# What is the least intelligent mammal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669 "2012-02-13T04:01:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/61 "2012-02-14T17:49:28Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Or something šŸ™‚ > > Zoo educator. When Iā€™m not teaching kids, Iā€™m training the program animals. Coolness. Do you know or know of Noberto ( Bert ) Castro? ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/62 "2012-02-14T18:04:26Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Among domestic animals, probably the sheep. I have heard a number of vets express this opinion - it was in the context of whether it was cruel to slaughter animals in the presence of their live herd companions, and the consensus was that for some animals maybe, but that sheep were too stupid to know what was going on. [/hearsay] ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/63 "2012-02-14T19:01:51Z")
On ā€œdumb sheepā€, for some reason, this news item from several years ago sticks in my mind: > **[Turkish villagers curse their 'stupid sheep'](https://www.iol.co.za/technology/turkish-villagers-curse-their-stupid-sheep-247661)** > > Villagers in the eastern Turkish town of Ikizler have suffered a severe monetary loss: hundreds of their sheep died after following one "stupid" creature into a deep gorge. One sheep of a Turkish villageā€™s flock of 1500 attempted to jump a ravine and didnā€™t make it. All 1500 followed, the first 400 getting killed, the later ones surviving because their falls were cushioned by the dead sheep already at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/64 "2012-02-14T19:18:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Nonsense. We eat almost anything, so if we deplete one food source, weā€™ve got plenty of others. We are the most numerous species of large mammal on the planet, and we are more geographically dispersed than an other large mammal with the possible exception of the other mammals we domesticated. Our extremely large population is growing almost exponentially. > > As for polluting the environment so we can no longer liver there-- what percent of the habitable land has that happened to? .00001% Maybe? If that. Here is just one example of what MikeF is talking about: [3 Major Reports Paint Same Picture: Ocean Fish Are Rapidly in Decline](http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/overfishing-47030403) Also, polluting the environment so that humans canā€™t live there isnā€™t so much the point as polluting so that other species are endangered; chemicals like PCBs have been found even in the Arctic and Antarctic, and ocean acidification affects the entire 71% of the Earth that is ocean - the main point is other species; humans donā€™t have the right to turn the Earth into a vast monoculture that only sustains (not quite as healthy as you think, just look at the news) humans (they are supposed to be intelligent after all, unlike say, bacteria, which will do the same thing in a petri dish). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/65 "2012-02-14T19:34:33Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > Here is just one example of what MikeF is talking about: [3 Major Reports Paint Same Picture: Ocean Fish Are Rapidly in Decline](http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/overfishing-47030403) > > Also, polluting the environment so that humans canā€™t live there isnā€™t so much the point as polluting so that other species are endangered; chemicals like PCBs have been found even in the Arctic and Antarctic, and ocean acidification affects the entire 71% of the Earth that is ocean - the main point is other species; humans donā€™t have the right to turn the Earth into a vast monoculture that only sustains (not quite as healthy as you think, just look at the news) humans (they are supposed to be intelligent after all, unlike say, bacteria, which will do the same thing in a petri dish). [Moderating] I think this discussion is getting off the topic of the OP. Those who wish to discuss human impacts on the environment are welcome to start a new thread in Great Debates. Colibri General Questions Moderator Colib ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/66 "2012-02-14T19:47:14Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Among domestic animals, probably the sheep. Well, letā€™s not forget about [Harold](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw2DdoskPY). ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/67 "2012-02-14T20:42:54Z")
ā€œArthur and Trillian had the fixed expressions of rabbits on a night road who think that the best way of dealing with approaching headlights is to stare them out.ā€ Along with the above mentioned Opposums. ---
**Author:** ![tiescore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@tiescore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiescore)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/68 "2012-02-14T21:07:48Z")
> [@ruh-roh](#): > > ā€œArthur and Trillian had the fixed expressions of rabbits on a night road who think > that the best way of dealing with approaching headlights is to stare > them out.ā€ > Along with the above mentioned Opposums. Yeah, I was going to go with hamster, cuz one I had used to sleep against his water bottle and drench himself to the point of getting sick and dying. But, he would also hang out in my arms and watch TV. Now the possum that stood up in the road just to be sure his face was level with my license plate barrelling down on him at 45 mph was not too swift. Can I put in a nomination for a 13 year old girl at a boy band concertā€¦ I mean really what is with that high pitched screaming? ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/69 "2012-02-16T22:44:50Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > But in absolute terms, a blue whale brain is huge, and it does not really seem to be doing anything very extraordinary with it by way of controlling its body or processing sensory data. It looks as though it ought to have a lot of spare capacity left over for stuff like, say, higher mathematics or whale poetry. šŸ˜ƒ Yes, as others have said, it was too simplistic for me to rely on Brain:Body ratios. > [@sisu](#): > > Fundamental Christians. If you are going to insult the intelligence of millions of people, at least get their name correct. Itā€™s ā€œFundamentalist Christiansā€. In fact, as a non-believer, [Iā€™ve occasionally suspected that fundies are smarter than atheists.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=624581) ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/70 "2012-02-19T06:15:29Z")
I think trainability isnā€™t a good measure of inate intelegence. Letā€™s look at cats. As I type this there is an 18 year old cat on my chest that is pretty much untrained at anything. Sure she uses the litterbox, and mostly stay off the dinning room table (when no one is looking) but getting her to do more than that is just pointless. But, on the flip side, sheā€™s trained the hell out of me, sheā€™s developed diffrent meows to tell me sheā€™s hungry, or cold or sick. I say developed because 10 years ago all she did was purr and hiss. She has learned how to hustle people for more food, or attention or whatever the hell she wants. Keep in mind, this wasnā€™t something we want her to do, its what she figgured out on her own so that she can continue doing her cat things on her timetable. Yes this was a big long digression about my cat, and yes I feel like ralph wigum, but I wanted to illistrate intellegence and trainability are not related. Hell even in humans they are seperate things. Any inbred mornon can be trained to flip burgers, does that mean you promote him to CEO of Boeing? I hope not. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/71 "2012-02-19T06:52:23Z")
> [@Running\_with\_Scissors](#): > > Well, letā€™s not forget about [Harold](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw2DdoskPY). This, of course, was the beginning of the EU. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/72 "2012-02-19T07:42:51Z")
What, not a SINGLE vote for the [Ron](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=495672)? ---
**Author:** ![BowlOfDucks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/73 "2012-02-21T05:15:24Z")
x2 for the Koala. Itā€™s the only animal with a brain significantly smaller than itā€™s skull. 40% of its skull is filled with fluid. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/74 "2012-02-21T07:06:55Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > What, not a SINGLE vote for the [Ron](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=495672)? That thread seriously needs to be updated/bumped. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669/75 "2012-02-21T14:00:45Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > One sheep of a Turkish villageā€™s flock of 1500 attempted to jump a ravine and didnā€™t make it. All 1500 followedā€¦ Hereā€™s [another example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u96YfOB48Q) (with much less grim results) of their tendency to follow blindly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-least-intelligent-mammal/612669.md?page=3)