Extraordinary Animals - Season 1

First aired: 1/2/2008 7 episodes

Episodes

1. The Elephant Artist

Aired: 1/2/2008

This programme explores the extraordinary abilities of Hong, an elephant whose painting skills have rocked the art world and challenged hitherto accepted views on animal intelligence. Can Hong's work pass as art in a top London gallery?

2. The Grim Reaper Dog

Aired: 1/3/2008

The story of Skamp, a four-year-old schnauzer that is said to have predicted the deaths of 58 residents in an Ohio nursing home over the past three years. The dog appears to alert staff by barking and then stays with the patients until they die.

3. The Smartest Sea Lion

Aired: 1/4/2008

The unique abilities of Rio the sea lion. Reared in captivity at the Marine Mammal Laboratory in California, the animal developed a strong bond with one of the doctors at the institute. Subsequent research demonstrated the creature performed better in a series of logical tests than some humans

4. The Genius Parrot

Aired: 1/5/2008

Dr Irene Pepperberg details the unique abilities of Griffin, a grey parrot being studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The bird is capable of performing tasks previously thought to be exclusive to humans, great apes and monkeys, such as labelling objects, identifying colours and shapes and forming simple phrases.

5. The Greatest Ape

Aired: 1/6/2008

The story of Azy, a 30-year-old orang-utan with incredible mental abilities. Over a number of years, Azy has displayed his intelligence by recognising symbols and objects; demonstrating self-awareness; and showing exceptional memory skills.

6. The Super Sonic Dolphin

Aired: 7/18/2008

Examining a Swedish scientist's attempts to communicate with dolphins, designed to conclusively measure their intellect, and which could save thousands of the mammals from fatal entanglements in fishing nets using a revolutionary computer program based on the creatures' echolocation means of identification.

7. The Memory Chimp

Aired: 1/29/2008

The story of a remarkable seven-year-old chimpanzee, born in captivity, which has been taught by its mother to recall numerical sequences to a higher standard than human memory champions. In passing a series of computerised tests, the Japanese-raised creature has altered the way scientists think about primates