> 00:14:25,740 And in the healthy adult human brain, 232 00:14:25,740 --> 00:14:29,260 there are 86 billion of them. 233 00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:33,100 They are responsible for processing all the information. 234 00:14:35,340 --> 00:14:39,380 The folded grooves of the cerebral cortex are packed with neurons 235 00:14:39,380 --> 00:14:42,980 that pass messages to and from different areas of the brain. 236 00:14:45,020 --> 00:14:47,100 Like the frontal lobe, 237 00:14:47,100 --> 00:14:51,020 responsible for problem solving and planning. 238 00:14:51,020 --> 00:14:55,300 You used this earlier when deciding to watch this TV programme 239 00:14:55,300 --> 00:14:56,860 rather than anything else. 240 00:14:59,100 --> 00:15:02,340 The occipital and parietal lobes help to make sense 241 00:15:02,340 --> 00:15:04,780 of what you're seeing and sensing right now. 242 00:15:06,620 --> 00:15:09,460 You will be able to recall the information I've just told you 243 00:15:09,460 --> 00:15:11,500 thanks to your temporal lobe. 244 00:15:12,740 --> 00:15:15,620 And when you next search for the remote control, 245 00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:18,100 you're going to have to rely on your hippocampus 246 00:15:18,100 --> 00:15:20,620 to remember where on earth you last put it. 247 00:15:23,100 --> 00:15:27,380 The brain continues to astound and perplex us. 248 00:15:27,380 --> 00:15:29,780 Every time we answer a question about how it works, 249 00:15:29,780 --> 00:15:32,180 100 more are thrown up. 250 00:15:32,180 --> 00:15:33,820 Across the animal kingdom, 251 00:15:33,820 --> 00:15:36,260 brains are very, very different. 252 00:15:36,260 --> 00:15:39,340 There's certainly no one-size-fits-all relationship 253 00:15:39,340 --> 00:15:44,060 between how big the cortex is and how many neurons it has. 254 00:15:47,260 --> 00:15:49,900 Take the brilliant bee - 255 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:53,220 you may not expect an insect with a tiny brain 256 00:15:53,220 --> 00:15:55,460 to be a whiz at maths, 257 00:15:55,460 --> 00:15:58,220 but they can actually count. 258 00:15:59,900 --> 00:16:03,700 And surprisingly, they also have an amazing ability 259 00:16:03,700 --> 00:16:06,340 with a football, too. 260 00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:08,580 We'll get to their ball skills later... 261 00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:13,660 ..as we're starting them off with numbers. 262 00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:21,980 Samadi Galpayage is part of a team at Queen Mary University of London 263 00:16:21,980 --> 00:16:25,820 who are finding out how, despite their diminutive size, 264 00:16:25,820 --> 00:16:29,940 these bees have enough brain power to count from zero to five. 265 00:16:32,060 --> 00:16:33,780 Yes, that's right. 266 00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:35,980 These insects can add up. 267 00:16:37,260 --> 00:16:40,460 Today, Samadi is training these bees to tell the difference 268 00:16:40,460 --> 00:16:44,060 between one and three yellow circles. 269 00:16:44,060 --> 00:16:47,180 If the bees land on the larger number, 270 00:16:47,180 --> 00:16:49,860 they are rewarded with sugary water. 271 00:16:49,860 --> 00:16:51,580 If they choose the smaller number, 272 00:16:51,580 --> 00:16:54,380 they will slurp up an unpalatable but quite harmless 273 00:16:54,380 --> 00:16:55,780 quinine solution. 274 00:16:58,500 --> 00:17:02,700 I had no idea that a human could train a bee. 275 00:17:02,700 --> 00:17:04,660 Depending on the task, 276 00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:09,100 bees can learn the correct and incorrect choices 277 00:17:09,100 --> 00:17:10,740 within a couple of hours. 278 00:17:14,020 --> 00:17:18,660 Maths is generally thought to require a high intelligence. 279 00:17:18,660 --> 00:17:22,740 So how is a bee's tiny brain able to count the difference 280 00:17:22,740 --> 00:17:25,340 between one and three? 281 00:17:25,340 --> 00:17:28,180 They use their fingers, of course. 282 00:17:28,180 --> 00:17:33,580 You can see that the bee slows down in front of the stimulus 283 00:17:33,580 --> 00:17:38,980 and sort of stops in front of each yellow circle, 284 00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:43,340 almost like tagging as we would with finger counting. 285 00:17:45,580 --> 00:17:49,180 Using specific flight movements to scan and tag, 286 00:17:49,180 --> 00:17:52,420 rather than having to understand numerical concepts, 287 00:17:52,420 --> 00:17:57,220 the bees only need to use just a few of their one million neurons. 288 00:17:58,460 --> 00:18:03,500 They might have 86,000 times fewer neurons than we humans have, 289 00:18:03,500 --> 00:18:06,860 but a bee's brain is anything but simple. 290 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:11,940 They have evolved to maximise the amount of brain power 291 00:18:11,940 --> 00:18:13,500 in a minimal space. 292 00:18:14,540 --> 00:18:16,980 It's about the connections, 293 00:18:16,980 --> 00:18:20,380 so it's about how efficiently this system can work - 294 00:18:20,380 --> 00:18:23,500 not necessarily how many neurons there are. 295 00:18:23,500 --> 00:18:28,220 A single neuron in a bee's brain can be very complex, 296 00:18:28,220 --> 00:18:32,020 so there can be so many branches, it can make so many connections, 297 00:18:32,020 --> 00:18:35,260 that the complexity of just that one neuron 298 00:18:35,260 --> 00:18:38,100 is comparable to a fully grown oak tree. 299 00:18:39,540 --> 00:18:44,940 And all of those branches can add up to make a billion connections, 300 00:18:44,940 --> 00:18:49,260 passing and processing information efficiently throughout the brain. 301 00:18:53,340 --> 00:18:58,340 The question is, why would bees need these mathematical skills? 302 00:18:59,620 --> 00:19:02,300 Well, they could be useful for navigation. 303 00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:07,140 Counting the number of landmarks they pass as they fly 304 00:19:07,140 --> 00:19:10,740 from their nest to a field full of flowers and back again. 305 00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:17,740 But remember I said that bees could play football? 306 00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:22,340 To be considered a mini mastermind, 307 00:19:22,340 --> 00:19:25,020 we need to discover if a bee's intelligence 308 00:19:25,020 --> 00:19:27,740 is more than just hard-wired instinct. 309 00:19:28,860 --> 00:19:32,660 So are they smart enough to be like us humans 310 00:19:32,660 --> 00:19:34,940 and think outside the box? 311 00:19:38,140 --> 00:19:41,860 If we really want to see how flexible a bee's brain is, 312 00:19:41,860 --> 00:19:44,660 we need to give it a task that it's never encountered before 313 00:19:44,660 --> 00:19:46,140 in its evolutionary history, 314 00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:49,220 and that is where football comes in, 315 00:19:49,220 --> 00:19:53,380 because surely, if these insects can master basic mathematics, 316 00:19:53,380 --> 00:19:56,980 they could learn the intricacies of something truly exceptional, 317 00:19:56,980 --> 00:19:59,340 like how to play the beautiful game. 318 00:20:00,940 --> 00:20:03,700 CHEERING Yes! 319 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:08,580 You can get bees to learn almost anything. 320 00:20:08,580 --> 00:20:11,940 To find out if a bee's intelligence is flexible enough 321 00:20:11,940 --> 00:20:14,180 to learn to play football, 322 00:20:14,180 --> 00:20:18,100 Samadi is encouraging them with the reward of a sugary treat 323 00:20:18,100 --> 00:20:21,260 every time they roll the ball into the yellow circle. 324 00:20:22,860 --> 00:20:25,860 Just because we don't see them doing this in the wild 325 00:20:25,860 --> 00:20:29,140 doesn't mean that their brain is not capable of this. 326 00:20:30,620 --> 00:20:34,020 By presenting them with these new situations, 327 00:20:34,020 --> 00:20:37,620 we're pushing the limits of their brains. 328 00:20:39,380 --> 00:20:41,980 Seeing a new behaviour that I haven't seen before 329 00:20:41,980 --> 00:20:43,540 really excites me, 330 00:20:43,540 --> 00:20:45,660 and you end up rooting for that bee. 331 00:20:45,660 --> 00:20:47,980 Come on, bee! You're nearly there! 332 00:20:50,940 --> 00:20:52,300 Training is complete. 333 00:20:53,900 --> 00:20:56,380 It's time for the big match. 334 00:20:56,380 --> 00:20:58,940 Now the bees are rewarded for getting the ball 335 00:20:58,940 --> 00:21:00,260 in the back of the net. 336 00:21:01,700 --> 00:21:03,500 He goes round one player, 337 00:21:03,500 --> 00:21:05,220 skips past the next... 338 00:21:05,220 --> 00:21:06,580 Goal! 339 00:21:08,820 --> 00:21:11,860 Oh, come on! Let's see an action replay! 340 00:21:11,860 --> 00:21:13,500 Superb! 341 00:21:15,500 --> 00:21:18,900 So why would a bee benefit from playing football? 342 00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:20,820 After all, it's a task they're unlikely 343 00:21:20,820 --> 00:21:22,620 to ever encounter in nature. 344 00:21:23,740 --> 00:21:27,820 It's really just as important to be able to respond 345 00:21:27,820 --> 00:21:30,900 to their environment with some flexibility 346 00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:33,900 because the environment is always changing. 347 00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:39,300 There may be new problems that an individual isn't equipped for. 348 00:21:39,300 --> 00:21:41,820 It's the difference between life and death. 349 00:21:41,820 --> 00:21:44,100 In a brutal and changeable world, 350 00:21:44,100 --> 00:21:46,380 those animals with a flexible intelligence 351 00:21:46,380 --> 00:21:49,140 could stand a much better chance of survival. 352 00:21:54,900 --> 00:21:58,660 And in the wild, some masterminds have pretty smart ways 353 00:21:58,660 --> 00:22:00,020 of getting an education. 354 00:22:02,180 --> 00:22:06,300 Many animals learn through a phenomenon called social learning. 355 00:22:06,300 --> 00:22:08,540 Essentially, what they do is they watch their mates, 356 00:22:08,540 --> 00:22:10,540 their peers, members of the same species, 357 00:22:10,540 --> 00:22:14,300 solving a problem, and then they can solve it themselves. 358 00:22:14,300 --> 00:22:15,620 And I'm going to demonstrate this 359 00:22:15,620 --> 00:22:17,460 with a relatively simple experiment 360 00:22:17,460 --> 00:22:21,140 and this very beautiful starling here - Ruby. 361 00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:24,820 Basically, inside this pot, there are some mealworms, 362 00:22:24,820 --> 00:22:28,860 and the lid is loosely resting on the surface. 363 00:22:28,860 --> 00:22:31,660 Now, I'm going to show Ruby the mealworms inside. 364 00:22:31,660 --> 00:22:33,100 She knows they're in there. 365 00:22:33,100 --> 00:22:34,580 What happens when I put the lid on? 366 00:22:36,540 --> 00:22:37,860 Come on, Ruby. 367 00:22:39,820 --> 00:22:41,220 Now she's looking. 368 00:22:41,220 --> 00:22:42,860 She's not pecking at the pot. 369 00:22:47,340 --> 00:22:50,780 At this point, what Ruby needs is an expert. 370 00:22:50,780 --> 00:22:54,460 What she needs is Ernie, a more mature starling. 371 00:22:55,660 --> 00:22:57,700 Come on. CHRIS WHISTLES 372 00:22:57,700 --> 00:22:59,060 Here he comes. 373 00:23:01,340 --> 00:23:05,300 Now, Ernie, show Ruby how to get into that pot. 374 00:23:05,300 --> 00:23:06,980 Oh, hello! 375 00:23:06,980 --> 00:23:09,660 You see, Ernie just flipped the top off, 376 00:23:09,660 --> 00:23:11,700 and she got some of the worms. 377 00:23:11,700 --> 00:23:12,900 Look at him now. 378 00:23:12,900 --> 00:23:16,420 He's using a technique called open-beak probing. 379 00:23:16,420 --> 00:23:18,740 You see the way he prises the top up 380 00:23:18,740 --> 00:23:20,380 by opening his beak. 381 00:23:23,300 --> 00:23:26,660 Now, one of the benefits of social learning in the wild 382 00:23:26,660 --> 00:23:29,460 is that making mistakes there can be fatal. 383 00:23:29,460 --> 00:23:31,980 Learning by trial and error can be the difference between 384 00:23:31,980 --> 00:23:34,940 being killed and eaten and surviving and getting a meal. 385 00:23:34,940 --> 00:23:38,300 So that's why social learning can be so important. 386 00:23:40,860 --> 00:23:42,700 Has Ruby learned how to do it? 387 00:23:42,700 --> 00:23:44,340 That's the question. 388 00:23:44,340 --> 00:23:46,660 Ernie, you need to leave the stage, please. 389 00:23:47,700 --> 00:23:49,300 Ernie, go on. 390 00:23:49,300 --> 00:23:51,340 Off you go. 391 00:23:51,340 --> 00:23:53,340 Right, he's out of the equation. 392 00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:54,580 Now the big test - 393 00:23:54,580 --> 00:23:59,380 can Ruby, having watched him, get the mealworms out of the pot? 394 00:23:59,380 --> 00:24:02,060 Can she copy Ernie? 395 00:24:02,060 --> 00:24:03,500 Look at this. 396 00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:05,700 You can see her beak opening, there. 397 00:24:05,700 --> 00:24:08,180 She's just got to get it in the right place. 398 00:24:08,180 --> 00:24:09,380 Come on. 399 00:24:11,620 --> 00:24:13,380 Look at that! 400 00:24:13,380 --> 00:24:18,380 That is a classic example of social learning. 401 00:24:18,380 --> 00:24:23,420 She's watched, looked and learned how to access the mealworms, 402 00:24:23,420 --> 00:24:25,740 and I think, Ruby, you've had quite enough. 403 00:24:29,060 --> 00:24:32,140 Of course, there are other clever methods of learning, 404 00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:33,980 and one of them is teaching. 405 00:24:33,980 --> 00:24:36,380 When you think about it, we humans go to school, 406 00:24:36,380 --> 00:24:39,580 perhaps to college and university, where we are taught. 407 00:24:39,580 --> 00:24:41,460 But across the animal kingdom, 408 00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:44,020 there are an elite group of teachers. 409 00:24:44,020 --> 00:24:46,660 And perhaps the most prolific educators of all 410 00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:47,980 are the meerkats. 411 00:24:49,500 --> 00:24:52,460 Let's take a trip to Africa's Kalahari Desert. 412 00:24:57,540 --> 00:24:59,460 Within this arid landscape, 413 00:24:59,460 --> 00:25:02,540 finding food is no easy chore at the best of times. 414 00:25:06,300 --> 00:25:09,660 But the meerkat has a real taste for danger. 415 00:25:12,980 --> 00:25:16,020 Some of their favourite meals are scorpions. 416 00:25:17,020 --> 00:25:19,980 Not only can their pincers inflict serious damage, 417 00:25:19,980 --> 00:25:24,100 but their venomous sting is capable of killing an adult human... 418 00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:30,260 ..making them an extremely dangerous and difficult prey to catch. 419 00:25:31,900 --> 00:25:36,500 And for a one-month-old meerkat, it's an almost impossible task. 420 00:25:38,340 --> 00:25:42,380 That is, until they attend scorpion school. 421 00:25:42,380 --> 00:25:45,340 The young pups are completely hopeless at foraging, 422 00:25:45,340 --> 00:25:48,300 and interestingly, they don't even recognise what prey is. 423 00:25:48,300 --> 00:25:50,340 I had one little pup who actually fell asleep 424 00:25:50,340 --> 00:25:51,580 on top of the scorpion. 425 00:25:52,660 --> 00:25:55,220 As a young, fresh-faced research student, 426 00:25:55,220 --> 00:25:58,740 Alex Thornton was working in the field with wild meerkats. 427 00:25:59,900 --> 00:26:02,740 Now a few years older and a little wiser... 428 00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:08,060 ..he's an associate professor at Exeter University. 429 00:26:09,820 --> 00:26:12,300 If an adult brings a pup a scorpion, 430 00:26:12,300 --> 00:26:14,940 then the pup will immediately go for it and try and bite it. 431 00:26:14,940 --> 00:26:17,900 And so they start to learn, by being fed, 432 00:26:17,900 --> 00:26:19,180 what's good to eat. 433 00:26:21,380 --> 00:26:25,100 Adult meerkats start teaching pups at around four weeks old... 434 00:26:26,340 --> 00:26:29,300 ..with their lessons becoming increasingly difficult. 435 00:26:32,980 --> 00:26:34,820 They start with the basics - 436 00:26:34,820 --> 00:26:38,060 dead scorpions, which pose no threat. 437 00:26:38,060 --> 00:26:41,740 Then, with each subsequent lesson, the stakes are raised. 438 00:26:46,420 --> 00:26:48,460 So the adults will often catch a scorpion, 439 00:26:48,460 --> 00:26:49,860 bite the sting off it, 440 00:26:49,860 --> 00:26:51,940 and then present it to the pup still alive. 441 00:26:51,940 --> 00:26:54,340 And so the pup has to practise its handling skills, 442 00:26:54,340 --> 00:26:57,340 but without the danger of getting stung in the face. 443 00:26:57,340 --> 00:26:59,100 And then, as the pups get older still, 444 00:26:59,100 --> 00:27:01,220 they're given prey that's completely intact 445 00:27:01,220 --> 00:27:03,340 that they have to process on their own. 446 00:27:05,900 --> 00:27:07,780 The pupils are quick to learn. 447 00:27:10,020 --> 00:27:12,420 But as every teacher knows, 448 00:27:12,420 --> 00:27:15,060 you don't just get A-grade students. 449 00:27:15,060 --> 00:27:18,900 Learning always has its ups and downs. 450 00:27:18,900 --> 00:27:21,780 If you think of a teacher in primary school with very young kids, 451 00:27:21,780 --> 00:27:23,740 and the kids' attention starts to wander off 452 00:27:23,740 --> 00:27:25,260 and they're looking at other stuff, 453 00:27:25,260 --> 00:27:27,300 the same happens with these little meerkat pups. 454 00:27:27,300 --> 00:27:30,380 So, if the pup isn't paying attention to the prey item, 455 00:27:30,380 --> 00:27:33,500 then the adults will often nudge it repeatedly with their nose 456 00:27:33,500 --> 00:27:34,660 or with their paw. 457 00:27:38,620 --> 00:27:40,700 After a few months of lessons, 458 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:43,740 the students take what they've learned and go it alone. 459 00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:48,820 Then, one day, they'll become the master 460 00:27:48,820 --> 00:27:52,220 and teach a new generation of young pups themselves. 461 00:27:58,940 --> 00:28:01,980 Meerkats may be one of the few species 462 00:28:01,980 --> 00:28:05,660 to pass on their knowledge in these one-on-one interactions. 463 00:28:06,860 --> 00:28:09,820 But we humans are able to pass on what we know 464 00:28:09,820 --> 00:28:11,900 through the concept of culture. 465 00:28:12,940 --> 00:28:16,940 That's the ability to move ideas across generations 466 00:28:16,940 --> 00:28:19,660 to strangers that we've never met, 467 00:28:19,660 --> 00:28:22,900 even those who are living long after we've died. 468 00:28:24,940 --> 00:28:26,740 Think of the wheel. 469 00:28:29,020 --> 00:28:31,820 We don't need to reinvent it with every generation. 470 00:28:34,060 --> 00:28:35,980 We can accumulate knowledge... 471 00:28:35,980 --> 00:28:38,340 NEWSREADER: Good luck, Captain! 472 00:28:38,340 --> 00:28:41,420 ..and ratchet up our collective accomplishments as we go. 473 00:28:43,460 --> 00:28:46,700 The concept of culture has traditionally been considered 474 00:28:46,700 --> 00:28:48,500 a major dividing line. 475 00:28:50,940 --> 00:28:53,380 But there's evidence that some animals 476 00:28:53,380 --> 00:28:56,380 have rich, humanlike cultures of sorts, too. 477 00:28:57,500 --> 00:29:00,820 And their ideas can spread far and wide. 478 00:29:03,900 --> 00:29:06,140 CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS 479 00:29:18,060 --> 00:29:21,380 To me, watching humpback whales bubble feeding 480 00:29:21,380 --> 00:29:24,740 easily rivals the very best prima ballerina... 481 00:29:26,580 --> 00:29:29,660 ..making them the culture vultures of the sea. 482 00:29:39,420 --> 00:29:42,300 Within this highly synchronised routine, 483 00:29:42,300 --> 00:29:43,940 humpbacks work together... 484 00:29:45,380 --> 00:29:49,260 ..blowing columns of bubbles to corral their prey 485 00:29:49,260 --> 00:29:52,300 before scooping it up in their huge mouths. 486 00:29:57,580 --> 00:30:00,340 But it's not their flair and precision 487 00:30:00,340 --> 00:30:01,620 that makes it cultural. 488 00:30:03,100 --> 00:30:06,060 It's the fact that novel ways of hunting 489 00:30:06,060 --> 00:30:08,100 spread to other pods. 490 00:30:12,980 --> 00:30:15,140 Back in the 1980s, 491 00:30:15,140 --> 00:30:19,220 the bubble feeding choreography along America's North Atlantic coast 492 00:30:19,220 --> 00:30:22,540 was about to take on some fresh new steps. 493 00:30:26,420 --> 00:30:29,780 One single humpback came up with a new move. 494 00:30:31,140 --> 00:30:34,180 Slapping its tail hard on the water's surface 495 00:30:34,180 --> 00:30:38,100 before returning to the more traditional bubble feeding routine. 496 00:30:39,340 --> 00:30:41,860 More than just a stylistic flourish, 497 00:30:41,860 --> 00:30:46,700 it was a clever new way of stunning and corralling its prey. 498 00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:49,340 And lobtail feeding, as it became known, 499 00:30:49,340 --> 00:30:51,780 quickly became a new trend. 500 00:30:53,700 --> 00:30:57,420 At the last count, more than 240 humpbacks 501 00:30:57,420 --> 00:31:01,340 from different pods were working this sequence into their routine 502 00:31:01,340 --> 00:31:02,860 across the North Atlantic. 503 00:31:08,140 --> 00:31:11,140 Humpbacks don't let any performance get tired, though. 504 00:31:14,740 --> 00:31:16,780 It's time for a solo. 505 00:31:21,060 --> 00:31:26,500 Making a big splash in the waters around southeast Alaska in 2019 506 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:29,340 is pectoral herding. 507 00:31:32,140 --> 00:31:35,060 In this never before seen feeding behaviour, 508 00:31:35,060 --> 00:31:39,140 a single humpback first blows a bubble net, 509 00:31:39,140 --> 00:31:42,340 then uses its flippers to create a second barrier 510 00:31:42,340 --> 00:31:44,380 before making its lunge. 511 00:31:49,460 --> 00:31:51,100 It's early days, 512 00:31:51,100 --> 00:31:55,780 and so far just two whales have been spotted using this method. 513 00:32:02,740 --> 00:32:06,740 We'll just have to wait and see how this innovative new take 514 00:32:06,740 --> 00:32:08,460 on the classic catches on. 515 00:32:13,660 --> 00:32:16,300 Bravo. CHEERING 516 00:32:22,260 --> 00:32:25,420 Humans have one advantage over animals, though, 517 00:32:25,420 --> 00:32:29,420 when it comes to spreading culture and advancing our accomplishments 518 00:32:29,420 --> 00:32:31,300 to the point of exploring the moon. 519 00:32:32,780 --> 00:32:38,140 We can pass on our ideas through writing or pictures. 520 00:32:39,380 --> 00:32:44,300 Instead, animal masterminds need to rely on another tool - 521 00:32:44,300 --> 00:32:45,580 their memories. 522 00:32:47,780 --> 00:32:50,420 For many animals, having a good memory 523 00:32:50,420 --> 00:32:53,060 can mean the difference between life and death. 524 00:32:55,260 --> 00:33:00,140 And some even put our own human minds to shame. 525 00:33:00,140 --> 00:33:01,780 How's your memory? 526 00:33:01,780 --> 00:33:05,500 At 59, I suppose I've got senior moments looming. 527 00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:07,060 Forget where your glasses are? 528 00:33:08,100 --> 00:33:09,340 No, not yet. 529 00:33:09,340 --> 00:33:13,540 Car keys? In a bowl on the side table. 530 00:33:13,540 --> 00:33:17,660 But it does make me engender an enormous amount of respect 531 00:33:17,660 --> 00:33:20,100 for those animals that show a prowess 532 00:33:20,100 --> 00:33:22,900 when it comes to their memory. 533 00:33:22,900 --> 00:33:27,620 Now, in this barrow, there are 6,000 acorns. 534 00:33:27,620 --> 00:33:30,340 They've been counted by acorn counting professionals. 535 00:33:30,340 --> 00:33:33,300 And this is the 6,000th acorn. 536 00:33:33,300 --> 00:33:36,300 And, you know, there's a species of North American bird, 537 00:33:36,300 --> 00:33:41,180 the scrub jay, which can cache up to this number of acorns 538 00:33:41,180 --> 00:33:44,420 across its territory every single autumn. 539 00:33:47,300 --> 00:33:49,940 Look at that! They just keep coming. 540 00:33:51,660 --> 00:33:54,780 Yes, it's another of those clever corvids again. 541 00:33:56,500 --> 00:34:00,660 For the scrub jay, survival depends on how well they can remember 542 00:34:00,660 --> 00:34:02,300 where they stashed their food. 543 00:34:03,460 --> 00:34:07,380 And they achieve this thanks to their impressive hippocampus. 544 00:34:09,420 --> 00:34:11,380 Remember that part of the brain from earlier? 545 00:34:12,820 --> 00:34:15,940 This caching king has one of the largest 546 00:34:15,940 --> 00:34:19,580 hippocampus to body size ratios of any corvid... 547 00:34:20,900 --> 00:34:24,460 ..using it to recall what type of food they hid, 548 00:34:24,460 --> 00:34:27,020 where they hid it and how long ago. 549 00:34:29,700 --> 00:34:32,820 Impressively, they can even work out that 550 00:34:32,820 --> 00:34:36,900 if a perishable item like a waxworm has been buried for too long, 551 00:34:36,900 --> 00:34:40,300 it will have gone rotten and they won't bother retrieving it. 552 00:34:42,340 --> 00:34:46,780 As a dazzling display of long-term spatial memory, 553 00:34:46,780 --> 00:34:49,260 the scrub jay is hard to rival. 554 00:34:58,580 --> 00:35:01,660 But when it comes to short-term photographic recall, 555 00:35:01,660 --> 00:35:06,300 there is one memory mastermind that makes a monkey out of us. 556 00:35:07,940 --> 00:35:11,580 Scientists in Japan have been investigating the workings 557 00:35:11,580 --> 00:35:13,820 of the chimpanzee mind 558 00:35:13,820 --> 00:35:16,300 and showing up the limitations of our own. 559 00:35:17,940 --> 00:35:21,020 You see, there's a game the chimps like to play. 560 00:35:22,540 --> 00:35:25,820 The numbers one to nine are randomly scattered 561 00:35:25,820 --> 00:35:28,420 on a computer touch screen and then masked. 562 00:35:29,700 --> 00:35:32,540 Astonishingly, in the blink of an eye, 563 00:35:32,540 --> 00:35:35,700 the chimps can remember the position of each number 564 00:35:35,700 --> 00:35:38,300 and then locate them again in the right order. 565 00:35:41,860 --> 00:35:45,460 If they get it correct, they're rewarded with a tasty treat. 566 00:35:48,620 --> 00:35:51,620 OK, let's see how well your working memory 567 00:35:51,620 --> 00:35:53,620 compares to that of chimps. 568 00:35:55,220 --> 00:35:57,940 You'll only have half a second to remember the position 569 00:35:57,940 --> 00:35:59,300 of the nine numbers. 570 00:36:00,780 --> 00:36:02,140 Are you ready? 571 00:36:02,140 --> 00:36:03,300 Go. 572 00:36:04,500 --> 00:36:06,300 I warned you it would be quick! 573 00:36:07,580 --> 00:36:09,300 How did you do? 574 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:11,100 No, me neither. 575 00:36:11,100 --> 00:36:13,020 Let's try it again. 576 00:36:13,020 --> 00:36:14,340 Ready. 577 00:36:14,340 --> 00:36:15,540 Go. 578 00:36:17,820 --> 00:36:20,020 Almost impossible. 579 00:36:20,020 --> 00:36:22,260 Well, for us humans, that is. 580 00:36:23,540 --> 00:36:27,820 Given that chimps share nearly 99% of their DNA with us humans... 581 00:36:28,980 --> 00:36:31,140 ..why would their brains have evolved 582 00:36:31,140 --> 00:36:33,420 such vastly superior working memories? 583 00:36:36,100 --> 00:36:40,860 Well, one explanation could be that when competing for food in the wild, 584 00:36:40,860 --> 00:36:43,380 they have to make very quick spatial decisions, 585 00:36:43,380 --> 00:36:47,060 such as the exact positions of ripe fruit in a tree. 586 00:36:49,980 --> 00:36:52,580 There is a suggestion that early humans 587 00:36:52,580 --> 00:36:54,900 also had a photographic memory, 588 00:36:54,900 --> 00:36:57,620 but we lost it to make room in our brain 589 00:36:57,620 --> 00:37:01,460 for other memory-related abilities, such as language. 590 00:37:06,420 --> 00:37:09,220 Now, to really understand what it takes 591 00:37:09,220 --> 00:37:11,100 to be a memory mastermind, 592 00:37:11,100 --> 00:37:13,860 we must go much, much deeper. 593 00:37:16,260 --> 00:37:19,540 Brand-new science has uncovered an unusual animal 594 00:37:19,540 --> 00:37:23,900 that possesses a mind capable of travelling through time itself. 595 00:37:27,300 --> 00:37:31,460 That Time Lord is the colourful cuttlefish. 596 00:37:34,580 --> 00:37:36,060 Brace yourselves. 597 00:37:36,060 --> 00:37:38,220 Things are going to get trippy. 598 00:37:43,940 --> 00:37:47,780 Cuttlefish are known for their kaleidoscopic camouflage. 599 00:37:49,660 --> 00:37:52,500 Their skin is like a living video screen, 600 00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:55,900 changing colour in less than a second to attract mates 601 00:37:55,900 --> 00:37:57,540 and mesmerise prey. 602 00:37:59,700 --> 00:38:02,020 But it's what happens to this colourful body 603 00:38:02,020 --> 00:38:05,740 when the cuttlefish rests that's got some scientists 604 00:38:05,740 --> 00:38:07,900 very excited about their memories. 605 00:38:09,340 --> 00:38:13,780 It's been recently discovered that cuttlefish cycle through 606 00:38:13,780 --> 00:38:16,940 their colours and patterns while they snooze, 607 00:38:16,940 --> 00:38:20,500 in a way that's very different to when they're awake. 608 00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:25,580 It's only when you speed up this scientific footage 609 00:38:25,580 --> 00:38:27,340 that you get to see what I mean. 610 00:38:33,300 --> 00:38:35,540 Some experts believe it resembles 611 00:38:35,540 --> 00:38:38,380 rapid eye movement - or REM - sleep... 612 00:38:40,580 --> 00:38:43,300 ..which in humans is linked to dreaming 613 00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:47,060 and the way our brains process emotional memories. 614 00:38:51,740 --> 00:38:55,780 It's tantalizing to imagine what this invertebrate could possibly 615 00:38:55,780 --> 00:38:57,260 be dreaming about. 616 00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,820 I suspect it could be their food. 617 00:39:03,180 --> 00:39:07,660 Because a new study in 2020 discovered that fine dining 618 00:39:07,660 --> 00:39:10,380 is certainly what European cuttlefish think about 619 00:39:10,380 --> 00:39:12,060 when they're planning for the future. 620 00:39:13,820 --> 00:39:18,380 So now I'm giving some shrimp to the cuttlefish inside the tank. 621 00:39:18,380 --> 00:39:21,340 They automatically react because they really 622 00:39:21,340 --> 00:39:22,980 prefer shrimp over crab. 623 00:39:25,340 --> 00:39:28,220 Although these cuttlefish are just a few weeks old, 624 00:39:28,220 --> 00:39:30,420 they already have a healthy appetite, 625 00:39:30,420 --> 00:39:34,020 a sophisticated brain and a powerful memory. 626 00:39:36,900 --> 00:39:40,940 And like Pauline Billard from the Universite de Caen in France, 627 00:39:40,940 --> 00:39:44,420 they know exactly how to manage their diet for later. 628 00:39:44,420 --> 00:39:47,020 The ability to plan ahead is very complex. 629 00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:52,700 It involves the capacity to imagine the future. 630 00:39:53,940 --> 00:39:57,180 For instance, if I know that I'm going to have a big dinner tonight 631 00:39:57,180 --> 00:39:59,020 because some friends are coming for dinner, 632 00:39:59,020 --> 00:40:02,220 I won't eat too much at lunch 633 00:40:02,220 --> 00:40:06,500 because I want to save my appetite for later. 634 00:40:08,580 --> 00:40:12,420 And these cuttlefish are quite the foodies themselves. 635 00:40:13,820 --> 00:40:17,020 And what they're saving themselves for is shrimp. 636 00:40:18,100 --> 00:40:21,580 So, when they know they are going to have their preferred meal 637 00:40:21,580 --> 00:40:24,340 for dinner, they stop eating their lunch. 638 00:40:24,340 --> 00:40:27,460 And when they are not sure, they keep eating their lunch. 639 00:40:27,460 --> 00:40:30,780 Every day, they adapt to these changes. 640 00:40:30,780 --> 00:40:34,540 When the cuttlefish were reliably given their favourite shrimp 641 00:40:34,540 --> 00:40:39,300 every night, they ate less crab at lunchtime. 642 00:40:39,300 --> 00:40:41,660 But when shrimp was given at random, 643 00:40:41,660 --> 00:40:44,100 the cuttlefish didn't risk going hungry. 644 00:40:45,140 --> 00:40:47,780 To recall what was previously on the menu 645 00:40:47,780 --> 00:40:51,900 and then plan whether to leave room for their preferred meal or not... 646 00:40:53,220 --> 00:40:57,380 ..gives an insight into the cuttlefish's consciousness. 647 00:40:57,380 --> 00:40:59,780 You see, using their perception of the past 648 00:40:59,780 --> 00:41:04,380 to remember which food they ate, where and when they ate it, 649 00:41:04,380 --> 00:41:08,340 cuttlefish have shown the first evidence that an invertebrate 650 00:41:08,340 --> 00:41:10,500 has an episodic-like memory. 651 00:41:12,300 --> 00:41:15,340 Episodic memory is the capacity to remember 652 00:41:15,340 --> 00:41:17,420 personally experienced events. 653 00:41:17,420 --> 00:41:20,060 To retrieve episodic-like memory, 654 00:41:20,060 --> 00:41:22,500 you have to ask yourself, "What did I see? 655 00:41:22,500 --> 00:41:24,940 "What did I feel before?" 656 00:41:24,940 --> 00:41:27,780 For instance, like, I remember that last Christmas 657 00:41:27,780 --> 00:41:30,340 I went to my parents' hometown 658 00:41:30,340 --> 00:41:32,780 and that we played music in a joyful atmosphere. 659 00:41:33,860 --> 00:41:35,700 A meal to remember. 660 00:41:35,700 --> 00:41:36,900 Tres joyeux. 661 00:41:38,780 --> 00:41:43,340 The "when" part of episodic memory is particularly difficult. 662 00:41:43,340 --> 00:41:47,060 In human terms, it's the last type of memory to develop. 663 00:41:48,540 --> 00:41:51,940 Children sometimes have difficulty to tell the difference 664 00:41:51,940 --> 00:41:53,420 between time. 665 00:41:53,420 --> 00:41:56,220 An invertebrate that can do that is truly amazing. 666 00:41:57,580 --> 00:41:59,660 And that means, for cuttlefish, 667 00:41:59,660 --> 00:42:03,900 retrieving the what, where and when they encounter their favourite food 668 00:42:03,900 --> 00:42:07,780 helps them draw up a complete foraging masterplan. 669 00:42:15,740 --> 00:42:20,660 But if an animal is smart enough to be aware of the past and the future, 670 00:42:20,660 --> 00:42:24,060 for me this begs the question, 671 00:42:24,060 --> 00:42:30,500 could they, like us humans, also be aware of themselves? 672 00:42:30,500 --> 00:42:34,220 When we look in the mirror and we see a smudge on our faces, 673 00:42:34,220 --> 00:42:36,660 we instinctively rub it off. 674 00:42:36,660 --> 00:42:39,260 And that's because, when we look in the mirror, 675 00:42:39,260 --> 00:42:41,740 we know that we're looking at ourselves. 676 00:42:41,740 --> 00:42:43,980 I'm not looking at another human male. 677 00:42:43,980 --> 00:42:45,820 I'm looking at Chris. 678 00:42:45,820 --> 00:42:48,980 And that's because I've passed the mirror test, 679 00:42:48,980 --> 00:42:53,540 and only a relatively unique guild of animals have ever done that - 680 00:42:53,540 --> 00:42:57,380 dolphins, elephants, the great apes, magpies, 681 00:42:57,380 --> 00:42:59,020 and of course, humans. 682 00:42:59,020 --> 00:43:01,420 Well, up until now, that is. 683 00:43:03,860 --> 00:43:07,580 New research conducted in 2019 has shown 684 00:43:07,580 --> 00:43:10,860 that the beautiful little bluestreak cleaner wrasse 685 00:43:10,860 --> 00:43:14,820 has now also passed the mirror test, 686 00:43:14,820 --> 00:43:18,100 making it one of the very first species of fish 687 00:43:18,100 --> 00:43:21,100 to achieve this benchmark of brainpower. 688 00:43:23,380 --> 00:43:27,100 Only the manta ray, the fish with the largest brain, 689 00:43:27,100 --> 00:43:29,900 has also passed this test of self-awareness. 690 00:43:31,340 --> 00:43:35,420 Which, perhaps surprisingly, is carried out in much the same way 691 00:43:35,420 --> 00:43:37,380 as it is with land-based animals. 692 00:43:38,780 --> 00:43:41,420 After being presented with a mirror, 693 00:43:41,420 --> 00:43:44,900 the cleaner wrasse first fought their reflection, 694 00:43:44,900 --> 00:43:47,740 thinking it was another fish. 695 00:43:47,740 --> 00:43:50,540 But then, something astonishing happened. 696 00:43:52,220 --> 00:43:55,340 After being marked with a coloured gel on their stomachs, 697 00:43:55,340 --> 00:43:58,100 an area they could only see by looking in the mirror, 698 00:43:58,100 --> 00:44:01,540 the wrasse started scraping themselves on the floor 699 00:44:01,540 --> 00:44:04,340 of their tank in an attempt to remove the mark. 700 00:44:05,460 --> 00:44:08,660 The fish had realised that what they were seeing in the mirror 701 00:44:08,660 --> 00:44:10,900 was in fact themselves, 702 00:44:10,900 --> 00:44:14,340 meaning they had passed the mirror test. 703 00:44:18,300 --> 00:44:21,260 Recognising there's a difference between oneself and others 704 00:44:21,260 --> 00:44:23,220 is known as theory of mind. 705 00:44:24,380 --> 00:44:27,540 So why would this small fish have needed to evolve the ability 706 00:44:27,540 --> 00:44:30,060 to put itself in another's shoes? 707 00:44:32,060 --> 00:44:35,100 Well, it could be because, when it comes to business, 708 00:44:35,100 --> 00:44:37,100 they're seriously savvy. 709 00:44:39,980 --> 00:44:42,780 In their natural environments within the coral reefs 710 00:44:42,780 --> 00:44:46,660 of the tropics, cleaner wrasse are usually found setting up shop 711 00:44:46,660 --> 00:44:48,900 at cleaning stations - 712 00:44:48,900 --> 00:44:52,340 eating parasites that live on the skin of larger fish 713 00:44:52,340 --> 00:44:54,380 known as their clients. 714 00:44:56,180 --> 00:44:59,220 But in the hustle and bustle of the underwater world, 715 00:44:59,220 --> 00:45:01,300 competition can be fierce. 716 00:45:05,700 --> 00:45:09,580 So, to ensure loyalty, the wrasse can distinguish 717 00:45:09,580 --> 00:45:12,300 between more than 100 individual clients. 718 00:45:14,260 --> 00:45:17,940 And if the cleaner previously mistreated a valuable customer - 719 00:45:17,940 --> 00:45:20,780 a big fish with lots of parasites, for example - 720 00:45:20,780 --> 00:45:23,820 the wrasse will even offer an apology 721 00:45:23,820 --> 00:45:26,180 in the form of a more pleasant cleaning 722 00:45:26,180 --> 00:45:28,660 with an added fin massage. 723 00:45:30,300 --> 00:45:32,940 Now, that is some service. 724 00:45:34,620 --> 00:45:38,220 The wrasse clearly have a brilliant brain for business, 725 00:45:38,220 --> 00:45:41,460 albeit one that weighs just a tenth of a gram. 726 00:45:42,820 --> 00:45:46,780 So for such a small-brained fish to be able to pass the mirror test 727 00:45:46,780 --> 00:45:50,820 when we humans only develop this ability around 18 months of age 728 00:45:50,820 --> 00:45:53,300 is a pretty controversial discovery. 729 00:45:57,380 --> 00:46:01,300 But there's another big controversy surrounding this 50-year-old 730 00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:02,820 test of brain power... 731 00:46:04,020 --> 00:46:06,340 ..and it isn't down to who's passed it... 732 00:46:07,580 --> 00:46:10,740 ..but to which animals have failed, 733 00:46:10,740 --> 00:46:14,420 including many species we all recognise as being smart - 734 00:46:14,420 --> 00:46:19,260 such as horses, cuttlefish, monkeys, 735 00:46:19,260 --> 00:46:21,780 cats and even dogs. 736 00:46:25,140 --> 00:46:27,380 We're giving Sid and Nancy, my poodles, 737 00:46:27,380 --> 00:46:29,020 a crack at the mirror test. 738 00:46:29,020 --> 00:46:30,260 And look, 739 00:46:30,260 --> 00:46:36,460 Nancy for sure is undoubtedly looking at her reflection. 740 00:46:36,460 --> 00:46:40,860 The question is, does she know that that's Nancy, 741 00:46:40,860 --> 00:46:42,260 or is she just thinking, 742 00:46:42,260 --> 00:46:43,820 "Look, there's another dog," 743 00:46:43,820 --> 00:46:46,300 or perhaps, "There's another poodle"? 744 00:46:46,300 --> 00:46:48,940 But we're making life difficult for them, I think, you know. 745 00:46:48,940 --> 00:46:53,020 Because dogs like this don't live in a visual world like we do. 746 00:46:53,020 --> 00:46:55,740 Sid and Nancy live in a world of smell. 747 00:46:55,740 --> 00:47:00,340 They've got perhaps 300 million smell sensors in their noses, 748 00:47:00,340 --> 00:47:02,740 whereas I only have about six million. 749 00:47:02,740 --> 00:47:04,140 And that part of their brain 750 00:47:04,140 --> 00:47:06,060 which is given over to analysing smell 751 00:47:06,060 --> 00:47:09,060 is 40 times greater than mine. 752 00:47:09,060 --> 00:47:12,100 So perhaps if we really wanted to test their cognition 753 00:47:12,100 --> 00:47:15,140 to see if they do have a sense of self, 754 00:47:15,140 --> 00:47:17,620 we didn't ought to be testing it visually. 755 00:47:17,620 --> 00:47:21,420 Perhaps we should give them a form of olfactory mirror test 756 00:47:21,420 --> 00:47:23,340 where they can use their noses. 757 00:47:30,180 --> 00:47:33,420 If you visited Colorado in the early 2000s, 758 00:47:33,420 --> 00:47:36,140 you might have seen something rather peculiar. 759 00:47:39,260 --> 00:47:41,420 For five long winters, 760 00:47:41,420 --> 00:47:43,780 people saw a man out on frosty mornings 761 00:47:43,780 --> 00:47:47,620 scooping up yellow snow and then moving the pee around. 762 00:47:50,260 --> 00:47:53,020 That man was Marc Bekoff, 763 00:47:53,020 --> 00:47:57,180 a biologist who wanted to transform how theory of mind - 764 00:47:57,180 --> 00:47:59,820 that's the way we understand ourselves and others - 765 00:47:59,820 --> 00:48:01,060 should be measured. 766 00:48:03,260 --> 00:48:07,820 Bekoff broke the ice with the idea that animals should be judged 767 00:48:07,820 --> 00:48:10,180 against their own sensory abilities, 768 00:48:10,180 --> 00:48:13,380 not just the ones we humans are good with. 769 00:48:15,860 --> 00:48:20,100 So, in the case of dogs, that's their sense of smell. 770 00:48:23,780 --> 00:48:27,660 Fast forward to New York City nearly two decades later, 771 00:48:27,660 --> 00:48:30,140 and Professor Alexandra Horowitz, 772 00:48:30,140 --> 00:48:33,340 who worked on these early yellow snow studies, 773 00:48:33,340 --> 00:48:36,380 is now quite literally taking the proverbial 774 00:48:36,380 --> 00:48:38,300 at Columbia University. 775 00:48:38,300 --> 00:48:42,860 I think it's vital to investigate theory of mind in animals. 776 00:48:42,860 --> 00:48:46,700 And that's because we really value it in human cognition. 777 00:48:46,700 --> 00:48:50,620 So to see how dogs would measure up in a fairer mirror test, 778 00:48:50,620 --> 00:48:54,860 Alexandra presented dogs with different kinds of smells. 779 00:48:54,860 --> 00:48:56,860 OK, what's this? 780 00:48:56,860 --> 00:48:58,300 One was their own smell. 781 00:48:58,300 --> 00:49:02,900 And this actually was urine that their owners had very kindly 782 00:49:02,900 --> 00:49:04,620 collected for me. 783 00:49:04,620 --> 00:49:07,860 One was the smell of other dogs. 784 00:49:07,860 --> 00:49:13,100 And then I also added a smell to their own smell. 785 00:49:13,100 --> 00:49:15,580 It was actually the smell of anise that I used. 786 00:49:15,580 --> 00:49:19,820 So would the dog spend more time investigating their own pee 787 00:49:19,820 --> 00:49:22,420 after it had been altered with aniseed, 788 00:49:22,420 --> 00:49:25,780 the smell equivalent of the red dot on the forehead? 789 00:49:27,780 --> 00:49:30,420 What I found is that dogs showed, 790 00:49:30,420 --> 00:49:32,380 just as they had in Marc Bekoff's study, 791 00:49:32,380 --> 00:49:34,100 very little interest in their own smell. 792 00:49:34,100 --> 00:49:36,500 They showed more interest in the smell of others, 793 00:49:36,500 --> 00:49:39,340 and they showed the most interest in their own smell 794 00:49:39,340 --> 00:49:40,540 that had been changed. 795 00:49:42,220 --> 00:49:45,580 The dogs were showing that they did indeed recognise 796 00:49:45,580 --> 00:49:47,660 their altered smell reflection. 797 00:49:48,900 --> 00:49:52,540 So is this proof that dogs have a sense of self? 798 00:49:54,220 --> 00:49:56,580 I don't think my result is the final answer. 799 00:49:56,580 --> 00:49:59,100 Do dogs have complete self-awareness? 800 00:49:59,100 --> 00:50:01,900 Do they have a theory of mind like we do? 801 00:50:01,900 --> 00:50:04,340 I don't think it shows it definitively. 802 00:50:04,340 --> 00:50:10,060 But more and more research studies are starting to converge 803 00:50:10,060 --> 00:50:16,300 on the idea that dogs' metacognitive ability is much closer to ours 804 00:50:16,300 --> 00:50:17,860 than previously thought. 805 00:50:21,820 --> 00:50:23,660 Given a level playing field, 806 00:50:23,660 --> 00:50:26,660 dogs may well show a sense of self-awareness 807 00:50:26,660 --> 00:50:28,700 similar to us humans. 808 00:50:28,700 --> 00:50:29,940 Quite right. 809 00:50:29,940 --> 00:50:32,140 But sorry, Sid and Nancy, 810 00:50:32,140 --> 00:50:34,780 there are other limits to your intelligence. 811 00:50:38,420 --> 00:50:42,140 Just because an animal mastermind is skilled in one area - 812 00:50:42,140 --> 00:50:45,980 for example, using tools or remembering where they put things - 813 00:50:45,980 --> 00:50:49,340 doesn't mean they can apply that thinking to another situation. 814 00:50:51,860 --> 00:50:55,540 Until now, the idea of being able to combine different types 815 00:50:55,540 --> 00:50:59,780 of reasoning together, what's known as domain-general intelligence, 816 00:50:59,780 --> 00:51:03,460 has been a dividing line between the brains of the great apes 817 00:51:03,460 --> 00:51:07,300 and us humans from every other species on the planet. 818 00:51:10,180 --> 00:51:14,420 As I said, though, that was up until now. 819 00:51:16,620 --> 00:51:18,900 To find out which animal has just been added 820 00:51:18,900 --> 00:51:22,140 to this very short list of true masterminds, 821 00:51:22,140 --> 00:51:24,380 you're going to need to indulge me a little... 822 00:51:25,620 --> 00:51:27,900 ..as first, we must take a detour 823 00:51:27,900 --> 00:51:31,260 into the world of poker and playing the probabilities. 824 00:51:33,300 --> 00:51:35,380 Let's say I have two bowls of chips, 825 00:51:35,380 --> 00:51:39,380 and in this one I've got 90 black chips and 10 red. 826 00:51:39,380 --> 00:51:43,820 In the other bowl, I've got 50 black chips and 50 red. 827 00:51:43,820 --> 00:51:45,860 If I were to dip my hand into the first bowl, 828 00:51:45,860 --> 00:51:50,580 which coloured chip do you think that I'm more likely to withdraw? 829 00:51:50,580 --> 00:51:52,180 Without looking. 830 00:51:52,180 --> 00:51:53,660 Well, black, of course. 831 00:51:53,660 --> 00:51:56,220 Because there's a far greater proportion of black chips 832 00:51:56,220 --> 00:51:58,500 in that bowl than there is in the second bowl, 833 00:51:58,500 --> 00:52:04,180 where 50% of them are black and 50% are red. 834 00:52:04,180 --> 00:52:07,420 Now, this might seem like pretty simple statistics to you, 835 00:52:07,420 --> 00:52:09,980 but in fact, across the animal kingdom, 836 00:52:09,980 --> 00:52:12,300 we're not the only species with a grip 837 00:52:12,300 --> 00:52:14,700 on the understanding of probability. 838 00:52:14,700 --> 00:52:19,140 And for that reason, I personally wouldn't play poker 839 00:52:19,140 --> 00:52:20,620 with a parrot. 840 00:52:21,900 --> 00:52:25,700 Let's take a trip to New Zealand's South Island 841 00:52:25,700 --> 00:52:27,980 to meet the kea. 842 00:52:27,980 --> 00:52:29,660 KEA CRIES 843 00:52:29,660 --> 00:52:32,620 This cocky mountain parrot has a reputation 844 00:52:32,620 --> 00:52:34,420 for being a bit of a troublemaker. 845 00:52:39,860 --> 00:52:42,580 To survive this harsh alpine environment, 846 00:52:42,580 --> 00:52:46,460 kea are fearless and destructive in their search for food - 847 00:52:46,460 --> 00:52:49,460 constantly sticking their beaks into new things. 848 00:52:52,540 --> 00:52:55,580 But what humans could see as mindless vandalism 849 00:52:55,580 --> 00:52:59,260 has much more to do with how remarkably intelligent 850 00:52:59,260 --> 00:53:01,300 and ingenious the kea is. 851 00:53:03,900 --> 00:53:06,540 Every day is a challenge when you work with kea. 852 00:53:06,540 --> 00:53:08,780 You never know what the day is going to bring 853 00:53:08,780 --> 00:53:10,940 because they just constantly outsmart us. 854 00:53:12,540 --> 00:53:15,900 Most animals will stop playing as they get older 855 00:53:15,900 --> 00:53:17,340 and become adults. 856 00:53:17,340 --> 00:53:20,540 Kea, however - they play throughout their entire lives. 857 00:53:21,660 --> 00:53:25,460 Kea may well be rowdy fun lovers that refuse to grow up, 858 00:53:25,460 --> 00:53:29,940 but in 2020, Amalia Bastos from the University of Auckland 859 00:53:29,940 --> 00:53:32,740 wanted to find out if this spirited species 860 00:53:32,740 --> 00:53:35,380 was smarter than anyone expected. 861 00:53:35,380 --> 00:53:39,180 Could they be statistical masterminds? 862 00:53:40,780 --> 00:53:42,100 Come here. 863 00:53:43,780 --> 00:53:46,060 We first trained them on understanding that 864 00:53:46,060 --> 00:53:48,420 a black token was rewarding. 865 00:53:48,420 --> 00:53:51,180 So, if they bring it in, they can exchange it for food. 866 00:53:51,180 --> 00:53:52,700 And if they bring us an orange token, 867 00:53:52,700 --> 00:53:54,020 they get nothing for that. 868 00:53:56,100 --> 00:53:59,780 After watching Amalia take tokens from two jars, 869 00:53:59,780 --> 00:54:02,980 one with many more black tokens than the other, 870 00:54:02,980 --> 00:54:06,420 and without being able to see what was in each hand, 871 00:54:06,420 --> 00:54:09,700 the kea were able to consistently predict 872 00:54:09,700 --> 00:54:13,580 which hand they thought had the prized black token in. 873 00:54:14,780 --> 00:54:16,340 Very impressive. 874 00:54:16,340 --> 00:54:17,980 But there's more. 875 00:54:19,300 --> 00:54:21,820 Now, the most observant of you would have clocked 876 00:54:21,820 --> 00:54:24,660 Amalia's snazzy sunglasses. 877 00:54:24,660 --> 00:54:27,580 And I can tell you they're not being worn simply 878 00:54:27,580 --> 00:54:29,380 as a fashion statement. 879 00:54:29,380 --> 00:54:31,340 No, no, no. 880 00:54:31,340 --> 00:54:33,100 You see, when it comes to poker, 881 00:54:33,100 --> 00:54:35,940 you don't just need to be good with probabilities. 882 00:54:37,420 --> 00:54:40,580 You need to be good at reading the social cues 883 00:54:40,580 --> 00:54:42,060 of the other players. 884 00:54:43,380 --> 00:54:46,340 Amalia was actually wearing the sunglasses 885 00:54:46,340 --> 00:54:50,540 to disguise any subconscious cues, such as where she was looking. 886 00:54:52,180 --> 00:54:56,100 And it's when the shades came off that she was able to find out 887 00:54:56,100 --> 00:54:59,700 just what true masterminds these parrots really are. 888 00:55:02,340 --> 00:55:04,980 So what we wanted to see is whether kea could understand 889 00:55:04,980 --> 00:55:07,300 that a person can have a preference 890 00:55:07,300 --> 00:55:10,380 and they might sample in a biased way, 891 00:55:10,380 --> 00:55:12,820 and whether they could then use that information 892 00:55:12,820 --> 00:55:15,500 to predict where they think the black token is going to be. 893 00:55:16,700 --> 00:55:19,980 The kea were asked to pick between two researchers 894 00:55:19,980 --> 00:55:21,740 who were selecting the tokens. 895 00:55:22,700 --> 00:55:27,660 One of whom they'd previously watched always take black tokens, 896 00:55:27,660 --> 00:55:30,980 even when black tokens were in the minority. 897 00:55:30,980 --> 00:55:34,980 And what Amalia found was simply remarkable. 898 00:55:35,980 --> 00:55:38,380 So they actually preferred to choose from the person 899 00:55:38,380 --> 00:55:40,940 who had previously been looking into the jars 900 00:55:40,940 --> 00:55:42,740 because they assumed that their preference 901 00:55:42,740 --> 00:55:44,860 for black tokens would hold. 902 00:55:44,860 --> 00:55:47,180 We were very surprised by these results. 903 00:55:47,180 --> 00:55:49,660 We were actually not expecting the kea to do this. 904 00:55:50,740 --> 00:55:53,300 Because this requires a whole suite of skills 905 00:55:53,300 --> 00:55:55,700 that you might not expect to see in a bird. 906 00:55:55,700 --> 00:55:59,860 It was surprising because the keas was showing signs 907 00:55:59,860 --> 00:56:01,900 of domain-general intelligence. 908 00:56:01,900 --> 00:56:04,340 That's the ability to combine 909 00:56:04,340 --> 00:56:07,140 very different types of information together, 910 00:56:07,140 --> 00:56:11,980 such as physical as well as social, to make a single judgment. 911 00:56:13,140 --> 00:56:14,660 If you're playing a game of poker, 912 00:56:14,660 --> 00:56:17,700 you're not only thinking about the cards that might be available 913 00:56:17,700 --> 00:56:21,300 and the probability that your opponent has one of those cards, 914 00:56:21,300 --> 00:56:24,700 but you also might be looking at their facial expressions 915 00:56:24,700 --> 00:56:27,220 and checking if you think they might be bluffing. 916 00:56:27,220 --> 00:56:30,460 You're then combining these two sorts of information together 917 00:56:30,460 --> 00:56:34,700 to make a judgment on whether you should play your hand or not. 918 00:56:34,700 --> 00:56:37,340 So it's intelligence that works as a network. 919 00:56:38,740 --> 00:56:42,340 And now, for the first time, a bird, the kea, 920 00:56:42,340 --> 00:56:46,860 has joined the ranks of humans and chimpanzees in displaying signs 921 00:56:46,860 --> 00:56:49,180 of domain-general intelligence. 922 00:56:50,260 --> 00:56:53,820 Like I said, never play poker with a parrot. 923 00:56:55,020 --> 00:56:57,340 What a bird. What a rebel. 924 00:56:57,340 --> 00:56:59,940 What a true animal Einstein. 925 00:57:04,900 --> 00:57:08,340 When it comes to animal masterminds, the more we look, 926 00:57:08,340 --> 00:57:10,900 the more we discover they aren't so different 927 00:57:10,900 --> 00:57:12,940 from human masterminds after all. 928 00:57:14,580 --> 00:57:16,980 They make tools... 929 00:57:16,980 --> 00:57:18,620 ..learn new things... 930 00:57:21,300 --> 00:57:22,780 ..have culture... 931 00:57:26,140 --> 00:57:27,540 ..powerful memories... 932 00:57:29,660 --> 00:57:34,180 ..and perhaps the thing that we believe truly makes us human, 933 00:57:34,180 --> 00:57:36,340 a sense of self. 934 00:57:38,540 --> 00:57:41,980 We like to think of ourselves as a highly intelligent species. 935 00:57:41,980 --> 00:57:44,700 But as we've just seen, there are plenty more 936 00:57:44,700 --> 00:57:46,660 scattered across the animal kingdom - 937 00:57:46,660 --> 00:57:49,060 including creatures like Bran, 938 00:57:49,060 --> 00:57:52,340 who's undoubtedly got a brilliant brain. 939 00:57:52,340 --> 00:57:54,300 You know, I think at this point in time, 940 00:57:54,300 --> 00:57:58,020 we may be underestimating all of those other species' intelligence 941 00:57:58,020 --> 00:58:01,780 because we're always thinking about it from a human perspective. 942 00:58:01,780 --> 00:58:06,340 If we could just start to think outside of our box, think anew, 943 00:58:06,340 --> 00:58:10,020 I'm sure we'd find there were a lot more clever creatures out there. 944 00:58:15,100 --> 00:58:18,340 Next time, I'll be looking into animal communication... 945 00:58:18,340 --> 00:58:19,820 CHIMP HOOTS 946 00:58:19,820 --> 00:58:23,020 ..exploring the clever ways animals get their message across... 947 00:58:23,020 --> 00:58:24,580 DOLPHIN SQUEAKS 948 00:58:24,580 --> 00:58:27,260 ..and the new scientific discoveries that are revolutionising 949 00:58:27,260 --> 00:58:29,220 the way we understand their world.