Parents can be nuts. Everyone thinks their baby is better than everyone else's, in fact they're sure of it. And you may think that parents of human children maybe a tad much in the brilliant child competition department... they've got nothing on fur baby parents. Those people can be truly unhinged when it comes to the brilliance of their cat, dog or even bird. Have you hung around a dog park for an afternoon?

Redditor _zefjen wanted all the fur baby parents to express their pride by asking... _What's the most intelligent thing you've witnessed an animal do?

BEWARE THE RAVEN!

I spend a lot of time in the local mountains, and had summited one of the higher peaks enough times to establish a bit of a relationship with the ravens that lived on it. One summer, I was up there on a day that turned out to be much hotter than forecasted and one of the ravens approached me like usual, but this time came right next to me as I drank from my bottle and threw his head back, beak open, mimicking the chugging motion. I asked if he wanted some, he croaked in agreement, so I poured some in my hand and held it out. That was still a little too close for comfort for him, so he walked away, and proceeded to walk around and inspect the surface of all of the rock until he found a large enough indent to hold some water. He croaked at me and pecked at the spot for me to pour some in, drank it up, and then walked back and bobbed his head happily before flying away. I've always known how intelligent they are, but it still strikes me how human their interactions can be!

I had a cat that somehow knew when I switched off my cochlear implants. Whenever my doorbell rings, she'd come up to me where I can see her meow at me.

Then she walks up to the door looking back to see if I'm following her. I never taught her that, RIP Nyx.

bionicnomad

I had a dog that did kind of the same thing except the situation was reversed. The previous owner of this dig had his vocal cords cut so his bark was very quiet. I was using my hair dryer and someone came to the door. Instead of sitting by the door and barking, he came to me in the bathroom and barked because he knew I wouldn't hear him otherwise.

warmhandswarmheart

While unintelligent in actions, it takes some kind of intelligence for an animal to know how to "play games." I witnessed two crows perched up on the light post outside my house playing what I can only describe as a "game of chicken." They both would jump off the light post simultaneously and free fall towards the ground, and fly off at the very last second. My guess is whoever got closer to the ground won that round but who knows... Well, on one of their attempts, one of the crows waited too long and smacked right into the ground lol. It got up and flew back to the top of the pole, but to this day it's the funniest thing I've ever witnessed, and it was one of those things I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes.

My Jack Russel would come into the living room, see our large mutt dog in the prime laying area, calmly walk over to the door and ask to go out. Large dog would leap up and run excitedly to the door. Jack Russel would wait for a human to head to the door and ask out again, all the while the large goofball was getting more excited. Someone would open the door, large dog would barrel out and bound around the yard before looking back at the door where the Jack Russel would stand long enough to make eye contact with him before smugly walking over to the prime laying area and kicking her feet out behind her to relax. If the mutt came back in he would go stand by her and just look heart broken before going somewhere else to lay.

I miss that smug little girl. Goofball gets all the prime spots now.

I had a pet Sun Conure a little while back. Wasn't sure if it was a boy or girl, as I never got it sexed, but I named it Charlie and generally referred to him as him. For some reason, Charlie hated women. Perfectly fine with all dudes, but would basically do the bird version of a growl any time a girl came too close.

My girlfriend of the time was desperate for Charlie to like her, and for the first year of our relationship who generally acted towards her the same way that he acted towards all women. Then one fateful day, we were sitting next to each other on the couch with Charlie on my shoulder. Charlie crawled his way down to my knee and did a little head bob and chirp that I generally associated with him being in a good mood. He then hopped onto the G/F's knee and continued his displays of contentment. Head bopping, chirping, grooming, etc. Over the course of the next hour, he would move up the G/F's legs and torso and find a new perch and continue to be his jolly little self. The G/F was paralyzed with excitement that Charlie was finally coming to accept her. Eventually he made his way to her shoulder and, again, sat there being happy. The G/F is staring at me overjoyed. Then, out of nowhere, Charlie turns and bites her face as hard as he can, and immediately launches himself across the room to perch on our cabinet high up.

The fool meticulously planned tricking the G/F just to get close enough to bite her face. I'd like to think that was his thought process anyway.

When I was a child, my friend and I were rounding up sheep with our fathers and the dogs. It was a hilly area and we were pushing them down a gully into the yards. One of the dogs took off over a hill and about 15 mins later it met us back near the yards with 15 extra sheep that were missed.

I had this mutt beagle mix. One time I was making a sandwich, and he was begging for food, I promptly told him to go away. With a defeated look in his eye, he starts to walk away. All of a sudden his ears pop up and he starts barking at the door and sits in front of it. He always did this if someone was at the door. I put my sandwich on the counter and go to the door to unlock it. Once I get to the door the little one bolts across the room jumps on the counter grabs the sand which and runs and hides.

I was even that mad I was impressed.

My Siamese cat once opened a cupboard in the kitchen and dragged a sealed bag of cat food into the lounge for me to open because I'd forgotten to feed her.

My Bassett hound and cat have become codependent when hunting. They'll approach a pile of firewood with a rat's nest in it and the dog will bark and move around the wood to scare out the rats, while the cat hides ready to pounce. Once the rats try to escape, the cat catches them and they each take a rat for dinner.

A chimp at a zoo was clapping like the star of the show and when we would start clapping he would dance for us. He was hyping us up.