A gerbil’s social and emotional intelligence allows it to: Social intelligence is seen in many animals that live in groups, such as primates and dolphins. One of the clearest signs of gerbil intelligence is their ability to form complex social bonds. Look out for these signs of intelligence in your pet gerbil. What we do know is that gerbils demonstrate a high level of intelligence in various areas. So far, gerbil intelligence hasn’t been studied as comprehensively as other rodents. Certain rodents will learn this faster than others, and these are considered more intelligent. For example, you can teach a mouse to associate a certain sound with an electric shock. These tests involve various tasks analyzing the rodent’s motor skills, memory capacity, and association. Because gerbils can’t read or write, they can’t answer questions, do sums, or solve riddles.īut according to Science, IQ tests have been developed for mice. There’s no simple test that can precisely pinpoint a gerbil’s intelligence (or any other animal). But by observing its behavior, you can get a good idea of how smart your own gerbil is.

There are several different types of intelligence, so it’s hard to measure precisely how intelligent gerbils are. Gerbils can form close friendships and ‘argue’ with their playmates. They are decidedly social creatures and can read other gerbils’ body language with ease. They enjoy puzzles such as ‘treat balls.’ Gerbils can learn to navigate mazes and will remember the way around, even at a later date.Īlso, gerbils show surprising amounts of emotional and social intelligence. Gerbils have a high learning capacity, and they get bored if under-stimulated. Gerbils are extremely curious, inquisitive, and love to explore – all signs of a bright animal. When it comes to pet gerbil intelligence, we can get an idea of their cleverness by watching them go about the world. Scientists even use gerbil studies as a model for human behavior. Their ability to learn, make associations, and recall previously learned behaviors is surprisingly good. Scientists have been studying the intelligence of gerbils and other rodents for centuries. 1.8 Related Articles: Are Gerbils Intelligent?

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