Are we as smart as my cat?

I heard a piece on NPR yesterday about the reaction of moose and elk to the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park.  The researcher said that moose and elk in Yellowstone prior to the arrival of the wolves were "naive" animals in that they did know wolves and had no fear of them.  The question the researcher had was, would the moose and elk learn to fear wolves and take action to avoid them or fend them off?

Turns out after experience with wolves eating baby moose and elk the adult moose and elk did learn that wolves were to be avoided and fended off.  Within one year, and especially after a bad incident with a wolf, the elk and deer learned.

Today I was observing my cat and thinking how smart and stubborn he is. If he wants to jump up somewhere because he knows fun things to play with are on that high perch and I don't want him to be up there because the things are not what cats should be playing with, he will inevitably outlast me and eventually wind up on the perch with the "goodies." He is more single-minded than I am.  The only way I can move him off his goal is by offering him a more alluring opportunity - a cool toy and my attention to help organize his play, for example.  But he is soon back at trying to get up on the perch with the "goodies."

I see lessons in how these animals learn and behave that we can translate into our lives.

With the moose and elk, the capacity to learn and act on what one has learned is demonstrated.  If moose and elk can learn to avoid and fend off a threat after only a single encounter, why so often do we keep walking into the same trap, banging ourselves against the same wall, again and again?  We have higher thinking powers.  We ought to foresee the consequences of behaving the same way as before when the results were not optimal.  Our planned actions should take a different course for what is hoped a different and better outcome.

My cat demonstrates the value of persistence and focus to get to a great place.  His vision is to get up there and get the goodies.  He may not get there, but even in trying he's learning and he may wind up with something equally good or better (from me) in the process.  If my cat, admittedly smart but not capable of the complex thinking we humans are capable of, can envision a great outcome and devote himself to achieving it, why do we find it so hard to envision a great outcome and do our all over time to make it happen?  The lesson is clear to me: Get a vision of a better place, focus on it and do all you can over time to get there.  Even if you don't quite make it, you'll learn and get other opportunities that you would not have had if you had not tried.