All language subtitles for super.smart.animals.s01e01.720p.hdtv.x264-ftp

For centuries the thought that
animals could talk,

solve problems...

Aw, she's got it.

..even feel emotion,
was the stuff of fiction.

But all that's changing.

I'm Liz Bonnin, a scientist who's
been travelling the world,

meeting the planet's
smartest animals.

From skateboarding dogs,

to chimp geniuses.

I've discovered cutting-edge
research...

This is ridiculous.

..that reveals animals are much
more intelligent than we think.

But how smart are they?

Prepare to be astonished...

Ha-ha! Amazing.

..entertained...

He wants to chase
and tickle with you now.

I want to chase
and tickle with you too.

Did you see that?

..and even outwitted...

Ha ha!

..by some of the world's
greatest animal minds.

'Einstein. We like Einstein.
Einstein likes you too!'

Wherever you live,
whether it's the frozen Antarctic...

..the baking desert...

..or the deepest ocean,

life can be a huge struggle.

How do animals deal with
the problems they face?

Some have evolved extraordinary
physical solutions,

over millions of years.

But others use their brains.

In the last few years, scientists
have made an incredible discovery.

An animal that can beat us
in an intelligence test.

I didn't think it was possible.

Until I came here. Home to some of
the smartest animals in the world.

But it's not the jungle...

..it's Japan.

Kyoto University is home
to world-beating experts

in numbers and memory.

And I don't mean the scientists.

I'm talking about the chimps.

Among them could be
the world's greatest animal mind.

A chimp child genius.

His name is Ayumu.

He was born at the University,
where he's studied ever since.

In this test, he's already mastered
the order of numbers.

Not bad for a chimp.

But I've heard he's
capable of much more.

At five years of age, Ayumu had
already outclassed the very

scientists who had set him
his intelligence tasks.

And now, apparently, at 11,

he's performing feats of memory
that humans simply find impossible.

And here's the test
at which he excels.

You've got a few seconds to
commit these numbers to

memory before they're covered up.

The challenge is to remember where
those numbers are

and then recall them
in the right order.

Are you ready?

It's definitely not easy,

but just watch Ayumu.

He's memorising those
numbers in less than half a second.

That is really impressive.

He is fast and there is no way
he is doing this by accident.

I mean to stumble across the right
answer he'd have

one in 362,000 chance
of getting it right.

It looks absolutely effortless.

Ayumu's skills are special.

But in the wild,
animals are also proving

they're much more intelligent
than we ever thought.

I've come to Alaska, to find one
of the biggest brains on the planet.

Any minute now they're going
to hit the surface.

Turn your head.

Oh!

Humpback whales.

Here in Alaska,
just a small group of them

use their brains to catch fish
in a way seen nowhere else on Earth.

In just a few weeks, they'll
set off on a 3,000-mile trip

to their breeding grounds.

But to survive the journey,
every one of these 30-tonne mammals

needs to catch
around a million fish.

And catching that much food,
takes brains and teamwork.

These guys could never catch
so many fish on their own.

They've got to work together.

And to be able to work together,
you've got to use your intelligence.

But it's not just working as a team
that makes these animals so special.

Off they go.

One by one.

It's what they're all making
when they're down there.

Together they dive down.

One whale circles the prey,

letting out a chain of bubbles
from its blowhole, in a wide arc.

Another whale swims below the fish,

frightening the prey upwards
with a feeding call.

With this circular wall of bubbles,

the whales have essentially made
a fishing net out of thin air.

This right here...

..is one of the most impressive
tool-using social groups

on the planet.

Believe it or not, the bubble net
is actually a very effective tool.

And it's only by using it that
each of these humpback whales

can catch almost half a tonne
of fish every day.

That's what happens
when you put your mind to it.

Scientists once believed that
using tools set humans

apart from other animals.

But we're not as special
as we thought.

Chimps were first spotted using
tools in the 1960s,

but since then we've noticed animal
tool-users all over the world.

These boxer crabs pick up
poisonous anemones,

waving them to scare off attackers.

Finches in the Galapagos use sticks
to winkle grubs from rotting wood.

And sea otters in America
crack shells against stones

on their stomachs.

These animals are impressive but
are they thinking things through,

or is it just instinct?

Can animals solve
an unexpected problem

they haven't had
generations to perfect?

To be able to do that, they'd need
a blinding flash of inspiration...

..a Eureka moment.

These "Eureka" moments
are incredibly important

to the scientists
who study intelligence

because it shows that something much
more complex is going on up here.

Now, I'm here to show you
an animal that, like us,

might just be capable of these
moments of true insight.

This is Leipzig zoo in Germany.

Scientists work closely with
the apes here,

and are setting some deceptively
simple experiments,

which prove that orang-utans can be
as ingenious as humans.

In this challenge, a tasty peanut
is placed at the bottom of a tube.

It's too far for fingers to reach,

and the tube is bolted
securely to the bars.

They're just presented
with a tube and a peanut.

They need to use their
intelligence to figure it out.

To find out how humans
approach the problem,

we set up a similar experiment
for the visitors at the zoo.

There you go,
free sweets up for grabs.

All you've got to do
is get them out of the tube.

We placed everything
needed within reach.

But not one human,

child or adult,

had a Eureka moment.

So what happened the first time
this orang-utan, Dakana,

and her baby,
were given this challenge?

In a moment of genius Dakana takes
water from her drinking fountain

and uses it, to float the peanut
to within reach.

One after another almost every
orang-utan here

was able to solve this problem
by themselves.

Result! She gets the peanut.

Nobody's ever shown orang-utans
how to do this.

You know, if you raise
the level of something using water,

not even a solid tool, but a liquid
tool, you can get your food reward.

They figured this out by themselves.

That's amazing.

How do animals become so good
at solving unexpected problems?

It helps to be able to
think into the future,

and to plan ahead.

And living in the grounds
of a Hawaiian hotel

is an animal that looks like he can.

A night heron.
The staff call him Hank.

His home is an all-inclusive resort,

where food is literally
thrown at you.

Hank often loses out to
the larger swans.

But when he finally grabs some food,

he does something
completely unexpected.

He doesn't eat it.

But instead, appears to have a plan.

Hank takes the bread.

He places it in the water...

..and he waits.

He could eat it at any time.

But he holds out for more.

Two fish, in a single mouthful.

Planning ahead certainly pays off.

And Hank has learned
how valuable his bait is.

There's no point wasting it on fish
too big for him to eat.

So, he takes it out of harm's way.

There's increasing evidence
that some animals can plan ahead,

which makes them
fantastic problem-solvers.

But it takes time to build up
the knowledge that you need,

and a simple experiment can
demonstrate how animals learn.

Floating in this tube is
a little red token.

And the challenge is to get it out.

Now, the tube is too
narrow for your hand to fit in,

but there are things that can help.

Like these yellow balls,
that are actually quite heavy,

and these blue ones
that are light as a feather.

So, how will children cope
with this test?

This five year old
throws everything in.

She's been told she can use
the balls and she does,

all of them.

But as they get older,
kids experiment.

This six-year-old tries
a few of each

before settling on
the heavy ones.

She notices that only those
that sink raise the water level.

And at seven, this child knows
enough about floating

and sinking to solve the problem in
her head before she's even started.

These kids, with know-how,
never make a wrong choice.

But it's only through trial
and error,

that we get the knowledge we need
to eventually solve new problems.

And that comes with experience .

To find out if other animals
learn in the same way, I'm going to

give the same experiment to
a completely different species.

An animal that belongs to
a group of birds so smart,

they've even been called
"feathered apes".

This is a jay.

A member of the crow family studied
here at Cambridge University.

Like the children,
it's worked out that dropping

stones into the water
can raise the level,

so it can reach a tasty worm.

But what happens when it's given
the same experiment as the children?

We know that stones will raise
the water level,

and floating cork won't.

But does the jay?

The jay starts
with a sinking stone...

..but then uses a cork.

What happens next is crucial.

Has the jay learned
from its mistake?

It has.

After using one piece of useless
cork it went on to use only stones.

The jay solves the problem
in the same way children do,

by noticing what brings the food
closer through trial and error.

Studies show that these birds
perform at the same level

as a seven-year-old child.

Got it!

In the wild, it's experimenting
like this which gives animals

an opportunity to learn.

But to learn a lot,
animals need something else.

The time to experiment.

This is Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

And this is Tillman.

Tillman is an animal with
every basic need catered for.

Which means he has
a lot of free time on his hands.

Mix that with his puppy-like
enthusiasm,

and you have a powerful combination
for learning.

And that has resulted
in a unique talent.

It took us 200,000 years
after the dawn of humanity

before we realised
wheels might be a good idea.

Tillman's Eureka moment
came in minutes.

Tillman may look like
a trained dog doing tricks,

but he was never taught to do this.

There's no treats involved,
it's just a passion that he has.

The faster he goes
the happier he is.

Tillman has used his free time to
master something completely alien

to the animal world,

in the blink of an evolutionary eye.

He invents new moves
and he does things that blow my mind

every time I take him
out practising.

The important point here is that
what's true for Tillman,

also applies to animals in the wild.

Those that live long lives

and take longer to grow up have
more time to learn...

..and get smarter.

The people that think he's not
intelligent are out of their mind.

You can't be a stupid dog
and figure that out.

Having time on your hands to
experiment gives animals

an opportunity to learn.

But it takes one more thing to turn
experiences into knowledge.

If you can't remember what you've
done, you haven't learned a thing.

Memory is key.

And one animal can show us
how important memory is.

Nearly half a million pigeons served
in our two world wars, carrying

vital messages, when other forms
of communication proved impossible.

ARCHIVE: 'In a remarkably short time
the bird returns with

'its message to the home loft.'

From deep behind enemy lines.

From downed aircrews needing rescue.

'..Real wings have come to
the aid of mechanical ones.'

Braving all weathers, and enemy
fire, these birds struggled home.

A carrier pigeon by the name of
GI Joe saved

units of the 56th London Division.

They even earned
medals for their bravery.

And for all that, to some folk,
he's still just a pigeon.

They may be just pigeons,

but their navigating skills saved
thousands of lives.

But no-one knew exactly how
they did it.

70 years on, science is still
unravelling the mystery.

These pigeons are preparing for
the biggest mental challenge
of their lives.

Four months ago,
they hadn't even hatched.

But today, they're competitors in
one of Britain's most prestigious

pigeon races.

They're released 200 miles
from home,

from a place they've never seen.

But the best bird brain will find
its way back in just a few hours.

Winning its owner a �20,000 prize.

Everyone seems to have
a theory on how they do it.

Some say related to the sun.

Some sort of magnet in their heads,
summat like that, is that it,
or what? We don't know.

I don't think anybody will ever know

and that is
the beauty of the sport, really.

I were nine-year-old
when I had me first one, and I knows

as much about them now
as I did then.

For a slightly more
scientific explanation,

we've enlisted the help of
this man, Jeremy Davis.

He raised every pigeon in the race,
on behalf of the owners.

Jeremy teamed up with
scientists from Oxford University

and began to train the newly-fledged
chicks 12 weeks ago.

And the researchers recorded

the young pigeons'
very first training flight.

The tracker is getting a...getting
the position once every second.

It tells us exactly where the pigeons
go on their entire flight home.

It's the first time they've had to
find their way home.

But from here they can practically
see where they live.

It's a straight five miles that
should take less than 10 minutes.

So why, when they released
one pigeon, did its route home

look like this?

It's clear it had no idea
where it was going.

It didn't fly five miles,
it flew 40.

What this proves is that navigation
doesn't come naturally to pigeons.

It's something they have to learn.

And it's Jeremy's job to help.

He can't fly the race for them,

but he can give them
the opportunities to learn.

Over the next 12 weeks,
he releases them further from home.

And, like a proud father,
waits for their return.

But has all his efforts turned
those hopeless new recruits

into the navigating heroes
that once saved lives?

With just a few days to go
before the big race,

there's time for
one last training flight.

Our experts from Oxford return,
to attach their GPS trackers.

And Jeremy gives the birds
a final once over.

BEEPING

Physically, they're perfect.

But are they ready mentally?

It's only when the data's downloaded
that they'll know what,

if anything, they've learnt.

From their launch point,
home is 30 miles due south.

Jeremy's pigeons confidently
head off...

..in the wrong direction.

But they know what they're doing.

They fly to the nearest town.

Follow a road
and river to a roundabout.

And over a campsite, whose rows
of caravans are visible for miles.

They've used their training flights
to map the area

and memorise it.

And with that mental map they can
follow these obvious landmarks

all the way home.

It's thanks to memory that these
pigeons are ready for race day.

When they're far from home, pigeons
do have other tricks to help them.

They use the sun, magnetic fields,

and even smell.

But in the crucial closing moments
of a race, when accuracy is

everything, memory helps a pigeon
win a �20,000 prize.

WHISTLES

And the winner is...
Gribbles Glen and Cooper.

Can you believe that!

Memory is what's turned the learning
opportunities Jeremy gave

the pigeons into real know-how.

We've seen how animals can
use tools.

Solve problems with a flash
of inspiration.

And plan ahead.

We've also seen how they learn,
by having the time

and enthusiasm to try things out.

And how a great memory can turn
all that experience into know-how.

But you do need another ingredient
to make you really smart,

something that Einstein himself said
was more important

than knowledge,
and that's imagination.

By being creative, you can put
everything that you've learnt

into practice.

Creativity is an important part
of being human.

But no-one believed it was a skill
we shared with other animals.

Until, we began to study dolphins.

Dolphins here in Honduras have been
taught signals for leaps,

somersaults and other acrobatics.

OK, here we go, ready...

Go, go, go!

Yes!

Oh, that was a long one!

These animals obviously understand
what they're being asked to do,

but how can we tell they're not just
trained animals performing tricks?

You can train an animal to do
almost anything.

But how do you
test for something like creativity?

Well, there's another sign
these dolphins respond to,

which refers to
a much more complicated concept.

The trainers could have picked
any gesture to symbolise it.

But they thought this was
appropriate for what

they hoped to reveal.

I'm being deadly serious.

This is a very special sign,
because it means "create",

and when the dolphins see it,
they've got to

use their imagination and come up
with an original behaviour.

OK, you guys ready?

This signal was
a scientific breakthrough.

Because it allowed scientists to
measure something animals

weren't meant to have,

creativity.

Oh, Ronnie!

'This is Ronnie.

'When he sees this sign
he has to dream up his own routine.'

OK, here we go.

'It could be something he's learned
or something entirely new.

'But crucially,
he has to be creative,

'and come up with something
different every single time.'

That's more like it,
you're getting more creative.

'But dolphins can do even more.'

These two
are part of a creative team.

Now slow down.

Head trainer Terri

gives the command
to get creative...together.

Somehow, between them, they decide
what they're going to do.

And they stay synchronised.

No-one knows how they do this.

It's something
they were never trained to do.

WHISTLE

Very good.

In the wild, creativity is a talent
that allows animals to

put on much more than a good show.

Once you've got the know-how,
creativity is the extra ingredient

you need to become
a fantastic problem-solver.

And floating just off
the Canadian coast

is an animal that can show us how.

Here he is.

Steve, a crab fisherman.

The basics are simple.

Put some bait in a pot.

Let it sink.

Sit back.

And wait for crabs to wander in.

Steve knows that most crustaceans
lack common sense.

Once inside the trap
they can't get out.

The exit is obvious enough to us,

but some animals just aren't born
with much in the way of brains.

Which explains why the sea floor
here looks like a crab graveyard.

This cave is home to a much more
creative crab fisherman than Steve.

The animal living here shouldn't
really be a problem.

Its closest relatives are slugs,
snails and clams.

It's a giant Pacific octopus.

An animal with one huge advantage.

An enormous brain.

In fact, two thirds of
its brain cells, or neurons,

extend into its tentacles.

Plan A is to smother the prey.

With the metal trap in the way,
it's not too successful.

But that huge brain helps
the octopus to get creative

and to think up
a dramatically different strategy.

Once inside, it's an easy meal.

But it could be its last.

Breaking in was easy.

But the octopus can do something
crabs find impossible.

A sure sign that an octopus
has struck.

A trail of empty shells...

..and a frustrated fisherman.

What can I say?

These creative,
problem-solving skills

set octopus apart
from all other invertebrates.

It's the reason they can take
advantage of new opportunities,

and the challenges that we
create for them.

And there's new evidence that
the more challenges animals face,

the more intelligent they become.

Here in Nevada, one of America's
most common birds is teaching us

that the harder life is,
the better it is for their brains.

BIRDSONG

This is it - the mountain chickadee.

In the USA, you're never
far from a chickadee.

They look the same wherever you go.

But when researchers studied
chickadees across the States,

they found that different habitats

result in varying levels of
intelligence.

These harsh environments can in fact
produce smarter chickadees.

And this simple challenge can
prove the point.

Under every one of
these glass discs is a tasty grub.

You can see them, but you can only
reach them by removing the glass.

Competing, two identical-looking
black-capped chickadees.

They were raised together
in captivity,

but their families came
from very different places.

On the left, a contender from
Kansas, the lap of chickadee luxury.

A pleasant climate
with plenty of food.

On the right, a bird from the north.

Battered by blizzards,

his family suffered for generations
in icy Alaska.

The clock is ticking.

Who will get the highest score?

No contest. The southern softy
doesn't even know where to start.

But to the bird whose family faced
the harsh environment of Alaska,

working out how to remove a piece
of glass presents no problem at all.

It's a simple task
completely beyond the southern bird.

The birds have inherited
these skills from their families.

It's in their DNA.

And chickadee brains are bigger
and better because of

the challenging environments
they live in.

This opens up
an intriguing possibility.

If your environment can make
you smarter,

animals may have the potential
for even greater intelligence,

given the right circumstances.

We educate our children. What would
we discover if we educated animals?

"MASTERMIND" THEME MUSIC

APPLAUSE

And our next contender, please.

Goldie, the goldfish, you have one
minute on animal intelligence,
starting...now.

Which animal has the largest brain
of any animal, living or extinct?

Sperm whale, correct.

Which of these flags represents
the country of Ivan Pavlov, whose

research into
the gastric function of dogs

led him to develop the concept
of the conditioned reflex?

Yes, that is
the modern Russian flag.

Observations made by Charles Darwin
onboard HMS Beagle helped
formulate...

BUZZER

I've started so I'll finish.
Darwin's place onboard was
questioned by the captain,

who was troubled by which
part of Darwin's body?

Any ideas?

Correct, it was Darwin's nose,
the shape of which

he believed indicated
"a lack of energy and determination".

APPLAUSE

So is Goldie really a mastermind?

Well, no.

We taught him to follow the food
in this feeding wand.

There you go. But teaching him

has revealed
something more about his mind.

People think goldfish have only got
a three-second memory,

but even learning this
simple association proves that it's

got to be longer than that.

So what else can
we learn about animals in this way?

You can train them
to do just about anything,

but can it reveal
more about their intelligence?

What hidden abilities could
we uncover if we educated animals?

We've seen how they use their brains
to solve problems in the wild,

but are they capable of more?

Here in Santa Cruz, California,
one animal is surprising scientists

by mastering skills you'd expect to
find only in human children.

You see who's here?

This is Ronan - a sea lion pup
who's about to play a game.

She'll be shown two pictures.

Choosing the correct one
wins her a fish.

But at this stage,
she doesn't know the rules.

OK, here we go.

She's gone for the truck.

'Right first time,
but what's the rule?

'Go for the truck, or the picture
that's always on the left?'

This is where it gets interesting.

'She needs to use trial and error

'and memory to work out
a winning strategy.'

Ronan's not happy.

How are you supposed to know
the rules of the game if nobody
tells you the rules to start with?

This is what Ronan's
battling with here.

She has to figure out the rules
by herself.

I think it was supposed to be
stick with the truck.

You can do it Ronan, come on.

OK, OK.

Yes, good girl!

Come on.

Oh, she's go it. She's got it.

'Ronan's using her intelligence to
solve child-like puzzles

'she'd never encounter in the wild.'

And another sea lion here is using
the same skills to master

something far more advanced.

Basic numbers and
the entire alphabet.

This is Rio.

She's been surprising scientists
for 17 years.

Rio!

And a simple game can put
her knowledge to the test.

This is her task.

A central door
slides up, revealing a symbol.

Rio has to decide
whether it's a number or a letter.

Seconds later,
two new symbols are revealed.

Which one matches the centre one?

Rio has to run through every symbol

she's learned
through trial and error,

to find a mental match.

Can she do it?

Of course she can.

This looks easy to us,
but remember, Rio is a sea lion.

This is much more advanced than
Ronan's task,

because the right answer isn't
a particular symbol,

it could be any one
of 26 letters or 10 numbers.

What I found most fascinating
about all of this is how much Rio

had to learn to even get to
this stage.

She had to learn all these
arbitrary symbols,
which belonged in certain groups.

Letters together, numbers together,
things that we take for granted.

She has to call upon all the things
she's learned before,

and then recombine that learning
in a novel task.

She has to think about it.

It was only by educating Rio that
scientists revealed

she was more than a trained animal
performing tricks.

Here was a sea lion that could do
something that would tax

a four-year-old child.

Given enough time,
what else could animals learn?

Irene Pepperberg is a scientist who
spent 25 years teaching

just one animal.

Well, thank you
so much for having me here

and thank you for being here to
support the foundation.

She's revealed that animals can
learn more than letters and numbers.

And are capable of many skills
we see in human children.

To prove an idea this big,

Irene collaborated with
another highly-respected mind.

It was after about that sort
of 25-year mark in a sense that he

had really begun to put
everything together.

And then he died.

His death was a loss to science,
and made headlines around the world.

Three articles in the New York Times,

an obituary in the Economist.

This is,
this is not something small.

There's no doubt that her research
partner was special.

But he was also a parrot.

Alex.

It's hard to find out
what animals know.

But because Irene taught Alex to
talk, she could ask him.

What matter?

Paper.

Paper, good boy, that's right.
Want a nut.

Alex was a parrot capable of
much more than parroting.

Wool. Wool. Very good boy.

Alex changed the way
we think about animal intelligence,

but it was only through teaching him
that Irene could reveal exactly what
he was capable of.

'I've come here to meet
Irene's latest pupil,

'and Alex's protege, Griffin.'

Hello, Griffin.

Good parrot.

'And I want to find out how Irene
teaches him, and what he knows.'

So it's, listen.

SHE SNAPS HER FINGERS

How many?

Five!

Five. That's right, you get a five.

'Irene teaches parrots, in
the same way you'd teach toddlers.'

Five.

Yes, five! Five.

'Repeat everything, with
a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm.
But it works.'

Most of the time.

'It was time to find out
what Griffin knew.'

He can identify objects.

What matter? Rock, rock.

Rock, that's right. Good boy.

'What they're made of.'

Wool, wool.

Good birdie.

'Their shape.' Griffin, what shape?

Corner, corner, corner.
That's right.

'And their colour.'

Yellow.

Yes, what colour, Griffin?

Green. Yes!

Orange. Yes.

'He knows his numbers.'

How many?

One.

Awesome.

He might tell you what sound
this is. Ask him what sound.

Really?

'He's also learning to
identify letters.'

What sound, Griffin? What sound?

'And to sound them out.'

'Ssss.'

That's right. Nut.

Yes, you can have another nut, OK.

'A good education brings out the
best in both people and parrots.'

Teaching animals to communicate
with us can tell us

so much about the inner workings
of their minds.

And it's very clear that these
animals can think for themselves.

But we would never have known
that had it not

been for the dedication of Irene
and how she taught these parrots.

Griffin has learned a lot,
but Alex really excelled.

And what's this?

Key.

Key is right. Say better. Key.

Good parrot.

He could do everything Griffin does,
and much more.

He didn't just describe objects,

but he understood concepts like
same and different.

Tell me what's different?

Colour.

Good parrot. You're right.

Different colour.

All right now, look, tell me, what
colour bigger? What colour bigger?

Green.

Green. Good boy.

Tell me how many yellow wool?

And he had to study very hard, so he
could answer more complex questions.

Try again.

Two.

Two yellow wool. Very good.
Now how many green block?

Very good telling me the yellow
wool. Now how many green block?

Four. Good boy!

This was no trick.

Alex was a bird that could use
human language

o answer questions that would
stump a pre-school child.

But what's the limit?

Could an animal ever beat a
human adult in an intelligence test?

This notion might seem impossible,
but in the last 50 years,

we've discovered a lot of impossible
things going on in animal minds.

They use tools, solve problems
with a flash of inspiration,

and they plan ahead.

They learn like us

by finding the time and enthusiasm
to discover how the world works.

And by having an incredible memory
to turn those experiences

into knowledge.

They can even get creative

and learn things
we teach our own children.

But beating us
in an intelligence test?

I didn't think that was possible.
Until I came to Japan.

At the start of the programme
we met a very special chimp

called Ayumu.

He can remember the position of nine
numbers in less than half a second.

But how did he get to be so smart?

Ayumu comes from a long line
of intelligent apes.

HE MAKES CHIMP NOISES

And has a fantastic teacher.

Professor Matsuzawa has worked with
Ai, Ayumu's mother,

for over 30 years.

Together they started
this ground-breaking research.

The professor has taught mother
and son the Japanese symbols

for colour, and the very beginnings
of basic maths.

But it's Ai's son Ayumu, that's
turned out to be the real genius,

especially
when it comes to numbers and memory.

But could he beat an adult human?

I've never been one to
turn down a challenge so,

I'm going to try
the very same intelligence test.

I'm going head-to-head with Ayumu.

Human mind against chimp mind.

How hard could it be?

All I've got now once I press that
little circle is 0.43 of a second

to remember where exactly
the numbers are before
they disappear behind squares.

Yeah...this should be interesting.

Think about nothing,
relax, don't focus.

These numbers are being displayed
for less than half a second.

That's barely enough time
for my eyes to scan the screen.

BUZZER

BUZZER

Remembering five numbers
was hard enough,

but this is entry-level stuff.

BUZZER

OK, so now for an even more
interesting experience.

I'm going to try
and do exactly the same thing,

but there won't be five numbers,
but nine numbers.

Almost twice the numbers to
remember in the same amount of time.

In ten attempts I got one right.

It was all or nothing.

I asked the Professor to test me
to Ayumu's level.

What was this chimp genius meant
to be capable of?

Right, then, as if
that wasn't difficult enough

I am now going to attempt what
no other human has attempted before.

The same test,

except that the numbers only
flash up for 0.06 of a second.

60 milliseconds.

The entire reputation of
the human race rests on my shoulders

right now.

Here goes.

You've got to be kidding.

BUZZER

This is unbelievable. They flash up

for such a short amount of time

I can't even register
one single number.

This is bonkers.

No idea.

It was time to meet the master.

Was he really capable of a mental
feat that humans find impossible?

60 milliseconds.

That's not even the blink of an eye.

But Ayumu takes it all in.

When this skill was first discovered
some scientists said that it was
down to practice.

But that theory has been
completely blown out of the water,

when you consider how short a time
those numbers are flashed up for.

It's impossible to do it, never mind
get better at it with practice,

which just goes to show how special
this skill is in Ayumu.

Now that is incredible.

Take a bow, Ayumu.
You are a true animal Einstein.

We've met
some incredible animal minds.

But all that's child's play,

compared to one huge challenge
that remains.

Learning how to deal with
every other animal on the planet.

Next time,

we'll discover why it takes brains
to thrive in the social world.

Can animals deceive others?
Do they have feelings?

And is it possible for us

to have an actual conversation
with another species?

He wants to chase and tickle
with you now.

I want to chase and tickle
with you too!

Next time, we meet meerkat teachers
in scorpion school.

Spend time with emotional ocean
giants.

And challenge Chaser.

Einstein.

A dog that knows
over a thousand words.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd