Intelligence in Animals

Abstract

MR. ROMANES remarks in his book that there are few recorded instances of intelligence in bears; the following facts may therefore be worth recording;—In the Clifton Zoological Gardens there are two female Polar bears between two and a half and three years old, which come here quite young. One of these shows remarkable intelligence in cracking cocoa-nuts. A nut was thrown to-day into the tank; it sank a long way, and the bear waited quietly till after some time it rose a little out of her reach. She then made a current in the water with her paw, and thus brought it within reach. This habit has already been several times noticed in Polar bears. She then took it on shore, and tried to break it by leaning her weight on it with one paw. Failing in this, she took the nut between her fore-paws, raised herself on her hind-legs to her full height, and threw the nut forwards against the bars of the den, three or four feet off. She then again leant her weight on it, hoping she had cracked it; but failed again. She then repeated the process, this time successfully. The keeper told me she employed the same method to break the leg-bone of a horse. That this is the result of individual experience, and not of instinct, is clear from the fact that her companion has not learnt the trick of opening them thus, nor could this one do it when she first came. The method of throwing is precisely similar to that adopted by the Cebus monkey described by Mr. Romanes.