I kept finding dog hair on the countertops. It perplexed me as to how the dog hair got there and I figured that it must have been the wind from an open window . . . but just in case I hid some dog biscuits behind some jars on the counter. Now, my dogs were trained not to jump on people, they were big scary looking dogs . . . to other people. They were spoiled lap dogs to me. I never saw them jump up. EVER. I was home all day and the cookies remained on the counter behind the jars . . . but when I went out at night . . . and then came back the cookies were gone. Not only did they jump up on the counter looking for food, they KNEW to only do it when I was not at home.

When I earned my first rifle, my Dad told me that crows could tell the difference between a rifle and a broom.
Many years later I had the opportunity to test the old adage. I was cross country skiing in Cattus Island Park in Toms River NJ. Four or five crows were in a tree about 1,000 ft. from where I stopped for a minute of two. As soon as I looked directly at the crows, they flew off. A week later, I saw the crows again in the same tree. This time I look, up, down, behind, and away from them in several directions. As soon as I looked directly at them, they flew.

Another time I was sitting on the front porch, enjoying a beer. There was a large potted Blue-berry plant a few inches from where I sat. I think my resident Cat-bird knew me from the backyard and it's hesitation probably took a few minutes. Anyway, once the Cat-bird was convinced I was the same old guy, it hopped up on the flower pot and ate every berry that had a hint of blue.

love your parents' response! didn't you know that hispaniola amazon parrots are handymen?

I think that a lot of types of animals are more intelligent than humans give them credit for being.

I have been around cats all my life so I know them well. My current feline companion is Fujita The Cat. He is named after the tornado scientist, Dr. Ted Fujita, who developed the F0-F5 scale for rating tornado strength, and I've always joked that Fujita is an F5 cat. After all, he is quite intelligent as cats go, but even he shocked me a couple of years ago when we first occupied the home where we currently live.

Most cats, upon finding themselves thrust into unfamiliar territory, will make finding a place to hide one of their first tasks. Later, after calming down, they will cautiously emerge from hiding and explore. Their exploration is usually somewhat disorganized. Something unfamiliar will catch their eye and they'll check it out. Something else unfamiliar will seem suspicious, and they may very slowly approach (clap your hands and they jump 3 feet in the air!) Eventually, they have explored the entire new territory and, as cats do, know every single inch of it. If anything changes, they take notice and investigate. It's just that, initially, there is so much to investigate that most cats are a bit overwhelmed, so they adhere to their instinct and make finding someplace to hide a priority.

Fujita did not do that when we moved into this home. Instead, he was actually methodical.

He began with the room where he was released from his crate. He followed the wall, walking the perimeter of the room in a counter-clockwise direction. He walked fairly slowly, but did not pause. He would repeatedly look ahead, then up, then toward the center of the room, then down, over and over while continuing to walk. It was as if he was inspecting, as opposed to exploring.

When he came to an opening in the wall, such as a door, an archway, or the open stairwell to the basement, he would enter the opening and continue his inspection with that room, using the same method -- walking the perimeter in a counter-clockwise direction. When the inspection of that area was complete, he would exit and pick up where he left off in the room where he started.

I was certain that he would become distracted at some point and break off of his inspection method, but he didn't. He completed the entire home this way, with the exception of one bedroom in the basement where the door was shut (he checked that room out later.) For reference, this home has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a utility room, a work room (also in the basement,) a dining room, a kitchen, two long hallways, a living room, and the open area in the basement off of which there is the 3rd bedroom (that was closed) and the work room mentioned above.

I have never seen a cat do this before, and it blew my mind. Of course, each room had to be explored again more thoroughly, and that came later.

That may be the smartest thing I have ever seen a cat do. It's as if he was mapping out his new digs in his mind.

I was dog sitting for a neighbor, who said "don't keep her inside, because she is not housebroken". It got really cold, so I kept her in the porch. The floor was concrete so I tossed a few old blankets on the floor so she wouldn't get too cold. Next morning, there were a few dog logs on the floor. I scooped them up and threw them into the snowbank, put the shovel in the porch, and forgot about it. Later that day, I went to check on her and saw that she had knocked the shovel down and used it like a cat uses a litter box. She spent the rest of the week in the house with the shovel on the kitchen floor. Only room with tile instead of carpet. Never had to do more than empty the shovel after that.

Don't know if this qualifies as "smart", but when I was a kid my friends had a bachelor uncle who lived down the street. His name was Tim. Tim was a bit eccentric, as are more than a few electricians I have met; very smart, but a tad odd. Anyway, Tim had a mynah bird, and we all know how mynahs can pick up words, lots of words.

Tim wasn't real careful about locking his house when he went somewhere, and we kids liked to roam around his messy house, checking out the odd stuff he had lying around; dismantled motorcycles, weird electrical gadgets, etc. Of course, we only did this when he was home.

One day I went to Tim's house and from the front porch, called him through the screen door, the front door being fully open. I heard him say, "C'mon in." So I went in, wandered around the house looking for Tim, occasionally calling him, and getting the same response, "C'mon in." After a couple minutes, trying to pinpoint the voice's point of origin, I walked into a room I'd not yet been in and discovered a cage and Tim's bird imploring me to "C'mon in," in a flawless imitation of his voice.

I have seen dogs splashing water on grounded fish to save them. Monkeys reviving electrocuted mates. Horses opening and closing gates. Watched them plan things and then execute successfully. Nope methinks they have been underestimated. Love your story.

Amazon parrots are very intelligent! They can tell you their favorite food, what they would like or like to do, and many other amazing acts. So I imagine you're parents parrot is much the same. Animals never cease to amaze me!

My cat has learned how to bang the cellar door open. Now this doesn't sound complex but it's a round handle and I make sure the door is latched when I close it.

For now he's won and the cellar is open to romping for all three again.

Yes I know I need a longer latch.... But it's not a door that slips open easily. I have utter respect for his persistence.

Used to have a smart sheep named Fatty. Now anyone who has had a flock of sheep know they aren't that smart.Concepts such as open gates defeat them, they will run backwards and forwards in front of the gate but it often takes much swearing and cursing to get them to go through it. Fatty on the other hand was a smart Alec, like many sheep she was quite adept at finding a hole in the fence to get out but unlike most sheep that when yelled at for having gotten into the garden instead of making a mad charge at the fence back into the paddock or ducking back through the hole she had got out (which you then patched), she would calmly gather her lambs and walk down to the closed gate into the paddock and wait for you to come down and open it for her.
At one stage had goats as well and they were let into the house yard to clean up the weeds on a tether. Had three collars and tether points so would go into the pens in the morning and put a collar on whichever three goats were the easiest to catch, take them out and tether them in the tall weeds for a couple of hours. Anyway after a couple of weeks go out to catch the goats to tether them and there is Fatty pushing the goats out of the way so she could go out on a tether. Walked straight up to the collar, behaved perfectly as she was led out and tethered, and continued to do this every time she saw us going out to tether the goats. Now she was a paddock sheep running with a flock, as far as I know she had never been tethered in her life, but she decided this was a good lurk.
She used to drop triplets and always managed to keep track of all three, most sheep will walk off and leave one of their twins behind. If we ever needed all the sheep up in the pens would put some feed in the trough in the pens and walk down opening all the gates in between to the paddock where the sheep were. As soon as you opened that last gate to the paddock the sheep were in she would be straight off to the pens to get the prime spot at the feed trough and with any luck the other sheep would follow her.
That was just a few of her tricks, she taught them all to herself and I have never seen a sheep before or since that had things so well figured out.

My dog has figured out that there is good stuff in the drink container and can get the lid off ... sometimes without spilling the drink.

Also goes to his food and water bowls (or anything similar) and throws them around until he gets food or water from me.

He is also much better than any other dog about using his paws as hands.

Also have seen a lot of smart stuff from all kinds of parrots. African Grey parrots are really smart.

It was before my time but became a family legend. The doorbell at my grandmother's door would ring periodically but when anyone opened the door, no one was there. Everyone in the house suspected a mischievous kid and began watching to see if they could catch the culprit in the act, and sure enough, they did. It was the cat. It had been seen stretching up to ring the bell to come in. Evidently it had seen how people would ring the doorbell when they wanted to come in, and so it began imitating them.

Yes, all the time. I watched an experiment with a chimp and a crow. they had a full-size room with like a living room set up. they also had a miniature version which is all they showed both animals. in the miniature version, both animals watched a human put what was considered a treat in miniature hidden as you can imagine in the miniature room. they copied this in the big room but neither animal had seen this room yet. they let the chimp in and it dithered and looked around and took a while where the crow walked straight to the item and got it. there are loads more but that is an example.

Yup. YouTube videos of predatory animals protecting the young of their recently killed prey always surprises me.

I remember the documentaries from decades ago that made a big thing about this discovery. Nowadays, it's common to see reports of various biological life forms using tools to get food. Even fish that spit out rocks to crack the exoskeletons of crabs and such. Still, our understanding of our natural world just scratches the surface.

One study of the complex problem solving capabilities of crows totally blew my mind. See here:

No, I am yet to see a smart religious animal.