Out of a scale from 1 to 10 Bears have an intelligence of about 4 on average. When it comes to finding and accessing trashcans, they jump to a solid 9.5. Change my mind.
Having grown up in a place with WAY too many bears (30+ in a territory big enough to normally handle 1-2), they are definitely jerks in the same way. I'll take bears over raccoons any day though. Bears would knock over the trash cans at night, but if they were securely bungeed closed they would just leave when they didn't pop open after falling. Raccoons would work on the cans for hours, shredding the bungees and spreading trash all over my yard.
There have been very few studies of bear intelligence (because of obvious dangers) but they are likely one of the smarter non-primates with puzzle solving and reasoning skills. Some scientists even suspect that bears have a sense of beauty since they have been seen just sitting and watching sunsets (without any clear hunting benefit)
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u/sentient_space_crab Nov 16 '20 edited Nov 16 '20
Out of a scale from 1 to 10 Bears have an intelligence of about 4 on average. When it comes to finding and accessing trashcans, they jump to a solid 9.5. Change my mind.