Hello and welcome to mysteries of science. My name's Stevie and I'm the deputy editor of Science

and Nature, the monthly magazine from the team behind the week junior. And I'm Michael the features

editor. On this podcast, we investigate weird events, strange creatures and mysterious places.

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an animal? You know, Steve, I've often wondered what

it would be like recording this podcast if we were both dogs or cats or some other animal. I think

it would make for a very entertaining podcast. Well, I agree, yes. So it's easy to imagine your own

emotions and senses in an animal's body, but the reality would be very different, do we think?

Probably, yeah, but I wonder how.

Like you say, if I imagine what it's like to be an animal,

I just imagine my own thoughts and feelings in an animal's body.

Is that not what it would be like?

Well, for starters, the mind of an octopus, let's say, or a pigeon,

is very different to that of a human's.

That's right.

So I guess they would see the world very differently.

So how do they experience the world around them?

Well, that's the mystery we're going to explore today.

So join us and some expert guests as we ask,

are animals smarter than us?

This is Mysteries of Science.

Before we get started with today's mystery, we have a little story for you all. We want you to work out whether it's science fact or science fiction.

So, an octopus called Otto was caught short-circuiting the spotlights at his aquarium every night by squirting water at them.

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