The following is a quote from an interesting article I found online: “Most animals – and human children under two years old – see their mirror image as another creature: they don’t realize that it’s really their own reflection. But elephants do. De Waal’s team discovered this with a giant mirror at the Bronx Zoo. 

“The elephant had a big mark above its eye and walked up to the mirror and started touching it,” de Waal said, “so the elephant has that kind of self-awareness that you find in children over two.” 

It turns out that elephants have an advanced sense of self, which means (in part) that they’re smart enough to be capable of really caring about others. The only other creatures thought to have this ability include apes … and human beings.Take capuchin monkeys: they’re not the brightest lights in the animal kingdom, but behind all that cuteness is the mind of a master problem-solver. Dave Peranteau works with capuchins for Six Flags in New Jersey. 

He says they surprise him every day. 

“And even on days off, the staff will call and say, ‘You’ll never guess what Jester did today,” he toldSmith. 

For instance, Jester, a four-year-old male, taught himself to pick locks well enough to bust out of his cage. 

“Not only did he let himself out,” said Peranteau, “but he wanted to have party, so he went around and let all of the other animals in the area out – birds, snakes, coatis, you know, you name it. Everything was out.” 

But recent studies at Emory University have shown that capuchins also have the mental capacity to understand concepts like fairness, and sharing with their fellow monkeys. ”

find the entire article here.