Determining the number one best animal is no easy task. With over 1 million identified non-insect animal species on Earth, there are countless unique and amazing creatures to consider. However, when weighing factors like intelligence, emotional capacity, utility to humans, and cultural significance, a few contenders emerge as top choices for the title of “best animal.”
Mammals
Among mammals, dogs, elephants, dolphins, and non-human primates like chimpanzees are often cited as top contenders for best animal. Here’s a look at why these creatures are so special:
- Dogs: Beloved for their loyalty, affection, and utility, dogs have worked alongside humans for thousands of years as hunters, herders, protectors, and companions. Dogs are highly intelligent and emotionally sensitive.
- Elephants: Elephants exhibit complex social structures, intelligence, self-awareness, and deep emotion. They show empathy and altruism even towards other species. Their strong family bonds and advanced cognition put elephants high on the list.
- Dolphins: These marine mammals demonstrate self-awareness, complex communication, social bonds, and seem to possess a sense of identity, humor, and “culture” passed between generations. Dolphins strategize, problem-solve, and cooperate.
- Primates: Humans’ closest genetic relatives, non-human primates like chimps and gorillas show human-like intelligence, self-awareness, emotions, and social complexity. Their genetic, cognitive, and behavioral similarities to people make them prime candidates for best animal.
Birds
Birds also exhibit impressive capabilities. Corvids like crows and ravens demonstrate remarkable intelligence. African grey parrots have cognitive skills rivaling primates – they can produce words, understand concepts, categorize objects, and problem-solve. Falconiformes including falcons and hawks also astonish with their aerial agility, speed, and razor-sharp hunting instincts.
Reptiles and Amphibians
Though coldblooded vertebrates are less studied, some reptiles and amphibians also display surprising behaviors and skills:
- Crocodilians have complex social structures, surprising hunting techniques, and can even use tools. Alligators in captivity have demonstrated cooperation, curiosity, play, and social bonding with human handlers.
- Lizards like monitor lizards and iguanas have problem-solving intelligence, social bonding and learning. Some monitor species even cooperate in packs to hunt prey.
Aquatic Life
In the ocean, cephalopods like octopuses and squid are incredibly intelligent. They use tools, solve mazes and puzzles, have individual personalities, plan ahead, and rapidly learn and adapt to new situations. Orcas also have highly complex social structures, vocal learning, and hunting techniques passed between generations.
Domesticated Species
While the list so far has focused on wild animals in their natural habitats, domesticated species have also been bred over generations for desirable traits like intelligence, trainability, and non-aggression towards humans. As a result, some domesticated animals also rank high for “best animal”:
- Dogs: In addition to their wild wolf ancestors, domestic dogs have been bred as companions and workers alongside humans for millennia. This has enhanced their trainability, friendliness, and loyalty towards people.
- Cats: Though less studied than dogs, domestic cats also display intelligence, problem-solving, strong social bonds, and affable personalities when socialized with humans.
- Horses: Horses have a long history working together with humans. They are trainable, sociable, and able to form bonds. Though prey animals themselves, horses accept humans into their herd structures.
Hybrid/Domesticated Exotics
Some hybrids and exotic creatures further demonstrate the positive effects domestication can have on animal intellect and social capacity:
- Savannah cats: A hybrid between domestic cats and wild African servals; they have dog-like personalities.
- Parrots: Though wild parrots are smart, domesticated parrots demonstrate even stronger cognitive abilities and bonding with human companions.
- Foxes: Domesticated foxes are friendly due to breeding yet retain wild fox intelligence and problem-solving.
Criteria for “Best Animal”
Given the diversity of species and capabilities, determining one singular “best” animal is challenging. However, we can evaluate contenders based on certain criteria:
| Criteria | Description |
|---|---|
| Intelligence | The animal demonstrates high cognitive function, problem solving, learning, memory, and adaptability. |
| Social ability | The animal forms social bonds, communicates, cooperates, and potentially integrates with other species including humans. |
| Emotional capacity | The animal subjectively experiences emotion and affect such as fear, joy, grief, etc. |
| Uniqueness | The animal has rare or special traits and abilities compared to related species. |
| Utility | The animal can provide labor, companionship, ecosystem services, or other benefits to humans and environments. |
| Sustainability | The animal has a stable population less prone to habitat loss, human conflict, and extinction. |
And the Winner Is…
Evaluating the above criteria across animal species, a few winners for “best animal” emerge:
- Dogs: Dogs meet every criteria. They are intelligent problem solvers with complex social structures who deeply bond with humans. They experience emotion and make ideal workers, helpers, and companions.
- Elephants: Elephants are highly intelligent with strong family ties. They show self-awareness, empathy, and cooperative problem solving. Elephants form deep social bonds spanning generations.
- Primates: Humans’ closest genetic relatives like chimpanzees demonstrate intelligence on par with young children. They have complex social structures and experience human-like emotions.
- Corvids: Bird species like crows and ravens have astonishing cognitive abilities rivaling great apes. They use tools, solve puzzles, and have social learning and communication.
Based on the evaluation criteria, dogs emerge as a slight winner due to their unique history of domestication and integration with human society. However, elephants, non-human primates, and corvids also show incredible intelligence and social complexity. For land animals devoid of human domestication, elephants take the prize.
In the sea, dolphins and cephalopods like octopuses demonstrate high intelligence and capacities exceeding expectations for their taxonomies. Among all animals, corvids and parrots excel in avian cognition. And across all creatures great and small, one unifying theme emerges – animals are far more complex, intelligent, emotional and social than humans traditionally assumed.
Conclusion
Ranking the “best animal” is challenging with so many amazing creatures on Earth. However, based on intelligence, social ability, emotions, uniqueness, utility and sustainability, dogs emerge as a slight winner due to their historic domestication alongside humans. Elephants also demonstrate incredible intelligence and social complexity. For their avian cognition, corvids like crows and ravens rank high. Across all species, animals far exceed traditional expectations about their capacities. There is still much to learn, but one truth emerges – humans share this amazing planet with creatures deserving appreciation in their own right.
