Psychologist <a href="https://www.gvsu.edu/psychology/deaner-robert-16.htm" title="">Robert Deaner</a> of Grand Valley State University in Michigan scoured hundreds of cognition studies to pin down which nonhuman primate species is the smartest. <div class="vert-display-toggle collapsible relative flex flex-col items-center "><div class="vert-unit mt-4 mb-3 top-20"><div ad-type="mobile-desktop" class="ad-wrapper vert min-h-boombox flex items-start justify-center" data-ad-mapping="inline" data-ad-slot="Discover/inline-ad" id="div-inline-ad-0"></div></div>Advertisement</div>To avoid methodological differences, he identified nine types of task intelligence, like navigating through mazes or deciphering a tangle of patterned strings. After ranking 24 evolutionarily diverse primate genera, he found that very few of them did well on one task and particularly badly on another. Some genera just prove more capable overall. <div data-embedid="dcfb67aa-fdf4-4a19-b4c7-75c497a8de9c" id="insticator-embed-temp"></div>The great apes, not unexpectedly, cluster at the top, while groups that evolved earlier, like lemurs, cluster at the bottom. Deaner says his findings support the hypothesis that absolute brain size matters more than brain size adjusted for body size. What's more, he adds, the longer you live, the smarter you're likely to be.<h2>The Hierarchy of Primate Intelligence </h2><ol><li>Human </li><li>Orangutan</li><li>Chimpanzee </li><li>Spider monkey </li><li>Gorilla </li><li>Surili </li><li>Macaque </li><li>Mandrill </li><li>Guenon </li><li>Mangabey </li><li>Capuchin</li></ol><hr>Read More: <a href="https://discover.ac.cn/planet-earth/how-similar-are-humans-and-monkeys" title="">How Similar Are Humans and Monkeys?</a>

chimpanzee in the forest with a thoughtful expression

From humans to capuchins, explore the hierarchy of primate intelligence. Find out where our closest relatives rank in the battle for the highest IQ.

Planet Earth

What Are the Smartest Primates?

Article

News

Anne Wootton

Science

Psychologist Robert Deaner of Grand Valley State University in Michigan scoured hundreds of cognition studies to pin down which nonhuman primate species is the smartest. To avoid methodological differences, he identified nine types of task intelligence, like navigating through mazes or deciphering a tangle of patterned strings. After ranking 24 evolutionarily diverse primate genera, he found that very few of them did well on one task and particularly badly on another. Some genera just prove more capable overall. The great apes, not unexpectedly, cluster at the top, while groups that evolved earlier, like lemurs, cluster at the bottom. Deaner says his findings support the hypothesis that absolute brain size matters more than brain size adjusted for body size. What's more, he adds, the longer you live, the smarter you're likely to be. The Hierarchy of Primate Intelligence Human Orangutan Chimpanzee Spider monkey Gorilla Surili Macaque Mandrill Guenon Mangabey Capuchin Read More: How Similar Are Humans and Monkeys?

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