How intelligent?

[Serpwidgets]

Now some people say animals are not like us because they are not 'self aware'
I beg to differ.

I think that depends on what you mean by self aware. I really doubt there's anywhere you could draw a line between a protein molecule and a human being and say that everything on one side is self-aware, and everything on the other side is completely not self aware. IMO it's a matter of choosing an arbitrary point on a smooth spectrum.

 

[Sisuitl]

It seems like the more adapted to living in a social group an animal is, the higher its perceived intelligence. I think it has to do partly with what Islandzoo said about them having the ability to communicate with others. Iguanas for example, are reptiles and are generally thought of as having fairly high intelligence. My old man iguana was very "intelligent". He had a large English vocabulary, and with the cooperation of his human housemates devised some complex methods of communication via body language. To me he was just as responsive as a well trained dog. A lot of people commented on how "smart" he was. I don't think it was so much that he was more intelligent than the average iguana, just that we found a reliable way to communicate and for some reason he found it worthwhile to try and do what we asked him to.

Snakes are generally not social, and are not equipped to communicate outside of their species very easily. I did have an awesome garter snake (one of the social species ) who was the only snake I ever owned that actively sought out human interaction. He appeared to be "smarter" than my other snakes to people simply because he was more outgoing, creating new behaviors to obtain what he wanted, like his funky dance for attention.

I think the perception of reptiles being dumb stems from their general lack of social societies, since the behavior of social animals is easier for us to manipulate and they have an easier time communicating with us.

 

[Alsoknownas]

Remembering it is memory.

Intelligence is the ability to use reasoning in order to solve a problem.

Intelligence is understanding, comprehending. Animals don't have the ability to reason, so according to your definition of intelligence they have no intelligence at all. Animal Intelligence is being measured by experts by how quick or easily they learn, understand, or comprehend what to do to attain the reward.

 

[AFI15]

well snakes do act dumb sometimes but there not completely stupid. not sure if the can be trained. sorry

 

[Anime Youkai]

There is a really good general information book on snakes that I highly reccomend. It is called Snakes A Natural History, edited by Roland Bauch. This book has information on snakes' intelligence (and other biological/ behavorial functions).