1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:04,320 In the natural world, 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,080 you need to be smart... 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,360 ..to stay alive. 4 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,280 But we're only just discovering that some animals are brighter... 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,240 ..than we ever imagined. 6 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:24,320 I've never failed to be impressed by nature's sheer ingenuity. 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:28,600 Now, brand-new science, using innovative techniques 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:30,520 and the latest technology, 9 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,720 is revealing some surprising brainboxes. 10 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:37,520 You can get bees to learn almost anything. 11 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,760 Researchers across the globe... 12 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:41,200 A-ha-ha! 13 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:43,360 ..are uncovering the mind-blowing tricks... 14 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:49,720 ..and clever strategies that give certain species the upper hand... 15 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,080 It is an animal showcasing its intelligence 16 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,000 in front of your eyes. 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:58,840 ..as they build their homes... 18 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,320 ..navigate their world... 19 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,120 ..and raise their young. 20 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,880 It's time to get inside the minds of nature's savviest species. 21 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,320 But I warn you, there's going to be a few surprises 22 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:19,400 and some controversial candidates. 23 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,440 But most importantly, it's going to give us an opportunity 24 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,680 to learn from these animal Einsteins. 25 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,120 And that's really exciting. 26 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:34,280 You might think social networking was something only humans did, 27 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,680 but in this episode, we'll look at the clever creatures 28 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:42,120 that use their social intelligence to get along in groups... 29 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,200 ..from friendships that last 50 years 30 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,640 to poking your best mate in the eyeball, 31 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,880 and even cooperating with different species entirely. 32 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:56,640 Whatever your social life looks like, 33 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:59,200 we'll show you that for animals, 34 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,040 being together means being clever. 35 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:03,560 ROAR! 36 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,280 TRUMPET! 37 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:06,920 CHITTER! 38 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,680 One man...two dogs... 39 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:17,680 ..six ducks. 40 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:20,720 And the six ducks are part of the training process 41 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,360 for these sheepdogs. 42 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,800 But just look at the energy and the intelligence 43 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,520 and the way that these two separate species, human and dog, 44 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,080 have come together to solve a common problem. 45 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:33,320 Walk on, Tia. Walk on, Tia. 46 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,360 There's a lot of complex animal behaviour involved 47 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,840 in this cooperation between man and dog... 48 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:42,600 ..teamwork, 49 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,720 the ability to read subtle cues, 50 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:50,160 friendship, loyalty, hierarchy, 51 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,640 all of those essential components 52 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:57,080 that are required to form a working social network. 53 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,560 And, in fact, it's the dogs' social intelligence 54 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,520 which has made them man's best friend. 55 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:05,840 But more of clever canines later, 56 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,880 let's move on to some canny cats. 57 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,360 And I'm talking about big cats. 58 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,000 SNARLING 59 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,640 When it comes to being social networkers who work well with others, 60 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:21,440 lions are top of the league. 61 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,680 SNARLING 62 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:25,960 Lions often hunt in groups. 63 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:28,760 And, just like elite sports teams, 64 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,120 each individual has a particular position to play in the line-up. 65 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,040 Lionesses, called wings, fan out stealthily to surround the herd. 66 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:50,600 The wings initiate the attack, 67 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,960 driving an individual buffalo towards the centre... 68 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,760 ..often, an older and heavier lion 69 00:03:57,760 --> 00:03:59,920 waiting in an ambush position. 70 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,760 Get the tactics right and it's game over for the buffalo. 71 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,400 CHEERING AND WHISTLING 72 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,680 But if you might have to share the spoils, 73 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:18,120 is team hunting truly better than going it alone? 74 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:19,800 CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS REPEATEDLY 75 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,640 Game theory is normally used in the field of human psychology, 76 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,400 but it can be useful in animal-behaviour studies, too, 77 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,560 particularly when it comes to making decisions 78 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,360 about whether animals should cooperate or not. 79 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:37,200 Imagine that I'm a lonely lion prowling the savannah. 80 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:41,520 On my own, I can only really bring down small prey. 81 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,720 If I'm lucky, I might be able to kill a buffalo calf. 82 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,040 However, if I meet up with another lion 83 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,840 and we formed a partnership, a cooperation, 84 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,520 then together, we could bring down much larger prey. 85 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,200 Maybe even something as big as an adult buffalo. 86 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:05,240 The question is, should we form the partnership or not? 87 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,760 So let's think about it on paper, a bit of basic mathematics. 88 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,640 We form a partnership, we get to kill the big buffalo. 89 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,440 Say it's worth ten food units 90 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:20,120 and the calf worth just two food units. 91 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:23,960 If we cooperate together and we kill the buffalo, 92 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,920 we get to share the ten, that's five food units each. 93 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:29,800 It's a pretty good haul. 94 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,360 If we form a partnership and then I defect from it, I cheat, 95 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,560 then I get to kill just the calf, 96 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:40,280 which is just two prey units, as it were. 97 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:42,240 And of course, if that role's reversed, 98 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,680 we form the partnership and it defects, 99 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,960 then it gets the calf, the two units, and I get nothing. 100 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,560 And of course, if we don't form a partnership at all 101 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,520 and we're both in competition for just the calf, 102 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:59,080 then we're only likely to get one food unit each. 103 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,600 Look at that. It's as clear as day. 104 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,240 On paper, the smart thing to do 105 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,800 is to form that cooperative partnership. 106 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,840 And that's what we see in the wild, 107 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:12,080 with animals like lions, like wolves. 108 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,760 They may be acting individually, selfishly, 109 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,960 but the returns through cooperation are so much greater. 110 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,680 Whether you're a twosome or a whole team, 111 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,360 research shows that the harder an animal is to take down, 112 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:33,240 the more likely it is that lions will form a coalition to hunt it. 113 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,920 But what does that say about their brainpower? 114 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,960 According to the social-intelligence hypothesis, 115 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,400 the more social an animal is, 116 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:45,440 the more intelligent it will need to be 117 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,240 to keep track of its interactions with others. 118 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,520 So cats are all solitary and effectively live on their own, 119 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,720 except for lions. 120 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:55,760 They live in prides and are very social. 121 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,200 And when we think of other social species - elephants, dolphins, 122 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,320 spotted hyenas, chimpanzees - 123 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,280 they're all very intelligent. 124 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:07,120 So in theory, lions should be the smartest of the cats. 125 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,840 Dr Natalia Borrego wants to know whether being social networkers 126 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,640 makes lions cleverer than other big cats. 127 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,400 To test this out, she's travelled to 128 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,920 the Kevin Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa, 129 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,440 where Kevin's unique bond with rescued lions 130 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:25,640 will give her the opportunity 131 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,480 to get up close and personal with these animals. 132 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,000 But how do you give one of the world's 133 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,400 most fearsome predators an IQ test? 134 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,200 Natalia has designed a puzzle box, 135 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,160 which Ginny the lion must figure out in order to get a food reward. 136 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:52,640 Ginny has never seen this kind of puzzle before. 137 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,000 Because it's a totally new experience for her, 138 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,160 it's a good test of mental agility. A real brainteaser. 139 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:06,040 Ginny knows Kevin, but Natalia is safely behind bars. 140 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:09,720 After 20 minutes, Ginny has figured out 141 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:11,960 how to pull the door with her paw 142 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,960 and prevent it from swinging shut to allow her to get the meat. 143 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:20,360 Oh, you're so clever! NATALIA LAUGHS 144 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:22,040 You are so clever! 145 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:23,800 Very, very smart, huh? 146 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:25,360 Good job, Ginny! 147 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:28,760 Natalia has shown that lions are much better 148 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,640 at solving these kind of puzzles than the other big cats. 149 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,680 But the intelligence test doesn't end there. 150 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:43,840 Natalia also wants to know if lions can learn by watching one another. 151 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:48,080 Ginny's pride mate Livy has been watching her solve the puzzles. 152 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,560 Will she be able to copy the solution? 153 00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:56,240 That's it, stay open. Good girl! 154 00:08:57,520 --> 00:08:59,400 It's time to let Livy out. 155 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,360 Let's see what she does. 156 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:07,320 Oh, she goes to the right side. 157 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:11,600 THEY LAUGH 158 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,960 KEVIN APPLAUDS 159 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,720 I think...I don't think you can get any clearer than that. 160 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,360 No, that was very good. That was amazing! Very clever girl! 161 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,040 This ability to learn by watching another 162 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:25,880 is considered a sign of a real animal Einstein. 163 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:30,080 And Natalia has shown that lions are especially good at it, 164 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,800 outperforming leopards and tigers. 165 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:35,880 So the experiments went really well, much better than expected. 166 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:39,800 And it really did show that lions can learn socially from each other. 167 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,320 And it seems that lions are clearly more intelligent 168 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,360 than we've given them credit for. 169 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,640 But if lions need to be brainy to live in groups numbering up to 40, 170 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,920 what about a species that lives in groups of thousands, 171 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,920 or even millions? 172 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:58,960 And what about when being clever doesn't just mean 173 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,000 knowing when to cooperate with others, 174 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,240 but also having the social skills 175 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,480 to know when to give them some space? 176 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:11,160 CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS REPEATEDLY 177 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,640 Sadly, we are now all very familiar 178 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,400 with the concept of social distancing 179 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,200 as a measure trying to combat the spread of a virus. 180 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,560 And it can work, because if you get the distance just right here, 181 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:27,320 when a disease sweeps in, 182 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,480 you can stop it dead in its tracks. 183 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:34,560 And we are not the only animal that employs this method. 184 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,880 There is another, which uses it to protect its colony 185 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:41,800 and also, its collective cognitive ability. 186 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,760 Yes, that's right, it's the ant. 187 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:48,760 I can't resist it. 188 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:06,640 Ants are so successful, 189 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:11,040 there are reckoned to be a quadrillion of them in the world. 190 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,760 That's a million billion. 191 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,600 You can spot them on every continent barring Antarctica, 192 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,840 and you can even find them here, under the paving stones 193 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,160 at the University of Bristol. 194 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:25,320 Yes, right here! 195 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:29,120 We have some ants that were just, er...hanging around. 196 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,240 We've got an ant queen who is trying to find a new colony. 197 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,360 This extraordinary ability to thrive in every kind of environment 198 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,480 means they must be doing something right. 199 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:47,160 But as Dr Natalie Stroeymeyt has been finding out in her research, 200 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:51,120 it's not their individual brainpower that keeps them alive, 201 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:54,800 it's their amazing ability to social network. 202 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,640 When you look at a single ant and you just look at its intelligence, 203 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,080 well, it's no different from any other insect. 204 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:04,520 But the most impressive form of intelligence in ants 205 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:06,000 is collective intelligence. 206 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,080 So for an ant, being a good social networker 207 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,840 means instead of putting your own best interest first, 208 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,480 decisions are made as a collective, 209 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,920 for the good of queen and colony. 210 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:22,000 That can mean risking their lives to save other individuals 211 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,440 in order to avoid putting the colony at risk. 212 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,320 Self-sacrifice is rare in nature, 213 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,080 but exists in ants, wasps and bees, 214 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,480 where workers are sterile clones of the queen. 215 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,640 It's most obvious when the colony is threatened with disease. 216 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:42,720 And to show us how this works, these little creatures 217 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:45,120 are getting electronically tagged. 218 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:51,040 The first step is to pick up an ant and get her to sleep. 219 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:53,680 So we put her in the CO2 bath. 220 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,120 And she'll go to sleep fairly quickly. 221 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,560 It doesn't hurt the ant, she's asleep during the entire procedure, 222 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:03,640 so it's like surgery. 223 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:06,840 And she should come back awake within a few minutes. 224 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,080 So then I'll pick up a little bit of glue 225 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,720 and I'll just place a tiny droplet onto the ant's thorax. 226 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,640 And I come and just place the tag in position... 227 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:22,360 ..very softly. 228 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,600 On the left-hand side of the screen is the nest, 229 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,400 with the queen tagged in green 230 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,480 and the nurses that care for her larvae tagged in blue. 231 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,960 And on the right-hand side is the foraging area, 232 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,000 and the red dots are the female foragers. 233 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,160 In the wild, it's the foragers that risk bringing back a disease to the nest. 234 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,920 And Natalie simulates this by infecting one forager 235 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,360 with a microscopic fungus. 236 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,000 First individuals that are contaminated themselves 237 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,040 spend more time outside the nest. 238 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,480 But what we found also was that you had an increase 239 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:01,920 in the social distance between healthy nurses 240 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:03,640 and healthy foragers. 241 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:08,000 It's not known exactly how the ants detect fungal spores, 242 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:12,440 but pretty soon, the whole colony has changed its behaviour. 243 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:14,520 The foragers leave the nest, 244 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,560 spending less time inside, where they might transmit infection. 245 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:21,960 But the tracking software shows they also keep their distance 246 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,560 from one another, reducing ant-to-ant transmission. 247 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,960 And what's amazing is that it's not just the infected ants that do this, 248 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,600 but the uninfected ants, as well. 249 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,480 And that, in a way, is a proactive form of social distancing, if you wish. 250 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,720 They're not contaminated yet, but they are already distancing. 251 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,560 And we think it's a way of decreasing the risk 252 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:45,720 of epidemics through the colony. 253 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:47,640 Now, that's clever! 254 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,680 And other critical decisions that may affect the colony 255 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,520 are also made collectively. 256 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:57,360 Like where to forage and how to overcome obstacles. 257 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,680 The fact that the queen is called queen does not reflect at all 258 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:05,920 any form of political power or control. 259 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:10,160 And she certainly does not give any orders whatsoever. 260 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,440 In fact, no ant does. 261 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,840 This is very much a democracy. 262 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,120 When faced with a potentially life-threatening problem, 263 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:20,880 like the destruction of their nest, 264 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:25,240 ants crowdsource their intelligence to find a solution. 265 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:30,840 To show this in the lab, scientists destroyed the ants' existing nest 266 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,200 and set out a range of alternative spaces, 267 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:37,800 small, dark cavities that might be suitable for a new home. 268 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,240 The options range from this really superb site, 269 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:45,120 which is clean and made nice and dark with a red filter, 270 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,400 to a really poor nest site, 271 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,400 which is too small and got some dead bodies in it. 272 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:52,320 An absolute slum. 273 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,720 When the colony is homeless, female worker ants 274 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:02,560 disperse like a tiny insect team of surveyors, looking for new sites. 275 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:06,840 When they find one, they'll inspect it thoroughly. 276 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:10,920 But one ant's view isn't enough. 277 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:14,960 Like us, they need a second opinion. 278 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,080 If this ant thinks the nest is suitable, 279 00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:22,880 she goes and fetches a second ant, 280 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,360 who will join her in what is called tandem running. 281 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,640 If the second ant also finds the nest to her satisfaction, 282 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,920 she, too, will go and fetch another colleague. 283 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:39,360 You have a sort of cascade of recruitment, 284 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,600 where each ant is going to lead more ants to the new nest. 285 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,080 It's a typical example of voting with your feet. 286 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:50,120 And so the numbers snowball, 287 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:54,560 until eventually, every single ant has relocated. 288 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:57,240 This collective swarm intelligence 289 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:02,720 means the colony can solve complex problems with great efficiency. 290 00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:07,800 Everyone should be in awe in front of ant colonies. 291 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:10,200 And what I would hope is that people would stop asking me, 292 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,040 "How do I get rid of ants in my garden?" 293 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,920 But it's so amazing that I can observe these ants 294 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,680 and then see these trails and see how they work, 295 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:22,520 and be actually honoured to be having ant guests in your garden, 296 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:23,920 or in your kitchen. 297 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:30,160 Now, with their efficient division of labour, 298 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:32,560 their collective problem-solving ability 299 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,840 and their fluid hierarchy without a central commander, 300 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:40,320 many scientists think that ants, and not humans, 301 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,920 are the pinnacle of social intelligence. 302 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:46,000 But of course, across the animal kingdom, 303 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,600 there are far less utopian situations. 304 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,240 There are plenty of animal dictators and tyrants, 305 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:53,560 even animal politicians, 306 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:58,560 whose Machiavellian scheming is far more like us humans. 307 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:00,200 CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS REPEATEDLY 308 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,280 Chimps are intensely political animals. 309 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,640 And competition to be leader is fierce. 310 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:21,280 But whilst the biggest and strongest males sometimes do rise 311 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:25,680 to supremacy, often it's those that master the subtle art 312 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,320 of diplomacy that prevail, 313 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:31,240 and that means who you hang out with, 314 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,320 literally and metaphorically, 315 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:34,600 is all-important. 316 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,760 Male chimps use their social networking skills to outmanoeuvre 317 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,720 their rivals in order to gain and retain all the perks 318 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:47,320 that come with power. 319 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,240 In practice, this often means coalitions between two 320 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:53,120 or more subordinate males, 321 00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:56,880 who club together to challenge the established leadership, 322 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,480 just like our human politicians. 323 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,920 Well, if human politicians picked parasites 324 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:03,960 out of each other's fur, that is. 325 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:08,360 Hopeful leaders will also distribute food, 326 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:11,160 basically bribes, to win over the masses, 327 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,720 as well as ingratiating themselves 328 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:15,760 by being extra nice in public. 329 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,440 And there's another parallel between top chimps 330 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:23,880 and our glorious human leaders. 331 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:28,400 When support is on the wane, it pays to go to war. 332 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:30,400 AEROPLANE ENGINE ROARS 333 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,720 History shows us that a timely conflict can improve a failing 334 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,960 leader's approval rating dramatically, by encouraging 335 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,800 followers to put aside disagreements in the face of a common enemy. 336 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:54,760 It's an idea that we humans know as rallying around the flag. 337 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,880 And our clever cousins, chimpanzees, also appear to know 338 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,400 the value of a well-timed conflict. 339 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,160 CHIMPANZEES SCREECH 340 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,400 Chimps often raid and ambush other troops... 341 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,880 ..brutally killing and even cannibalising rival group members. 342 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,800 And taking part in these warlike encounters has been shown 343 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,400 to bring a divided troop closer together. 344 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:28,600 So when it comes to playing politics, 345 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,680 chimpanzees really are arch manipulators. 346 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,680 No matter how you claw your way to the top in the animal kingdom, 347 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:47,920 I'm afraid to say that very few females become leaders of the pack. 348 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,840 New research has shown that of the more than 5,000 different 349 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,920 species of mammals, just seven of those that we know of 350 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,960 ever have females that take charge in times of conflict, 351 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,720 when foraging or travelling, 352 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:06,800 and those that do seem to smash through that glass ceiling, 353 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,280 well, it's their female social intelligence that puts them 354 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,160 in prime position. 355 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:17,240 The short list includes killer whales, where older females often 356 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:18,840 dictate the movement of the pod. 357 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:22,920 And those African lions, 358 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,880 who we've already seen smashing it at teamwork, 359 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,480 actually form female-led prides. 360 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,920 But nowhere is the power of female social networking more evident 361 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,760 than in the complex queendoms of... 362 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,040 ..the spotted hyena. 363 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,200 Spotted hyenas live in a unique system. 364 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:47,800 They live in very large, complex societies. 365 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:50,840 It's female dominated. 366 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,040 Spotted hyena hierarchies are very strict, 367 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:57,440 they are very linear, 368 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:02,600 so you have a really clear ranking of hyenas, one above the other. 369 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,840 As the scientific lead of the Hyena Project 370 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,840 in Ngorongoro Crater in northern Tanzania, 371 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:14,440 Dr Oliver Honer studies why it is that women are top of the hyena 372 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,320 hierarchy, and it's all to do with power dressing. 373 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:21,840 '80s throwback time! 374 00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:32,600 The theory behind this dubious trend was that male tailoring could allow 375 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:36,240 women to enter arenas traditionally dominated by men, 376 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,480 by concealing female characteristics like breasts, 377 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:44,200 and emphasising male ones, like broad shoulders. 378 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,800 But hyena females don't need shoulder pads 379 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:48,520 to look more masculine. 380 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,760 They've got something much more effective. 381 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,360 A half-foot-long pseudopenis. 382 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,320 Female hyenas are indeed special when it comes 383 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,440 to their outer sexual organs. 384 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,600 They have masculinised outer sexual organs. 385 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,680 They have an elongated clitoris 386 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,480 that very much resembles a penis of a male. 387 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:16,240 Female spotted hyenas urinate through this pseudopenis. 388 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,080 They give birth through this pseudopenis, 389 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,880 and they copulate through this pseudopenis. 390 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,400 Talk about multitasking! 391 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,640 While there are other female mammals 392 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,480 where the clitoris looks a bit like a penis, hyenas are the only 393 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,160 ones that actually use it for these purposes, 394 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,760 and all female hyenas have them. 395 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,480 Because of this very special outer sexual organ, 396 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:47,520 it's really difficult for males to force females to mate with them. 397 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:52,360 In fact, females have total control over the act of mating. 398 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:56,160 The male has to assume a very awkward position, 399 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,560 and if she does just one step forward, the male would fall 400 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,720 backwards, and the whole thing is over. 401 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,480 By making mating a female choice, 402 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:11,360 this unusual anatomy means they already hold power over males. 403 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:14,960 But according to Oliver's research, there's another thing that's even 404 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,360 more important for female dominance. 405 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,720 And that's the social network. 406 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,960 The social support network is everything that matters 407 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,360 when it comes to hierarchies and social status. 408 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:31,720 So those that have most social support from their other clan 409 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,280 members, those will rank at the top. 410 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,280 The more allies a female has, 411 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,360 the higher up the pecking order she'll be. 412 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,000 And because top-ranking females get better access to food 413 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,280 than lower females, they'll have more healthy young, 414 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,680 who will add to their numbers of supporters. 415 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:57,200 But for males, this social support network is less advantageous. 416 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,240 When they reach sexual maturity, 417 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:05,040 males often move to a new clan where they have no allies. 418 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,960 Their lack of social network as incomers means they have to start 419 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:10,240 at the very bottom, 420 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,280 and if they ever hope to mate with a female, 421 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,840 they're going to have to grovel. 422 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,080 Males spend a lot of time investing in relationships with females. 423 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:25,040 They will spend days, weeks following one specific female, 424 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,720 day and night, getting up as soon as she gets up, 425 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,920 staying with her one metre behind her when she walks, 426 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,840 in case she gets interested in him, 427 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:36,400 he is ready. 428 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,760 With clans numbering up to 100, it takes some serious brainpower 429 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,560 to keep track of who's who in the pecking order. 430 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,360 And spotted hyenas have a particularly enlarged forebrain, 431 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:51,000 the region involved with complex decision making. 432 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,480 If you consider their social learning skills, 433 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,360 then you would rate them very intelligent. 434 00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:00,480 They have to be aware of each other's social status 435 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,280 and respond accordingly. 436 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:07,080 So when it comes to social networking, female hyenas 437 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:09,720 really are animal Einsteins. 438 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,320 Or should that be Marie Curies? 439 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,840 So far, we've seen that social intelligence is pretty 440 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:18,280 crucial in groups. 441 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,840 But what about the most important social network of all... 442 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:23,320 ..partnership? 443 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,600 How savvy are animals when it comes to picking a mate? 444 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:31,240 And is brainpower itself an animal aphrodisiac? 445 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:39,400 In the wild, budgerigars are nomadic birds that call Australia home. 446 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,680 As animals go, they're pretty flashy. 447 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:47,320 Ooh! 448 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,160 And their bright feathers and complex songs 449 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,200 are something females look for in a mate... 450 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,920 ..because they signify healthy genes, 451 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,480 and therefore likely healthy offspring. 452 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,440 But it turns out that's not all women want. 453 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,600 A lot of people think of budgerigars as innocuous children's pets. 454 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,360 I think that's really unkind. 455 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:23,680 They're very beautiful, charming and interesting little birds. 456 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:27,240 Particularly given that recently they helped to prove a theory 457 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:31,000 that Darwin came up with around 150 years ago. 458 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,800 His idea was that female animals, including humans, ought to seek out 459 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,280 intelligence in potential mates, 460 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,760 but although there's indirect evidence for this in the natural 461 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,080 world, it's been hard to prove definitively 462 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,600 outside our own species. 463 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,480 Until the budgies. 464 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,360 Scientists took a female and offered her the choice of two males. 465 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,240 Now, typically, you would think that she would be looking 466 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,200 at their brightly coloured plumage, 467 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,040 size of their territory, 468 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:03,880 variety of their song, 469 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:05,960 quality of their display, 470 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:07,720 not intelligence. 471 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:09,960 Anyway, she picked a male. 472 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,640 They took the rejected male 473 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,280 and then trained him to solve a puzzle 474 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,120 which demonstrated his intelligence. 475 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:22,560 They put the birds back together. 476 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,640 She then - guess what? 477 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,880 She switched males, 478 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,320 choosing to spend more time with the cleverer budgerigar. 479 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:39,440 Proof that female budgies flock to their brighter buddies. 480 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:52,760 When it comes to who you want in your social network, 481 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,920 it isn't just choosing mates where it pays for animals to be picky. 482 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:02,720 Some species are also selective about who they choose as friends. 483 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,000 Flamingos can be found in wetlands across the world. 484 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:21,280 They are extremely social and can live in flocks of thousands, 485 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:22,480 or even millions... 486 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,200 ..group sizes which would make it impossible for an individual 487 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,200 to have a social bond with everyone. 488 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,120 Flamingos can live for up to 30 years in the wild, 489 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,760 and much, much longer in captivity, 490 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:43,240 meaning that any social bonds they do form can last for decades. 491 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,320 You wouldn't imagine there was that much going on in their flocks. 492 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,160 When you look closer, and you see that they are really actively 493 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,080 avoiding some birds, and they're really choosing 494 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:54,640 to spend their time with others, 495 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,840 it's amazing how complex their social life is. 496 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,520 At Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire, 497 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,760 behavioural researcher Paul Rose has been studying this flock 498 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:08,440 of captive flamingos for ten years and has made some surprising 499 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,080 discoveries about their social lives. 500 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,560 So how do we know if two flamingos get along? 501 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,800 It's the animals that are standing, or resting, or doing things together 502 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,240 in the same space that are the friends. 503 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,720 Then, if one bird changes its behaviour, 504 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,440 the other one will go and do the same thing. 505 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:36,920 Flamingo friendships can be same-sex pairs, or mixed groups of threes 506 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,760 and fours, but the fact they form so consistently and endure 507 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:45,880 for so long means they must be important for survival. 508 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,920 For a bird that can live into its 80s, 509 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,960 I think these friendships are incredibly important. 510 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:04,440 These friendships might act as a way of sharing information on the best 511 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,520 foraging and nesting sites. 512 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,760 And also, by reducing squabbling by hanging 513 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:11,800 out with like-minded pals, 514 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,600 flamingos can save precious energy for the stuff that really matters, 515 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,720 like finding food and rearing chicks. 516 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,360 So sociability is the smart choice for survival. 517 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:26,600 To be able to process all of that information, 518 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:31,080 recognise your friends, recognise the birds that you don't really want to hang around with, 519 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:34,520 that, to me, is really indicative of a higher level of intelligence. 520 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,320 If an animal is going to be social rather than solitary, 521 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,320 it has to make some pretty big decisions about who to spend time 522 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,000 with and who to trust. 523 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,480 Cooperation, whether it's the sharing of resources, 524 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:56,440 or deciding who to help, well, that comes with a cost. 525 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,320 So, if you're going to give, you want it to be reciprocated. 526 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,280 So the very best animal social networkers are very discerning 527 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,040 about who they put their faith in. 528 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,840 And of all the social species, this group 529 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,080 of white-faced capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica 530 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,640 might just take top prize for inventing 531 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,480 THE most bizarre trust-building exercise. 532 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,720 White-faced capuchins live in groups of up to 20, 533 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:39,720 in the rainforests of Central America. 534 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,000 Each group occupies a territory of around a square kilometre... 535 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,000 ..and will defend it ferociously from rival gangs. 536 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,360 MONKEY SQUEALS 537 00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:59,040 Upon spotting an intruder, 538 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:00,880 capuchins will give an alarm call... 539 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,080 SQUEALS 540 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:05,360 ..summoning the rest of the group into action. 541 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,880 However, not all capuchins are equally keen to get involved 542 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,920 in a fight, and some will try and hang back without getting spotted 543 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:18,920 by the braver members of their clan. 544 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,680 So how do these monkeys figure out who they can trust 545 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:29,360 to have their back? 546 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:32,400 They've been observed taking part in a rather 547 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,640 grotesque ritual known as eye poking. 548 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,480 Come on, guys, I said EYE poking. 549 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:46,160 Pairs of monkeys can sit like this with their fingers wedged 550 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:49,320 into each other's eye sockets for several minutes at a time. 551 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,360 Scientists who have been observing this behaviour for years 552 00:33:55,360 --> 00:34:00,320 believe that it's an odd way of building trust between individuals. 553 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,080 Think of it this way, 554 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:06,480 if you can trust your eye-poking partner not to rip your eye out, 555 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,920 you can trust him to have your back when it comes to defending 556 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,240 your territory from rival gangs. 557 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,040 And capuchins are not the only things you'll find hanging 558 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:19,160 around in the tree canopy. 559 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,760 Now, it's one thing putting your life in the hands of a lifelong 560 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:26,600 trusted friend, another thing putting your life in the hands 561 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:28,360 of a stranger. 562 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:30,560 But that's what I'm just about to do. 563 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,480 I'm going to lean back into this arboreal abyss, 564 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:36,520 many metres from the ground. 565 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:38,960 I certainly wouldn't want to fall down there. 566 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:43,440 And yet, I'm going to trust Alistair, here, to lower me back. 567 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,120 Alistair comes with great credentials, apparently. 568 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:50,160 He's a great ropesmith, a great climber. 569 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:52,320 He's done all the health and safety. 570 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:54,600 He's done the risk assessment. 571 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,720 So here goes. 572 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,120 All right, Alistair, lower me back, please. 573 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:07,600 OK, OK, I think that's far...far enough. 574 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:09,240 Oh. 575 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:12,640 You see, we humans have the capacity to do this, 576 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,320 to trust total strangers, something that other species 577 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,600 of animals really struggle to do. 578 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:22,840 Although, having said that, there is one notable exception, 579 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:28,160 a species that's found a very curious way to invest trust 580 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:31,000 in others that it doesn't know at all. 581 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,960 Vampires, the stuff of nightmares and horror films. 582 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,280 For a creature that feeds on nothing but blood, 583 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,720 vampire bats are surprisingly gregarious. 584 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,200 Many people are surprised when they learn about the social 585 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:05,280 complexity that vampire bats have and the highly cooperative 586 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:07,760 social lives that they live. 587 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:12,240 And this South American species is pretty generous too, 588 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:16,680 as Professor Gerald Carter's recent research has been revealing. 589 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,160 Vampire bats, like many small animals, 590 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:22,000 are always living on this energetic knife's edge. 591 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:26,080 They only have one meal a night, and if they miss three meals, 592 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:28,040 they will starve to death. 593 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,680 And if they miss two meals, they're already very weak. 594 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:38,840 This vulnerability to starvation means sharing a meal can make 595 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,880 the difference between survival or perishing. 596 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,560 So all female vampire bats regurgitate food 597 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,600 to feed their offspring. 598 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,880 And what's strange about vampire bats is they do this not only 599 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:57,520 for their offspring, but also other adults, even unrelated adults. 600 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,400 This regurgitated blood is a life-saver for the recipient, 601 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,880 but comes at a cost for the donor. 602 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:09,080 While you might expect this kind of generosity in nature 603 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:13,800 within families, helping out strangers is much more unusual. 604 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,000 So there must be something clever going on. 605 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:21,280 So how do the bats know they can trust a total stranger 606 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:24,360 to repay them with such a precious resource? 607 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,480 Vampire bats would form grooming relationships before they form 608 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,120 food-sharing relationships. 609 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:36,200 It is a less risky or less costly kind of social investment. 610 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,000 So if I groom you and you don't reciprocate, 611 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:45,600 that's not as big of a deal as if I am giving a portion of my food 612 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,880 to you and then you don't reciprocate. 613 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:51,960 So if two bats are strangers, they show they can be trusted 614 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:55,440 by giving and receiving grooming before they progress 615 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:59,040 to giving and receiving vital regurgitated blood. 616 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,200 And the more bats you build these relationships with, 617 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:08,800 the less likely you are to starve if something unexpected happens. 618 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:16,160 The individuals who have a wider sort of social safety net are better 619 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:20,640 able to cope with the loss of, say, a mother or daughter. 620 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:25,080 And so this social safety net of bats being able to come back 621 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,640 to a roost and receive a food donation from another individual 622 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,960 can be really important for them. 623 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,800 In fact, it's a matter of life and death. 624 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:44,880 So sharing is a smart move that can literally save the life 625 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:47,800 of skilled social networkers like vampire bats. 626 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:51,440 But what about caring? 627 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,560 How clever do you have to be to put yourself in someone else's shoes? 628 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:58,160 And what's the advantage? 629 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,920 From the time humans are two years old, we start to show empathy 630 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:09,360 and understanding of what another person might be feeling. 631 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:12,600 For a long time, 632 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,840 scientists thought that this was a uniquely human trait. 633 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:23,360 But lately, they've discovered that certain animals could be much 634 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,240 better at reading and reacting to the emotional states of others 635 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:29,040 than we previously thought. 636 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,120 Prairie voles, which live in bonded pairs, 637 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:38,840 will go to great lengths to groom and nurture a mate 638 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:40,600 that's showing signs of stress. 639 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:46,280 This isn't proof of empathy on its own, 640 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,160 but scientists have shown that this behaviour is triggered 641 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,880 by the same hormone, oxytocin, 642 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:55,280 that's associated with feelings of empathy in humans, 643 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:59,720 which suggests a common mechanism for these feelings of caring. 644 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:10,080 The case has been made for empathy amongst just a few select species, 645 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:13,120 including dolphins, 646 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:15,160 primates 647 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:16,960 and dogs. 648 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:21,880 But the most moving example comes 649 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:25,080 from the largest land animal on Earth - 650 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:26,640 the elephant. 651 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,880 Elephants have complex societies, 652 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,760 with group sizes ranging from dozens 653 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:46,840 to around 100 individuals, each one of whom can live for up to 70 years. 654 00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:57,920 Long lives and close bonds means that a death, 655 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,600 particularly that of a matriarch, is a traumatic event. 656 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:10,560 And elephants have recently been observed visiting and caressing 657 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,840 the bones of their departed friends. 658 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:31,360 This expression of elephant grief makes a strong case for some animals 659 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:36,040 at least being capable of complex emotions like empathy. 660 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:42,920 ELEPHANT TRUMPETS 661 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:50,240 So far, we've looked at social networkers that build bonds 662 00:41:50,240 --> 00:41:52,880 with their own kind. 663 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:58,480 But for some animal Einsteins, social intelligence doesn't stop there. 664 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:03,000 They've smashed through the species barrier and learned to interact 665 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:07,160 socially with members of different species entirely. 666 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:13,880 Oh, are you tired? 667 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:17,240 SHE YAWNS Tired. 668 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:21,080 Time for a little history lesson. 669 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,760 This is Peroni, a spotted miniature horse, one of the smallest horses 670 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:28,000 in the world, bred for their trainability 671 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:30,280 and relative intelligence. 672 00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,680 Michelle, what else can he do apart from yawn? 673 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:34,600 Well, he'll toot a horn for attention. 674 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:36,040 Too-toot. 675 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:38,560 TOOTS HORN 676 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:41,000 He's got mine. SHE LAUGHS 677 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,480 Horses form strong bonds with humans and are capable 678 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,320 of being trained to do some amazing tricks. 679 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,960 But what if I told you that there was once a horse 680 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:53,080 that could count? 681 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:57,080 In the Victorian era, a German high-school teacher, 682 00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,680 Wilhelm von Osten, and his sidekick 683 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:04,560 Hans, The Clever Horse, persuaded audiences that this was the case. 684 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,480 Not only did this horse seem to have the mathematical capabilities 685 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:13,280 of a 14-year-old human, it could answer general knowledge questions. 686 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:18,760 It would tap its hoof once for A, twice for B, three times for C. 687 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,200 The audiences loved it. 688 00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:22,640 They lapped it up. 689 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:26,280 But the scientific community were rightly sceptical. 690 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:29,320 So what exactly was going on? 691 00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:33,600 Actually, the horse was demonstrating intelligence, 692 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:37,280 but it was social intelligence, the ability to read 693 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:42,480 tiny physical cues his human handler was giving off unconsciously. 694 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,480 So when they were asking those general knowledge questions, 695 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:49,000 he was looking at the body language, listening to the tone of voice. 696 00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,680 And when they got to the right answer, he would stop 697 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:53,960 tapping his hoof. 698 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,160 Was it a trick, like that demonstrated by Peroni? 699 00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,000 Well, yes, it was. 700 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:02,040 But even von Osten, his owner, wasn't in on it, 701 00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:04,960 because what this horse was demonstrating 702 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:09,760 was a form of empathetic intelligence second to none. 703 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:11,400 HORSE WHINNIES 704 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:15,640 I love the story of Hans, The Clever Horse. 705 00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:21,640 Dr Leanne Proops knows that Hans, The Clever Horse was much 706 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:23,560 more than a lucky one-off. 707 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,360 The horse is an incredibly social species. 708 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:29,400 They form lifetime bonds with some individuals 709 00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,040 and so, they really need to understand and pick 710 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:34,360 up on the social cues that they are seeing. 711 00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:40,880 Wild horses live in herds and are known to have strong social 712 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,800 networking skills based on body language. 713 00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:49,360 Along with primates, they're also known to have one of the most 714 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:51,720 expressive faces of any mammal. 715 00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:57,240 HORSE WHINNIES 716 00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:02,960 Leanne and her colleagues from the Universities of Portsmouth 717 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:07,320 and Sussex want to know if horses also pick up on the body language 718 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,920 of humans, and crucially, whether they form an opinion 719 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:13,560 of someone based on their appearance. 720 00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:17,160 To test just how judgy these equids are, 721 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:20,440 she's going to present the horses with photographs of happy 722 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:22,080 and angry faces. 723 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:30,760 Then, several hours later, the horses will meet the person 724 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:35,160 from the picture in the flesh, and Leanne will be able to see 725 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:38,360 whether their reaction has been affected by the photo. 726 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:40,720 It's a bit too well, now he's focused on my hand. 727 00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:42,640 SHE CHUCKLES 728 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:47,040 So how will we know if the experiment has worked? 729 00:45:47,040 --> 00:45:49,920 Well, for Leanne to decode what these horses could be thinking, 730 00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:55,000 she must consider the crisscross wirings of their brain. 731 00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,440 What we know is that threatening things, negative things 732 00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:02,120 are processed in the right hemisphere of the brain and animals 733 00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:04,880 who use their left eye, which transmits information 734 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,200 to the right side of their brain, 735 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:10,080 to explore negative or dangerous objects, 736 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,800 and that activates that flight-fight mechanism in the right hemisphere. 737 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:17,320 Conversely, more prosocial and more positive situations 738 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:22,400 are often processed in the left side of the brain, using that right eye. 739 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:27,680 So just to clarify, if a horse's eyes are left, it's fight or flight, 740 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:32,200 and if they use their right eye, then you're considered a good guy. 741 00:46:32,200 --> 00:46:36,160 After a short break for lunch, it's time to introduce the horses 742 00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:40,480 to the real people from the photos they saw earlier. 743 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:44,000 This time, the person will keep a neutral face 744 00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:47,800 so the horse only has its memory of the photo to go on. 745 00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:49,960 Comet seems pretty relaxed here. 746 00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:52,800 There's no signs of stress or tension. 747 00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,920 He's making a few little looks with his right eye, 748 00:46:55,920 --> 00:46:57,960 so that it's a positive experience for him. 749 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,960 He doesn't consider Kate to be a threat in any way. 750 00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:03,960 So this is really what you would expect to see from a horse that's 751 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:07,720 seen a photograph of an individual looking happy. 752 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:13,280 And now the person from the angry photo. 753 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,720 He's using his left eye to keep Livvy in focus. 754 00:47:19,720 --> 00:47:22,920 He's activating the right side of his brain. 755 00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:27,200 It's showing to us that Glaze is thinking that Livvy is a potential 756 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,360 threat or a negative person. 757 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:34,000 He's much less relaxed 758 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,440 than the horses that had seen the happy photograph earlier. 759 00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:42,200 We see these typical displacement behaviours, 760 00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:46,520 these are indicators that they're feeling a little uncomfortable with the situation. 761 00:47:47,720 --> 00:47:49,160 I think we've made our point. 762 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:50,960 Livvy, I think you can come out now. 763 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:57,080 It just goes to show that these perceptive equines are watching 764 00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:00,760 and assessing us all of the time, which, now I've said it out aloud, 765 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,760 sounds a little creepy. 766 00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:07,120 Even if you're just passing by the stable, horses are picking 767 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,040 up on our expressions, little cues, and they're really, 768 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:11,960 as we say, eavesdropping 769 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,800 on how we're feeling and what we're up to during the day. 770 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:22,240 So horses have expanded their social network to include a different 771 00:48:22,240 --> 00:48:23,880 animal entirely - us. 772 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:29,760 But what about socialising with the enemy? 773 00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:34,200 Surely no-one in the animal kingdom would make friends with their food. 774 00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:43,600 Geladas are a type of monkey that live in the highlands of Ethiopia. 775 00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,280 They're the only primate that eats grass, 776 00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:51,520 plucking it with their hands 777 00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:54,160 and grazing the mountainsides in huge herds. 778 00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:03,120 But what's even more curious than their diet is their relationship 779 00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:06,920 with one of the region's apex predators, 780 00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:09,160 the Ethiopian wolf. 781 00:49:13,480 --> 00:49:16,920 Now, this might look like the start of a typical nature clip... 782 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:22,600 ..and you'd expect it to only go one way, 783 00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:26,440 a way which ends with a baby gelada on the menu. 784 00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:31,600 But just watch what happens next. 785 00:49:39,240 --> 00:49:42,080 For some reason, wolves and geladas 786 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:43,600 often hang out together. 787 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:50,400 The wolves don't attack and the geladas calmly let them 788 00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:52,040 walk amongst them. 789 00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:58,960 This unlikely peace pact is so surprising that scientists only 790 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:01,400 have theories about its origins. 791 00:50:03,240 --> 00:50:07,640 But one idea is that mingling with the geladas may make it easier 792 00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:09,760 for wolves to sneak up on rodents. 793 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:15,200 And there are some who have suggested that this highly 794 00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:19,040 unusual social network between predator and prey could be the first 795 00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:22,720 step of an even closer alliance - 796 00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:24,760 domestication. 797 00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:31,080 Because there's one very obvious example of a primate and a predator 798 00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:33,480 becoming allies against the odds. 799 00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:37,680 It might be staring you in the face right now as you sit on the sofa 800 00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:38,960 watching this programme. 801 00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:40,160 Woof-woof. 802 00:50:42,240 --> 00:50:46,280 Now, I can tell you that every single breed of domestic dog, 803 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:49,480 from these collies to my rather pampered poodles, 804 00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:53,800 is distantly related to wild grey wolves. 805 00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:57,560 And long before they were chasing tennis balls, herding ducks 806 00:50:57,560 --> 00:51:00,680 or flopping out to sleep on our beds, we were in intense 807 00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:05,560 competition with their wild progenitors, those savage wolves. 808 00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:12,080 So how did our two species come together and end up with such 809 00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:14,240 a wonderful friendship? 810 00:51:14,240 --> 00:51:19,000 Well, the answer to that question lies in perhaps the greatest example 811 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:21,800 of social intelligence in the animal kingdom. 812 00:51:25,720 --> 00:51:30,160 The story of how dogs came to be tamed is a bit of a mystery. 813 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:37,120 Some anthropologists believe that early human hunter-gatherers 814 00:51:37,120 --> 00:51:40,160 actively caught, tamed and bred wolves. 815 00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:49,840 But Dr Juliane Kaminski, from Portsmouth University, 816 00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:53,320 believes they might be BARKING up the wrong tree. 817 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,280 30,000 years ago, we didn't have settlements, 818 00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:59,240 we didn't have houses or anything like that. 819 00:51:59,240 --> 00:52:05,320 So the idea that in all that chaos, we kind of proactively selected 820 00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:10,400 a wolf puppy, took it home and then tamed it to be a cooperative animal, 821 00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:13,640 to me, it doesn't really make a lot of sense. 822 00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:17,080 The idea that's gaining more scientific agreement 823 00:52:17,080 --> 00:52:22,560 is that we didn't domesticate wild wolves and transform them into dogs, 824 00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:27,800 but instead, these clever canines used their social networking skills 825 00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:33,160 to domesticate themselves and made humans their meal ticket. 826 00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:35,160 WOLF HOWLS 827 00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:40,960 Simply by being relaxed around humans, they had access 828 00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:45,480 to more food, and good food, and that kind of gave them an advantage. 829 00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:54,240 The ones that were more cooperative around humans had more offspring. 830 00:52:56,040 --> 00:52:58,920 That means the next generation, then, was, at birth, 831 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:01,120 already more cooperative, more relaxed. 832 00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:04,080 And so that's kind of started this whole process. 833 00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:06,400 And that's what we call self-domestication. 834 00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:11,880 So perhaps it wasn't survival of the fittest, 835 00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:15,360 more like survival of the friendliest that braided the fates 836 00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:17,640 of our two species together. 837 00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:21,840 And on that journey, these canines changed 838 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:23,680 in both body and temperament. 839 00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:29,560 Their skulls, teeth and paws shrank, their ears flopped. 840 00:53:29,560 --> 00:53:32,000 They turned into dogs. 841 00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:36,920 And most importantly of all, dogs gained the ability 842 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:41,840 to raise their eyebrows, something wolves can't do, and not 843 00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:45,880 because they have a sense of irony, but because cute puppy-dog eyes 844 00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:50,280 are scientifically proven to tug on our human heart strings. 845 00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:54,960 This eyebrow movement triggers a kind of nurturing response 846 00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:58,840 because it resembles a movement that humans produce when we are sad. 847 00:53:59,840 --> 00:54:03,520 So if you have 100 dogs in front of you and you quickly have to feed 848 00:54:03,520 --> 00:54:07,160 one of them, you probably go for the one that looks a bit sad. 849 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:13,080 In fact, when our two species gaze into one another's eyes, 850 00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:16,080 the look of love is so intoxicating, 851 00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:20,960 both humans and dogs release the same chemical - oxytocin - 852 00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:24,240 more usually associated with cuddling our own babies. 853 00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:32,440 Something that has evolved for within-species kind of interaction 854 00:54:32,440 --> 00:54:36,520 suddenly works across species and also tightens 855 00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:38,600 this bond between dogs and humans. 856 00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:40,080 It's remarkable. 857 00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:44,760 And the latest science suggests that dogs' social networking 858 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:49,160 has been so successful that they've lost some of their wolfish 859 00:54:49,160 --> 00:54:53,480 cunning and instead, learned to solve problems by appealing to us. 860 00:54:57,560 --> 00:55:00,280 I'm about to set my two poodles, Sid and Nancy, 861 00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:02,440 a little intelligence test. 862 00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:05,280 I've got a Perspex box here and inside it, 863 00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:07,280 I'm going to put some of their favourite food. 864 00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:09,320 Guess what? It's sausages. 865 00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:10,560 In we go. 866 00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:14,760 And then I'm going to close the Perspex box like this. 867 00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:17,680 And to be honest with you, I'm being a little bit cruel 868 00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:21,120 because there's no way they're going to get inside this box 869 00:55:21,120 --> 00:55:24,480 for the very simple reason that I've got the key. 870 00:55:24,480 --> 00:55:27,320 Nevertheless, let's see what they do. 871 00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:30,160 Sid, Nancy, come on. Sausages. 872 00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:32,880 Come on. 873 00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:36,120 Come on, Sid. 874 00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:39,400 Your favourite food is in here. 875 00:55:39,400 --> 00:55:42,840 In fact, a bigger pile of sausages than you've seen for some time. 876 00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:45,600 DOGS SNIFF 877 00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:47,520 It's interesting. 878 00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:49,560 They've looked at it, they've sniffed it, 879 00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:51,560 and that's as far as it's gone. 880 00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:56,880 And yet, if their wild ancestor, a wolf, was here, it would be biting 881 00:55:56,880 --> 00:56:00,320 the box, pawing at the box, chewing the box, huffing and puffing 882 00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:03,680 and blowing the box down to get those sausages. 883 00:56:03,680 --> 00:56:08,720 It would demonstrate a persistent intent, that type of intelligence. 884 00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:14,120 But the dogs, I would argue, and I'm a bit biased, 885 00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:16,960 are showing a very different form of intelligence. 886 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:21,440 You see, dogs have been domesticated for at least 30,000 years, 887 00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:23,840 and in that time they've been living with us, 888 00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:28,560 we've co-evolved together to develop a social intelligence. 889 00:56:28,560 --> 00:56:33,960 And what Sid and Nancy are doing is waiting for me to open the box. 890 00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:37,280 They know I'm going to gaze into their little chestnut eyes 891 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:40,520 and their little button noses, and I won't be able to resist 892 00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:41,960 using this key. 893 00:56:43,160 --> 00:56:47,000 So they may not be as bright as those wolves any more, 894 00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:50,880 but I'd say they're probably a bit more intelligent in some ways 895 00:56:50,880 --> 00:56:55,680 because they've learned how to access our intelligence. 896 00:56:57,560 --> 00:57:02,280 From mates to mating, reigning supreme over a group, 897 00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:05,720 or self-sacrifice for the good of your peers, 898 00:57:05,720 --> 00:57:11,000 trust, sharing and even mind-reading, 899 00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:13,120 different animals do social networking 900 00:57:13,120 --> 00:57:16,080 in a whole host of different ways. 901 00:57:16,080 --> 00:57:19,120 But none of this behaviour would exist if it didn't offer 902 00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:21,800 an evolutionary advantage. 903 00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:26,640 So if it's smart to be social and it makes you more successful, 904 00:57:26,640 --> 00:57:29,880 then you would expect animal Einsteins to get smarter 905 00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:31,960 and smarter over time. 906 00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:34,960 But what that intelligence actually looks 907 00:57:34,960 --> 00:57:37,400 like can be wonderfully diverse. 908 00:57:39,240 --> 00:57:43,800 It's a triumph for canine social intelligence. I'm giving in. 909 00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:48,000 They're going to get their sausage, which is OK by me. 910 00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:50,680 I've been used as a tool, but do I feel exploited? 911 00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:52,200 Not at all. 912 00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:57,320 Because they get the sausage, 913 00:57:57,320 --> 00:57:59,560 I get the love. Yeah. 914 00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:01,560 There you go, Nancy. 915 00:58:01,560 --> 00:58:03,720 Much better than being a wolf. 916 00:58:03,720 --> 00:58:05,480 That was a bore, wasn't it? 917 00:58:05,480 --> 00:58:07,680 So much nicer to be a poodle, isn't it, Sid? 918 00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:09,480 Quite right. 919 00:58:09,480 --> 00:58:11,120 You beauties. 920 00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:13,360 Beauties. 921 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:18,000 Next time, we'll be looking at nature's cleverest con artists, 922 00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:21,600 animals that use their brainpower to lie, 923 00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:24,520 cheat and steal their way to success.