For example, no animal is a better escape artist than an orangutan. But they're smart enough to not necessarily induce something right when you're watching them. They'll wait till you leave to do it. But no orangutan is more legendary than the now-deceased Fu Manchu, an honorary member of the American Association of Locksmiths. He once hid some wire in his mouth until it was just the right time to pick the lock on the door to his enclosure.
Animals have all sorts of mental abilities and all manner of thought.
So claim those who have observed and worked with animals intimately. And to say that we are more intelligent than an ant is not right, because we cannot do what ants do. They're able to expand on things that are important to them. In the end, says Linden, respecting animals' intelligence helps us two-legged types understand ourselves and our place in the world. But, you know, instead of the notion that we're at the top of Mount Olympus and the rest of the animals are looking up, they're arrayed along the slopes to varying degrees.