You bring up an interesting perspective. Sure, animals of all kinds have intelligence. Some even more intelligent than humans. But once we've used our intelligence to figure something out, we have the capacity to share that information to others. It's that capacity to share and build upon what we've deduced through our use intelligence that separates us from animals. Mathematics is one good example. Alex the Parrot won't be teaching his wild kin what he has learned. Every generation of parrots or octupi must rediscover what the past generation has. And even then, that information will not be disseminated to others of their species effectively.
Very well put.