dr natalia borrego studies animal
intelligence
honey badgers are really cool they have
these really complex ecological lives
these very broad diets so they need to
climb they need to dig they do these
behaviors that indicates a high level of
intelligence but we haven’t actually
tested that yet
stoffel’s more obliging son stompy
and another rescued honey badger julius
are taking on the challenge
this is a specially designed puzzle
inside the box will be food covered in
honey their favorite treat
to open the door they must lift the
wooden bar
this tests their problem solving skills
it might look simple but this is
something they would never see in the
wild so they must be innovative and use
their imagination to figure this out
and he’s trying a bit of everything to
try and get him
so they bite him
it doesn’t have this brains to actually
think there’s a gadget holding this
closed i’ve got to move it out the way
oh
there you go well you’ve got it good for
you
oh well i’ll be blow that’s he’s
actually done it yeah
well done sir
both julius and stompy solve this first
challenge
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but what happens when it becomes more
complicated
a lot of animals have difficulty once
they figure out how to achieve a goal in
one way they get kind of stuck on that
solution so we’re going to see if honey
badgers are able to change their
thinking and not get stuck on that bar
solution
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this second challenge tests how
adaptable their brains can be
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there’s a clear container inside that
the food will be in but it’s out of
reach of the honey badger so they have
to
figure out to pull the string to get the
food do you think they’ll be able to
solve this one as well
my experience with it over the years is
nothing he wouldn’t really solve and
this is a lock and a key
in the wild honey badgers eat up to 60
different species
to hump this range of food they have to
think flexibly
let’s work that out
isn’t that wonderful oh you can’t help
but love these things doesn’t matter
what they do to you
so far the honey badgers have shown
problem-solving skills and adaptability
but in the third and final test
can they do something that would mark
them as one of the most intelligent
animals on the planet
use tools
we’ve hung the box from a tree so the
honey badger can’t reach it from the top
they can’t reach it from the bottom the
only way they can reach it is by
dragging either a tire or their cage
under it so that they can then step up
and reach the food that is inside
if in fact honey badgers can use tools
this puts them up there with some of the
smartest animals in the animal kingdom
like chimpanzees
or elephants so it would be really
exciting
every single one has had that ability to
escape to take an object to the side of
the wall and climb out so
definitely the potential
so he seems to be just jumping and
trying to get to the box but not making
that connection that he needs to bring
the crate or the tire over he really
wants it but he just can’t seem to
figure out how to get to it
you see he knows he’s hummingbig he’s
looking at it
he pushed his crate closer to the box
that he could then climb on top of the
crate and get to the box which indicates
tool use and is really exciting
stunning that is pretty cool yeah i must
say
giving them this puzzle box is
confirming what we’ve long suspected
that honey badgers are very good at
solving problems that they’re very
exploratory and adaptable
from what we’ve seen they’re up there
with the top innovators in the animal
kingdom
it’s this intelligence often misread as
calculated and cunning that gives these
animals an edge in the wild
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