WHAT DOES THE CROW KNOW?

The author of several fine books about animals and their behavior (Bees Dance and Whales Sing, 1992) surveys animal intelligence as documented in scientific studies, historical accounts, and less formal observations. Pointing out that animals' differing predispositions (like people's) have a lot to do with their performance on intelligence tests (elephants are highly motivated, cats easily bored), Facklam emphasizes that ``Each animal is as smart as it needs to be, or it wouldn't survive,'' and that our more sophisticated skills ``don't make us better than other animals. They only make us different.'' Through an abundance of fascinating anecdotes demonstrating the language, enumerating, reasoning, planning, and even creative capabilities of animals such as parrots, apes, dolphins, and elephants, she develops important basic concepts concerning intelligence, its uses, and how we perceive it. Johnson's soft, carefully rendered b&w drawings are an excellent complement to this clear, up-to- date look at a field where new evidence continues to challenge conventional wisdom. Index. (Nonfiction. 8-12)