Photographer Page

Vincent J Musi

For his book The Year of the Dogs, Vincent J. Musi spent a year in his studio photographing pooches, such as Peetrie, a toy poodle.

African gray parrots are renowned for their ability to mimic human speech. Studies have also shown that they’re capable of abstract reasoning in the search for food.

Studies have shown that sheep are adept at recognising each other and remembering sheep faces over time.

Giant Pacific octopuses have learned to open jars, mimic other octopuses, and solve mazes in lab tests.

A 2009 study showed that sulphur-crested cockatoos, like the one seen here, can synchronise their movements to the beat of music.

Bottlenose dolphins are widely regarded as highly intelligent. Play is an important part of the social lives of dolphins and is believed to be crucial to their cognitive development.

Individual populations of orangutans in the wild have unique learned behaviours—like using leafy branches as makeshift “umbrellas,” passed down through the generations.

Talented tool-makers (they can fashion sticks into digging hooks, for instance) New Caledonian crows, named for an island nation in the South Pacific, can also plan several steps ahead to secure a meal.

In the wild, marmosets, a type of monkey found in South America, are highly cooperative. They often call out to keep track of each other’s location, and they share food among group members.

Researchers have documented a wide array of behaviours in Asian elephants that indicate intelligence, including the ability to use tools and mimic sounds.