The smartest animals I know are a pair of large ravens out at a ranch where I worked. They were big when I started and they are still there 11 years later. Not only did they have remarkable smarts, but they seemed to coordinate all raven activity in the area. Mostly they had the place to themselves, but if there was excess food, suddenly there were more ravens. When the new ravens fledged, they would gather at the ranch and the adults would vanish. The young ravens would socialize and learn how to be ravens. I once saw three on them on a log, facing into the wind moving their wings as if they were flying, and that’s what they were practicing. The old raven pair had the most amazing vocabulary. Occasionally they would sit in a tree near me, unseen and make sounds like a dog barking in the distance. I have a ton of stories about them.