History Main / ItCanThink

* The FirstContact between the iliu and ktuvok species in ''Literature/TheCountOfYears'' (part of Mark Rosenfelder's world of WebOriginal/{{Almea}}) is disastrous. The ktuvoks, having been created by the SatanicArchetype and his [[TheDragon Dragon]], delight in cruelty, so when they see a young girl of the iliu playing alone, they stalk her, ambush her, kill her, and ''eat her''--and worse, they do so in front of her parents, who are too far away to stop them. Never having seen a ktuvok before, the parents conclude from their brutality that they must be wild beasts and particularly vicious predators, so they send out a hunting party. But when the hunters get close, they overhear the ktuvoks talking among themselves, and suddenly realize they are dealing with a sentient race. So the ilii demand restitution, but [[RedemptionRejection the ktuvoks laugh and refuse]]. Realizing that the ktuvoks are a worse evil than any other they have known on account of being sapient, the ilii declare war.

* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', the increasingly desperate rebellion makes use of forbidden experimentation with primordial life to create a LivingWeapon to use against the Crown. When Reverend Mauer visits the experiments, however, he realizes that the AdaptiveAbility of primordial life has allowed them to rapidly develop sapience and learn human language based on overheard conversations by reading their body language and noting how they react to his words.

* In ''Anime/BakuganBattleBrawlers'', the Bakugan (actually aliens from another world turned [[CardGames Card Game]]) are sentient beings who had their self-awareness suppressed due to negative energy. When they regain their sanity, the forces of darkness try to crush them... In the ''New Vestroia'' season, there is a ''government conspiracy'' lead by the [[BigBad King of the Vestals]] to keep the fact that Bakugan are self-aware a secret from the rest of the population.

* The title beasts of ''Literature/GoblinSlayer''. Though far from tactical geniuses, Goblins have a surprising deviousness and evil cunning that not many experienced adventures believe, and not many new adventures (Who often take killing them as an easy early quest) are aware of. Complete with traps, poisoned weapons, large [[GiantMook Hobgoblins]] when things get hairy and so on. Their cunning nature frequently spells doom for new adventures who see them as an easy starting foe. Goblins can also develop into more specialized and intelligent breeds whether through natural development or through being empowered by other beings:

* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': Kagura initially mistakes her brother Goshinki to be a large and mindless demon who only cares about eating humans and cattle, but he immediately proves her wrong by revealing that he can read her mind. When Kagome and her friends fight him, Goshinki's nature as a GeniusBruiser ''and'' LightningBruiser'' becomes too much for them to handle by normal means, as he's too cunning and knows exactly how to counter them with his mind reading. Ironically, he's killed by Inuyasha who awakened into his full demon form whose only thought process is killing, which makes Goshinki's mind reading ability useless because he can't predict what an enemy is going to do who can't even think straight.

[[quoteright:272:[[WesternAnimation/TheCritic https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_pilkington_3.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:327221:"GRAAAHHH- *cough* My apologies, I had something in my throat."]]

[[quoteright:321:[[WesternAnimation/TheCritic https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_pilkington.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:321:"GRAAAHHH- *cough* My apologies, I had something in my throat."]]

* ''Animation/FantasticPlanet'': Draags notice that humans (whom they call Oms) can speak and imitate their speech, but they doubt that Oms are actually intelligent. They treat Oms as pets and pests.

* The Beetle Drones of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' generally seem like mindless robots who enforce Aku's rule without hesitation. However, in the 3-part series premiere, after Jack destroys almost an entire army of them, one of the remaining robots seems to have recognized that defeating Jack is impossible and takes a step back. Jack quickly tells the drone there is no escape and destroys the rest of them. In another episode, a group of Beetle Drones are attempting to stop Jack from reaching a time portal; Jack predictably cuts them all down, but the last one seems to realize that it can't beat Jack and instead destroys the portal before Jack can stop it.

* In ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' the Living Nightmare has long been a being fueled by rage and fear, a mindless creature who goes on rampages. In one storyline, the Nightmare is controlled by Dr. Dominax into attacking the Honor Guard. In the middle of the battle, however, the Nightmare suddenly screams out '''No More!''' and stalks off.
-->'''Hummingbird''': It...it talks now?
** It seems after all these years of living among minds and absorbing fear, the Nightmare has finally achieved a level of self-awareness. [[NoBiologicalSex It]] ends up capturing Dominax and accepts Honor Guard's offer to work with them to understand more of this new found intelligence.

* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': When the battle for Cavigor is at its end and Vathek is surrounded by the Razor Khan, he asks them in desperation to tell Jade that Elyon wants to bury the hatchet and [[MustMakeAmends make amends with her]]. The Shadowkhan actually take the time to hear him out and silently debate on whatever to just follow the orders of Frost, who's able to summon them only because Jade allows it, or take Vathek to their Queen and let her decide if his words are worth her time.

* ''FanFic/ThisBites'':

* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness'': [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]] are stated to be nothing but mindless animals who can only think of what to kill next. When Tsukune manifests a ghoul as a SuperpoweredEvilSide in Acts II and III, the others are shocked to discover that Tsukune's ghoul form, though completely AxCrazy, has its own personality and conscious mind, and not only can it think and plan, but it can ''talk''.

* In ''FanFic/StarsAbove'', the Nine are revealed as Demons that can think, plan, and work together, making them far more human than the animalistic Demons that [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Homura]] has faced before.
* ''FanFic/RosarioVampireBrightestDarkness'': [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]] are stated to be nothing but mindless animals who can only think of what to kill next. When Tsukune manifests a ghoul as a SuperpoweredEvilSide in Acts II and III, the others are shocked to discover that Tsukune's ghoul form, though completely AxCrazy, has its own personality and conscious mind, and not only can it think and plan, but it can ''talk''.
* The Shroud of ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' are a NonMaliciousMonster [[Franchise/DeadSpace Necromorph]]-esque parasite race. That changes in Episode 60 which reveals that the Shroud are led by hyper-intelligent Shroud Primes. [[FromBadToWorse And then]] in Episode 69, [[EldritchAbomination Dark Tails]] evolves them to the point that they start using military tactics and language [[spoiler: and religion; they begin worshiping Dark Tails as their god]].

* During the Kyuubi "attack" on Konoha in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7305950/1/The-Empty-Cage The Empty Cage,]]'' Sarutobi gets his first inkling that the bijuu aren't mindless animals when Kyuubi fires a [[WaveMotionGun Bijudama]], not at the village he was allegedly attacking, but at the ninja who were gathering their chakra to attack him.
* ''Fanfic/BlackAsNight'' makes this clear for Toothless, who not only seems to understand the implications of Hiccup’s blindfold, but later learns to make specific sounds when in flight so that Hiccup can adjust the fin and avoid crashing into anything, to the point that he even seems to repeat Astrid's name at least once.
* In "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20284948/chapters/48086245 Upon the North]]", [[spoiler:not only have the dragons apparently been reincarnated along with their human partners, but Toothless is able to telepathically communicate with Hiccup- referring to his returned rider as ‘Half of Me’- and Hiccup notes that Toothless is now Alpha through the choice of the other dragons rather than his old ability to command them]].

* ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'': The Samurai Khan, unlike their cousins, are intelligent enough to adapt to the pace and fighting style of the enemies that they fight. And when Ikazuki [[DemonicPossession takes full control]] of his host [[spoiler:Aldarn]], they hoist their katana up in the air and appear to ''cheer'', freaking Cornelia out with how human their behavior is.
* ''Fanfic/APossibleEncounterForAPhantom'': Vlad Plasmius resurrected an ancient dragon beast called a Terakon that both Danny Phantom and Kim Possible both have to contend with. However, despite all evidence to the contrary, only Danny seems to recognize the Terakon appears smarter than it leads on, with its expressions, behavior and [[spoiler:the implication it can talk]].

* In ''Fanfic/HonokasBizarreAdventure'', the girls of [[Anime/LoveLive µ]] have seen Stands as extensions of their users, like with Honoka's [All Star] and Hanayo's [Momoiro Clover]. So they are all caught off guard in chapter 8 when they meet Nico Yazawa's Stand [Circus], which is not only sentient but can manifest herself outside of Nico's control.
* ''Fanfic/VowOfTheKing'': Ichigo's Hollow form acts like TheBerserker but it's still capable of tactics when it needs to. After getting fed up with [[InterfaceScrew Shinji's shikai]], it intentionally causes its own Cero to misfire and detonate, blasting the entire area at once.
* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': When the battle for Cavigor is at its end and Vathek is surrounded by the Razor Khan, he asks them in desperation to tell Jade that Elyon wants to bury the hatchet and [[MustMakeAmends make amends with her]]. The Shadowkhan actually take the time to hear him out and silently debate on whatever to just follow the orders of Frost, who's able to summon them only because Jade allows it, or take Vathek to their Queen and let her decide if his words are worth her time.

[[folder:Real Life]]
By now, we've discovered that most complex life forms have some form of decision-making mechanism and the ability to adapt to their surroundings. Current research focuses on figuring out how and to what extent each species does so. One way to test for self-awareness among animals is to put them in front of a mirror and see if they recognise their own reflection. The way to tell is to put a mark on the animal which they can't see without the mirror; if they see the mark and realise it's on their body, then they can recognise themselves.
* Elephants were among the first animals to pass the "mirror test". They've also been observed to have some kind of rudimentary society, including weird greetings and the ElephantGraveyard, which implies some kind of funerary rite.
* Birds can show intelligence; calling someone a "bird-brain" isn't ''that'' much of an insult (and not just for [[BigStupidDoodooHead the obvious reason]]):
** CleverCrows, as well as other corvids like ravens and magpies, have this reputation for a reason. They not only pass the "mirror test", but they also show rudimentary skills at using tools and solving puzzles.
*** The Japanese have observed interesting behaviour among crows, including a [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17453_5-diabolical-animals-that-out-witted-humans.html group in Kagoshima]] that [[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/asia/07crows.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2& outsmarted the "Crow Patrol"]] put together specifically to get rid of them. A group in Tokyo showed its problem-solving skills by cracking open particularly tough nuts using cars -- that is, they drop the nuts into a crosswalk, wait for a car to drive over them, wait for the ''traffic light'' to change, then swoop in and eat the nut.
*** Crows can vividly remember a person or location that's caused trouble. If a member of the murder is killed, they're ''not'' coming back any time soon, and in fact they'll reroute their migratory pattern to avoid landing in that area. And if they can identify a specific person who's harassed them, they not only hold a grudge, they can recognise that person and ''teach'' other crows what the person looks like.
*** New Caledonian crows are so smart that even without ''any'' prior exposure to tools, they were [[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0808_020808_crow.html observed fashioning a working one]] by watching another type of crow at a ''failed'' attempt.
*** Crows understand some scientific principles. They understand water displacement, for example. They also can tell which object is the heavier of a pair by how they move in a wind tunnel, a test most primates fail (although they do fly a lot more often than primates).
*** One crow was shown on camera to demonstrate that not only did it know how to solve problems, it understood the ''concept'' of a puzzle. It expended a ton of effort to obtain a stick, just because it was behind a barrier and it ''knew'' the barrier was hiding something good. Then it started looking for a place to use it.
** The other candidate for "smartest bird" is the parrot, thanks to its ability to [[PollyWantsAMicrophone mimic human speech]]. Actually, they won't just mimic human speech, but also other noises as well; there are birds in Australia that can do a ''perfect'' imitation of construction equipment. But parrots can also ''understand'' some of the words they say. "Alex" the African Grey parrot was famous for being able to recognise and count objects. He also demonstrated that parrots have [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny short attention spans]] and can be ''incredible'' {{troll}}s; Alex was known to deliberately give ''wrong'' answers, because he had so much fun watching his handlers' frustration when he did so.
*** Alex was also the only animal to ask an ''existential'' question -- asking what color he was when examining himself in a mirror.
** [[http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4311&sid=c4a5398f465dbc107a7ced18e151176b This account]] shows a group of swallows building a nest in front of a Home Depot and figuring out how to work the motion detectors to open the doors. They've also identified the individual who locks the doors at night and learned to harass that person to unlock them the next morning.
** Pigeons, while common and overlooked, are as smart as corvids and parrots, if not smarter. A pigeon can be placed anywhere on the planet, even somewhere it's never been before, and find its way home every time. It's also been discovered that they recognize human faces and can quickly determine which humans are trustworthy and which ones to avoid.
** Seagulls are similar to pigeons but more ferocious in their tactics. They've even picked up on human ''gender'' stereotypes -- they've learned that women are more likely than men to drop everything and run when you attack them, so they started targeting women who appeared to be carrying something delicious to eat. [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3175036/Now-seagulls-cunning-Packs-birds-target-women-develop-new-tactics-steal-lunch.html This article]] compares them to the classic ''Creator/AlfredHitchcock'' movie ''Film/TheBirds''.
* {{Primate|Index}}s tend to be thought of as "smarter", perhaps because the classification includes us humans. Chimpanzees in Africa have been observed by scientists to not only understand how to use tools, but also how to fashion them. They've also passed the "mirror test", although they often used the mirrors to admire their genitals, which is a bit ''more'' like humans than we'd be comfortable admitting. Chimps are also known to use war tactics to expand their territory. Just ask Jane Goodall about the infamous Gombe Chimpanzee War.
* Jumping spiders of the ''Portia'' genus hunt other spiders. They'll observe other spiders in their webs to get a sense of how fast they are and how they react to disturbances, then determine an optimal strategy to take them down. They'll even observe a spider's mating display so that they can ''imitate it'' and attract another spider to its doom (pirate spiders can do this, too). They can also memorize chords in the web vibrations, which helps them impersonate other spiders or trapped insects. And even more amazing, they can ''work this out for spider species they've never met before''. Two Portia spiders have even been observed coming up with separate tactics for hunting the same spider. They also have three-dimensional spatial memory - they can plot a complex route to their prey, including through places they haven't seen, and if they find an obstruction they couldn't see and didn't plan for, they can backtrack and take an alternative route. And they do all this with 600,000 neurons, barely enough to fit on the head of a pin. How do they do it? By time-sharing - they think extremely slowly, basically emulating a bigger brain on a much smaller one.
* Dolphins and whales have a [[SapientCetaceans reputation for intelligence]]. Dolphins appear to pass the "mirror test" -- they exhibit behaviour that they never do at other times, like flapping their fins, suggesting they're ''posing''. The smartest dolphins are orcas[[note]]Yes, they're called "killer whales", but taxonomically they're a species of dolphin. Don't blame us, blame colloquial English[[/note]], and check out what ''they'' can do:
** Orcas will learn to do what they can to get a snack. They will learn to follow a fishing boat and loot the net. Or they'll [[ViolationOfCommonSense beach themselves]] to get a human's attention. They can even snatch bait fish off of longlines without getting caught in the hooks, ''and'' teach others to do it.
** Transient orca pods hunting dolphins are known to stop using their active echolocation, and indeed any noise altogether, while on the hunt. They know that their prey can pick up on their communication, so they stay "radio silent". It's Mother Nature's HotSubOnSubAction.
** One pod in Australia set up a cooperative hunting partnership with the local town's human whalers. When whales would migrate through the area, the orcas would begin herding them into the town's bay, and at least one would go to the dock and alert the humans that the whales were coming in. The orcas and humans would then work together on the hunt. And at the end of the hunt, the humans would allow the orcas to eat the lips and tongues of their catch, for which the humans had no use, and the orcas would leave the humans the more valuable blubber and baleen.
** Pods of orcas have been observed pushing baby seals back to shore, rather than eating them. It's believed that they're engaging in what is essentially livestock management, ensuring a future generation when the seal matures -- and a better meal.
** Orcas off the coast of California have learned that if they turn any kind of shark upside-down, it experiences "tonic immobility" and stops moving completely. After being held for a few minutes, the shark will die from lack of oxygen, and the orcas can snack on tasty shark liver at their leisure. Thankfully, the orcas that practice this aren't big enough to try this on adult great whites, but they have killed juveniles.
** Orcas have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhzfVnwx8cA been observed]] to watch their prey hop safely on an ice floe -- and work together to [[MakingASplash make a wave big enough]] to overturn the floe and knock the prey back into the water.
** Captive orcas have been documented using the baitfish normally given to them as food to lure seagulls close to the water where they can snatch the birds.
** Put simply, orcas are not only intelligent, they're killing machines. As an old joke goes, there are no cases of wild orcas killing humans, but only because [[UndeadAuthor they don't leave witnessess]].
** As the film ''Film/{{Blackfish}}'' shows, orcas are capable of purposeful torture. In one incident, a captive orca pulled her trainer (Ken Peters) to the bottom of a pool over and over again, always making sure to bring him back up after a minute or so. In other words, orcas know how long terrestrial animals can survive underwater, and will take advantage of this if they want to.
* Of course ''cats'' can think. CatsAreSuperior:
** Lions know that they're not big enough to take down a giraffe on their own. So they figured out that if you ''scare'' a giraffe, you can get it to run away -- into traffic, where they can get hit by a car, leading to a tasty dinner with little effort. Yes, it causes traffic problems, but lions are cats -- [[CatsAreMean they don't care]].
** Tigers are considered even ''smarter'' than lions (or at least not quite as [[CatsAreLazy lazy]]). One pair of tigers who had been raised in captivity showed an unprecedented level of cooperation when they were released into the wild: on their first day out hunting, they [[LetsSplitUpGang split up]], one barrelling after a herd of deer making absolutely no effort to be stealthy and the other wandering off to who knows where. It seemed like the effort put into raising them had gone to waste -- until the herd popped up ''right'' where the quiet tiger was hiding, totally stunning the conservationists who were watching them.
*** Another thing that shows tigers are creepily intelligent is that they are one of the few animals (besides humans) who seek ''revenge''. In one report in Siberia, [[BullyingADragon a tiger was shot by a poacher in a non-fatal area, and also lost a deer it was hunting.]] The tiger was so pissed off about this that it came back to the hunter's house later on and stalked him until eventually killing him. In another report, a Bengal tiger hunted down and killed a poacher that murdered its mate for her pelt, [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge and then it went on to attack any human it came across.]] [[FantasticRacism It basically declared war on the human species because of one poacher.]]
** A popular video on Website/YouTube shows how housecats react when they see a video of their owner using a "cat-face" filter on their [[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cats+respond+to+cat+filter smartphones]]. They can recognise ''themselves'' in the screen, but on seeing their owner this way, they'll freak out and start looking at their owners to double-check that they haven't turned into cats.
* Any good cat will tell you that DogsAreDumb. But that's not necessarily true:
** Most dogs can pass a modified version of the "mirror test" -- their eyesight isn't good enough to do the straight version, but they can use ''smells'' in place of visual marks, and this shows that they're self-aware.
** A ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' article found a [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19213_7-animals-that-are-evolving-right-before-our-eyes.html pack of dogs]] who learned how to use the UsefulNotes/MoscowMetro. Not only did they figure out roughly when and where the trains went, they even learned to use the RuleOfCute to convince the passengers to feed them (and would share the food with the pack).
* Octopuses have proven themselves:
** An aquarium octopus, if not given puzzles and toys to distract it, will invariably occupy itself by trying to escape. Sometimes they end up in other exhibits. Sometimes they end up ''eating'' the other exhibits. In one case, a very bored octopus [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3328480/Otto-the-octopus-wreaks-havoc.html took to using tankmates as toys]], rearranging his tank, and using carefully aimed jets of water to turn off the lights. One story on Website/{{Tumblr}} describes an octopus who [[http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/08/22/friday-cephalopod-dancing-on-the-edge-of-the-abyss/#comment-842723 took out some of the aquarium's crustaceans]] by sneaking out through a hole in its tank and ''[[StealthyCephalopod learning the guard's patrols]]'' like it was playing ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' -- and others were reported to be able to do this by walking across an elevated walkway and ''unlocking'' the other tank.
** Octopuses can [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL3M_DcO6wk unscrew the lid of a jar from the inside]].
** Likely {{averted|Trope}} in the case of "Psychic Paul", an octopus at the Berlin Zoo who correctly predicted the winner of nearly every fixture at the 2010 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup FIFA World Cup]]. Even the games Germany lost. It was chalked up to coincidence ([[FalseReassurance probably]]) -- not that it stopped the eventual winners Spain from offering Paul an official funeral when he died.
* Crocodiles show a surprising amount of intelligence, about as much as some rodents:
** They can memorise the best places to ambush prey. In some cases, that involves stealing fish from the nets of fishing boats. Nile crocodiles hunt in packs and use teamwork to take down their prey -- they can herd or surround their victims, and sometimes one croc will hold down the animal and let the others tear at it (in turn, and in equal portions).
** They can learn tricks like "stay" or "roll over". This makes them almost as intelligent as dogs. The only thing they don't learn is not to eat their trainer.
** At least two species (the Mugger crocodile and American alligator) have some grasp of [[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/2013/11/30/tool-use-in-crocs-and-gators/ tool usage]]. Scientists have observed them consistently gathering sticks during birds' nesting seasons, building nests, and balancing them on their snouts -- while they wait for a hapless heron or egret to land on it.
* [[MaliciousMonitorLizard Monitor lizards]], including Komodo dragons, are intelligent, have a natural tendency to play, can recognise names given to them, and can recognise tourists by their voices and know how to take advantage of them. In captivity, they appear to display individual personalities. They're also more than capable of strategising while hunting; they're considered to be as intelligent as wolves.
* All kinds of snakes can think:
** Constrictors (''i.e.'' pythons, boas, and anacondas) may be more intelligent than previously thought. Research shows that they would check to make sure their prey is dead when they're constricting by checking the animal's heartbeat; they would keep squeezing until the heartbeat stops.
** Spitting cobras can aim their venom with remarkable accuracy -- and given what they aim at, there's definitely some level of intelligence there.
** Black mambas, king cobras, and taipans are considered the snakes with the greatest potential for killing people, not just because of their size, toxicity, amount of venom, speed, and aggression, but also because of their intelligence. They're extremely alert and quick to react, and they're also very curious. They've shown the biggest propensity to escape confinement of any snake. This makes them extremely hard to handle, and the only reason there aren't many fatalities is that few humans have tried to handle them.
** Many big snakes, including large pythons, boas, and king cobras, can recognise their owners. And studies have shown that a snake is less likely to bite someone it can recognise. So that helps.
* Sharks and rays are highly intelligent, on the level of most mammals, including coordination and tool usage:
** A dive team in New Zealand studying bottlenose sevengill sharks had to review its safety precautions when one shark made a [[WeNeedADistraction very obvious]] threatening movement toward one of the divers -- and another shark tried to attack them from behind.
** Where there's intelligence, there's personality. The Monterey Bay Aquarium noticed the difference in its juvenile Great Whites -- some were intensely interested in the human visitors on the other side of the glass, while others were just interested in doing a ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' impression waiting for food.
* Moray eels are capable of [[http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/04/24/groupers-use-gestures-to-recruit-morays-for-hunting-team-ups/ inter-species communication to hunt in a coordinated manner]].
* There's no way to know how intelligent dinosaurs were, but they're now believed to have been much smarter than we once thought. For years, dinosaurs were believed to be [[DumbDinos slow-witted lumbering beasts]], but over the years, some species -- particularly small meat-eating dinosaurs -- have been discovered to probably have been at least intelligent enough to form complex social behaviors. Even UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex wasn't just one of the largest predators ever to walk the Earth -- it was also pretty smart, and studies indicate that it might have been at least as intelligent as modern-day alligators, some breeds of dog, or possibly even ''baboons''.
* The honey badger is famous not only for its [[KillerRabbit sheer ferocity]], but also for its intelligence. It's been documented using tools. At least one captive honey badger, named "Stoffel", has become notorious for being something of a "badger Houdini" -- he's escaped his pen several times using tree branches, rocks, mud, and a rake, and with his mate he even figured out how to pick the cage's ''locks''. It got to the point where they had to enclose him with an electric fence.
* Bees have the HiveMind reputation, but many species, especially honeybees and bumblebees, are incredibly intelligent. They can navigate mazes by recognising colours, lighting, and landmarks. When collecting nectar, they can memorize the locations of several different flowers, remember the ''time of day'' each of them produce nectar, and find their way home from two miles away. Once home, they relay these facts to the rest of the hive by dancing. Most notably, despite the name of beekeepers, nothing is actually ''keeping'' the bees there, and they can and absolutely will abandon their nestboxes if it isn't an ideal nesting place -- this implies that, unlike what ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'' would have you believe, they ''comprehend'' that having a giant creature pacify them with smoke and take some of their honey is an acceptable trade-off for having an ideal nesting location where they are safe from predators.
* The false cleanerfish resembles the more friendly cleanerfish. Real cleanerfish will suck the parasites off another fish's body. The false cleanerfish will lure other fish as if it were a cleanerfish, but instead it'll just bite a chunk and then retreat. Interestingly, this trick also shows the ''other'' fish's learning capacity, as it clearly works best on juveniles; adults will have learned to tell the difference between the real and the false cleanerfish.
* Pufferfish are capable of recognizing the faces (and possibly voices) of their owners. They can also be taught basic tricks, such as going to a certain part of their tank to get food. They can even be rather artistic; the male of one Japanese species is known to spend days or even weeks building elaborate [[http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/480xn/p02c72bf.jpg circular nests]], to attract mates and as use as nurseries -- this is some of the most complex nest-building in the animal kingdom.
* Even arthropods get involved in the action! One researcher studying cockroach reproductive habits noted that her research subjects eventually learned to recognize their handlers, and act differently around them than other humans.
* Housepets, [[HeroicDog especially dogs]], have been known to seek help when [[TimmyInAWell their owners are in trouble]]:
** There's at least one story of a housecat who learned how a baby monitor worked and yowled into it to alert her owner that her baby was having serious trouble breathing, which saved the baby's life.
* Some pet owners have built sound boards for their pets, using buttons to represent words and simple phrases. Cats and dogs are actually pretty good at understanding human language, and they can even hold basic conversations with their owners with the boards. This becomes especially apparent if a button for a key word fails; the pet will use working buttons to construct a phrase that means something similar (or else bother their owner that the button's not working).
* For most of history, we've assumed that plants don't (and ''can't'') think, but 21st-century research is showing that many plants do have some kind of intelligence. Various species have been observed to respond to stimuli and [[https://www.nature.com/articles/srep38427 classical conditioning]], [[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2015/12/15/can-a-plant-remember-this-one-seems-to-heres-the-evidence/ learn and then retain what they've learned for at least a month]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs communicate danger to nearby plants]].
* Even humans do it! It's most obvious with babies and toddlers, who can understand complex language well before they can reproduce it -- if you underestimate them because they can't talk yet, they'll outsmart you and make you feel ''real'' stupid. But it's a common pattern throughout -- humans have a tendency to misconstrue lack of verbal response for lack of intelligence and be surprised when they find out otherwise. It's most acute with people who ''can't'' talk, particularly non-verbal autistic people, who often feel like they have to "prove" that they're sentient.
* Frogs and toads are significantly more intelligent than often thought. One example is that some have learned insects are attracted to artificial light, and will hang around near buildings to take advantage of that fact.
* Hyenas have a complex, simian-like social structure. They may even be ''better'' at cooperating and teaching than many primate species -- given a task where two animals must tug at separate ropes simultaneously to get a food reward, but only one knows the trick, the hyenas were [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928131032.htm faster than primates]] at teaching their buddy how to do it. This is likely because hyenas hunt together and so need a "language" for cooperating and coordinating an attack, while most primate food is fairly lazy fruit, and the most you need to be able to say to share with a friend is "Here is food".
* Pigs can be taught how to play basic games like basketball or even simple video games similar to ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}''.
* While the question of whether they're actually thinking is [[DoAndroidsDream somewhat existential]], modern AI can demonstrate a surprising degree of brilliance in their solutions to problems. For example, in one game playing AI based around stacking items? It quickly figured out the best way to win isn't to stack the items- it's to manipulate the camera angles so the human watching it ''thinks'' the items are stacked.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* In the horror film ''Film/{{Animal}}'', the monster pursues the cast to a cabin in the woods. At first it seems that it's simply a bloodthirsty beast, but it gradually becomes clear that the creature purposely herded them into the cabin to trap them and pick them off one by one.
* ''Film/ArmyOfTheDead'': the zombies in this film come off as surprisingly fast, smart, agile and organized when the team faces them, as noted by Lily "The Coyote".
* The {{Killer Gorilla}}s of ''Film/{{Congo}}''. Even more apparent in the original Creator/MichaelCrichton novel where the apes use stone clubs, cross an electric fence by dropping a tree on it, and were able to guard the mines they guard for hundreds of years because they ''taught their descendants how to do it.''
-->'''Munro:''' "I think they're smart — they're too damn smart."
** They still have enough animal in them, however, for the protagonist's normal gorilla pet/companion/ally to fool them into not attacking her teacher/owner by acting like he's her baby.
* ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'': The titular creature leaves no doubt about his planning abilities when he builds a dam out of branches to keep the team from leaving the titular lagoon.
* ''Film/Creepshow2'' has ''The Raft'', a segment where some teens are trapped on a raft in a lake where a carnivorous BlobMonster waits in the water to devour them. The longer the [[VictoryByEndurance war of attrition]] against this thing goes, the creature reveals itself to be more and more intelligent: it lays ambushes, hides under the raft to trick them into thinking it's gone, uses spaced-out attacks to keep them on constant alert to wear them down physically and mentally, and even ''holds off'' on more effective attacks like rocking the raft or squeezing up through the slats to trick them into false senses of security. [[spoiler:in the end, when the last teen has managed to escape it and makes it to shore, it simply leaps out of the water to devour him -- it could have come up onto the raft and killed them ''any time it wanted'' but it simply didn't, raising the possibility it was merely toying with them the entire time.]]
* In ''Film/{{Cube}}'', this is applied to a structure instead of a monster, but it still fits the purposes of the trope. The protagonists openly wonder if the Cube is watching them and calculating. According to the sequels, there are human operators.
* ''Film/DanceOfTheDead'': Two zombies carjack Jimmy's pizza van while he is arguing with Kyle. Also, one of the zombies at the prom still manages to spike the punch.
* Part of what makes the werewolves in ''Film/{{Dog Soldiers}}'' so dangerous is that they're considerably more intelligent and strategic than most werewolves in media. Throughout the film, the werewolves demonstrate this several times, including...
** Taking a cue from ''Film/{{Aliens}}''' Xenomorphs, the werewolves cut the power to the house before their first major assault, since they can see in the dark, and the humans can't.
** When Joe is firing at one with a shotgun during the aforementioned assault, it snatches the weapon out of his hands and ''tries to shoot him with it''.
** After being stabbed through the abdomen with a sword and escaping, [[spoiler:the infected and transformed Captain Ryan ambushes Cooper in the cellar, and he seems more interested in beating the shit out of the private his human form despises with good old fisticuffs, rather than just eating or infecting him; and he nearly succeeds in killing Cooper by pinning him against a support pole and trying to force the tip of the sword through Cooper's mouth, until Sam intervenes.]]
* ''Film/DeepBlueSea'': There's an underwater facility housing intelligent sharks. [[spoiler:The sharks pulled a ''BatmanGambit'' on the humans, herding them around so they'd flood the complex and sink it low enough for the sharks to escape!]] They even (possibly) learned how to turn an oven on while one of the humans was in it.
* At one point late in ''Film/DeepRising'', the monsters start herding the remaining humans towards their feeding area. This is because [[spoiler:the monsters aren't giant worms but the tentacles of an intelligent octopoid. At several points, it sure is taking its sweet time creeping out its prey before actually eating them. Later, when Finnegan comes face to face with the creature, it grabs him with one of its tentacles, then inquisitively brings him up to its face to inspect him.]]
* Franchise/{{Godzilla}} has shown a surprising amount of intelligence in several films.
** ''Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster'': We find out here that Godzilla and Rodan are both ''much'' more intelligent than the earlier films let on, able to hold a fairly complex psychic conversation with Mothra and explain their stances on initially refusing to fight Ghidorah just to save the puny humans that keep shooting them in the face with missiles. Up until now they were generally treated as mindless animals lashing out instinctively, rather than self-aware beings with opinions and agendas.
** ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII'': Godzilla gets curbstomped in the first fight with Mechagodzilla where he mainly used his Atomic Breath which didn't effect Mechagodzilla. During the rematch, he only uses his atomic breath for a Beam-O-War before rushing into melee and beating Mechagodzilla down. He only starts using it again when Super Mechagodzilla is formed and stays out of melee range.
** ''Film/GodzillaVsSpaceGodzilla'': One of the larger showings of Godzilla's intelligence in the Heisei Era: he's the one to figure out Spacegodzilla's absorbing cosmic energy through his crystals and the city's tower and they need to be destroyed in order to defeat him. He also figures out that Spacegodzilla's shoulder crystals are his AchillesHeel and start targeting them, prompting MOGUERA's crew to comment that he's much smarter than they thought.
** ''Film/Godzilla1998'': When Godzilla is tailed by three helicopters, he successfully managed to fool them into thinking he is hiding in a skyscraper, cue him bursting from the building behind them and initiating CurbStompBattle. The final helicopter is destroyed when Godzilla crouches low to avoid being seen by it before devouring said helicopter whole. During the battle in the Hudson River, while being attacked by three U.S. Navy submarines, Godzilla swims straight at one of the subs, using the dorsal spines on his back to rip open the sub's hull, leaving it dead in the water and helpless as the torpedoes the Navy fired at him smash into the crippled sub, destroying it. When the protagonists are fleeing from Godzilla, he moves ahead of them and takes out the bridge.
** ''Film/ShinGodzilla'': During his engagement with the JSDF, Godzilla pauses before turning away from its original path. The JSDF commanders and politicians think it's a sign the defense is working. Cue Godzilla walking over to the bridge the JSDF HQ is by and then kicking said bridge on top of the HQ. It promptly resumes its journey to Tokyo's heart.
** See the Multiple Media folder on the main page for [=MonsterVerse=] examples.
* ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'': A lot of the problems arise from the human characters fatally underestimating the Gremlins' intelligence. After the evil Mogwai are spawned, they trick Billy into feeding them after midnight by sabotaging his digital clock, and on several other occasions they damage equipment to cause accidents, like cutting the brakes of a police car. Stripe knows full well that water creates more Gremlins, so he jumps into a pool when Billy pursues him, and also knows how to operate tools (he attacks Billy with a pistol and a ''mini-chainsaw'').
* ''Film/HarbingerDown'': The crew wonder if the monster is intelligent, [[TemptingFate and at that exact moment]] the power goes out. It's also [[SuperStrength bent the drive shaft]], immobilizing their ship in the ice. [[spoiler:The creature was originally a cosmonaut involved in an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong, so it's likely the creature has simply maintained it's intelligence.]]
* In the 2007 film remake of ''Film/IAmLegend'', Robert Neville ends up [[spoiler:caught in a trap similar to the one he used, with his mannequin friend as bait, watching an infected man hold back a team of infected attack dogs until the sun sets...]]
** The alternate ending also shows that [[spoiler:It Can Feel. The creatures are only attacking to get back their friend.]]
* ''Film/InTheTallGrass'': When he first enters the grass maze, Travis tries to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find his way back by tying pieces of long grass into knots. As soon as he's out of sight, ''the grass undoes the knot''.
* ''Film/ItFollows'': Hugh warns Jay that "It" is "slow, but not dumb". While "It" seems to just mindlessly chase victims, in the climax, the heroes try to trick "It" into following Jay into a swimming pool so they can electrocute "It". "It" notices the trap and instead starts throwing things at them.
* ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. The shark hunters finally realize that the shark is hunting ''them''.
* ''Film/{{Jumanji}}''. The ominous drumbeat that draws people to uncovering the board game heavily implies that it ''wants'' to be found. It's stated outright when the young Alan and Sarah first play.
-->'''Young Alan:''' Uh, oh. The game thinks I rolled...\\
'''Young Sarah:''' What do you mean "the game thinks"?
** The monkeys are smart enough to learn how to drive a car and to fire guns.
* In ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle'', it even changes its form to a retro videogame console to better catch the attention of its next players. It does this explicitly after the young gamer rejects its board game form to play video games, showing that this isn't a natural evolution of Jumanji, it made a decision.
* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** [[GreatWhiteHunter Muldoon]] in ''Film/JurassicPark1993'' demands that the ''Velociraptors'' be killed as they're far too intelligent; testing the electric fence for weaknesses (but never the same spot twice, "They remember," he warns) before they were moved to their high-walled prison. They seem to realise when the power is cut and claw their way through the electrified wire at the top. Even Muldoon underestimates their intelligence -- as he's stalking one ''Velociraptor'', another ambushes him from the side. His last words are a genuinely admiring, [[{{Touche}} "Clever girl...."]]
** "You sure the third one is contained?" [[TemptingFate "Yes, unless they figure out how to open doors."]] Cue Raptor learning how to open a door in the very next scene...
** Done even more explicitly in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', where it's implied the raptors' intelligence is improving. At one point, two characters are pinned behind a mesh door by a raptor. After trying in vain to get at them, it ''looks up at the gap between door and ceiling and begins climbing the door''. There's another scene where the raptors leave one injured man alive and hide nearby, waiting for the other humans to come out of hiding to help him. That's not even mentioning the revelation that the raptors have their own ''language''.
-->They set a trap. They actually set a trap.
** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'': It's not so much that they are outwitted but rather that they were distracted. Like any animal, they have an instinct to investigate any strange noise they hear. That doesn't excuse them from not ''learning'', which any intelligent animal would do from its mistakes.
** ''Film/JurassicWorld'' continues the tradition: the ''I. rex'' demonstrates much more intelligence than anyone realized when it [[spoiler:tricks the humans into opening a door so it can break out by clawing up the walls like it climbed them and cooling itself so the thermal cameras can't find it. Once it breaks out, it's able to not only remember a surgery that it had years ago, but somehow deduce that the surgery was to implant a tracking device into it (despite never having been tracked via the transmitter before), and clawed out the tracking device in order to use it as bait for an ambush.]] Owen's four imprinted raptors are also shown to be incredibly intelligent, such as following complex training routines on a daily basis, outwitting a team of heavily armed [=InGen=] mercenaries, and strategically {{Tag Team}}ing the ''I. rex'' to take her down. [[spoiler: Rexy the ''T. rex'' recognizes Blue as an ally in her fight against the ''I. rex'', and defeats it by shoving the ''I. rex'' toward the Mosasaurus' pool. Rexy immediately backs away to avoid being eaten herself.]]
** ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': As a creature made with DNA from the ''I. rex'', the ''Indoraptor'' inherited the smarts. [[spoiler: When Wheatley shoots him with tranquilizer darts, he pretends to be knocked out to get Wheatley to come too close]]. He also figures out how to ''open a window'', something his raptor siblings couldn't figure out in the previous film.
* Discussed in ''Film/{{Komodo}}''.
-->'''Oates:''' I think these things are getting smarter.\\
'''Denby:''' Either that, or [[SelfDeprecation we're getting dumber]].
* Romero's ''Film/LivingDeadSeries'' gradually hints that zombies were slowly gaining more intelligence or could even learn things:
** ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'': The very first zombie that appears in the film uses a brick to break the window of Barbra's car when she locks herself in. Then later on, when Karen is discovered by her mother, Karen is [[SelfMadeOrphan eating her father]] as she has become a zombie. Creepily, Zombie-Karen had enough intelligence to grab a spade and stab her horrified mother repeatedly before presumably eating her.
** In ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', as Peter fights the zombies off to get in the helicopter with Francine, one of the zombies had the smarts to wrestle the weapon away from Peter (and did the same with Roger earlier in the film). After the two remaining survivors take off, the mall plays its closing time theme. Every zombie in the mall shambles toward the exits as if they remember the purpose of the theme.
** ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'': [[GeneralRipper Captain Rhodes]] is seriously freaked out when the MadScientist demonstrates that zombies can remember certain behaviors, even how to use objects from their previous lives as humans. Such as a veteran-turned zombie recognizing the bars on his collar and remembering to salute an officer... or how to use an [[ChekhovsGun M1911 .45 pistol]].
** In ''Film/LandOfTheDead'', the zombies' intelligence has reached an all-time high. The leader of the zombies, Big Daddy, learns how to use an automatic rifle (and teaches a female zombie how to use it), the zombie horde learns to ignore the "sky flowers" (fireworks) that the humans use to distract them, and one of the undead prove mentally competent enough to chop the hand off of a soldier who has just pulled the pin on his grenade. The ending is a remarkably hopeful example of this trope, since the zombies look at people who are still alive... and keep on shambling forward, taking no interest in attacking them. Apparently, they became smart enough to get over their bloodlust.
** Unofficial spin-off ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'' runs with this as well. Turns out that zombies keep a lot of their brainpower; it's just overwhelmed by the constant agony of decomposition (that's why they eat the brains). Tar Man uses a chain winch to rip open a closet door when a victim hides behind it, demonstrating puzzle-solving abilities, and they're capable of enough speech to fake distress calls to lure additional victims (the famous "Send more paramedics" line).
* Inverted in ''Film/{{Nope}}''. [[spoiler:TheReveal of the true nature of "Jean Jacket", the UFO stalking and abducting the main characters, is kicked off by OJ realizing that its behavior only makes sense if it's not a spaceship flown by intelligent beings, but a simple-minded solitary predator. It isn't stupid, but it is a SpaceWhale that clearly doesn't have much of a strategy apart from eating safely. OJ and Emerald, who make their living as [[ChekhovsSkill animal trainers]], exploit this to lure, trap, and defeat Jean Jacket.]]
* In ''Film/PacificRim'', {{Kaiju}}s get a few scenes demonstrating their intelligence. A list of what they have been shown to do: Use tools to their advantage, play dead, attack the heads of the [[HumongousMecha Jaegers]] to specifically kill their pilots, use teamwork to take down multiple enemies and also [[spoiler:try to kill an individual human that is a threat to their mission]]. {{Justified}} in that [[spoiler:they turn out to be bioengineered weapons rather than merely rampaging beasts as previously thought, and the aliens who built them have been gradually improving the kaiju just as the humans have been improving the Jaegers]].
* Comes up in varying degrees throughout the movie ''Film/PhaseIV''. It's known from the beginning that the ants being studied by the scientists are inordinately intelligent, but as the film goes on they display a startling level of intellect and adaptability. At one point, the scientists spray poison onto a strip of land to kill a group of ants and create an impassible barrier between themselves and the insects. They wake up a day later to find that the ants had not only developed immunity to the poison and recouped their losses, but had constructed a series of reflective platforms designed to direct the desert sun onto the scientists' lab and overheat their machinery.
* Comes up in the ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' reboot films:
** In ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', the SWAT troopers have a brief OhCrap moment when they realize that the apes are capable of using tactics like flanking and using cover. [[CurbStompBattle Good tactics]].
*** This is an homage to a similiar scene in ''Film/ConquestOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', from the original series.
** In ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', the humans are horrified by the realization that the apes can talk, that they know how to use guns, and that they understand GunboatDiplomacy.
-->'''Dreyfus:''' They're just a bunch of apes!\\
'''Malcolm:''' ''(regarding the huge army of apes standing outside the settlement gates)'' Do they look like "just a bunch of apes" to you?
* In ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'', to assuage worries of possibly never being able to go out into the open world ever again, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Dr. Isaacs]] injects several zombies with a serum made from [[TokenSuper Alice]]'s blood to enable them to think and remember. It ''sorta'' works; the zombies are now capable of using items such as cell phones and a camera, but also become more dangerous because not only did the serum ''not'' remove the zombie's cannibalistic instincts, but it also made them [[LightningBruiser faster]] and [[UnstoppableRage angrier]].
* The unfortunate campers in ''Film/TheRuins'' realize the plant-like entity they're trapped with is mimicking their voices to lure them into a trap. It also mimics a cell phone ringtone further inside the ruin because it knows humans will go to that noise. When it learns of one girl's strong desire to cut herself (to get rid of vines [[SanitySlippage she thinks]] are inside of her), it proceeds to repeat her own MadnessMantra back to her until she snaps.
* Believe it or not, this comes up in ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead''. The zombies still retain shadows of their former personalities. [[spoiler: Zombie Phillip turned off the music he hated [[TemptingFate (right after Shaun told his mother that the Phillip she loved was gone forever)]]. Shaun keeps Zombie Ed chained up in the shed to play video games with. [[SuperPersistentPredator Zombie Pete somehow got all the way to the Winchester like Shaun told him to]] (except he wasn't feeling any better).]]
* In the film version of ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', the humans just quickly assume that the Bugs are dumb, mindless animals ("I find the idea of a Bug that thinks offensive"). However, the humans learn their lesson once the Bugs spring a massive trap and repel the initial human invasion force. It's later revealed that they are being led by extremely intelligent "Brain Bugs", a leadership caste. Keep in mind the war began when the bugs hit Earth with an asteroid ''from the other side of the galaxy'' and hit a population center to boot (although this is heavily implied to be a lie for propaganda purposes).
* In ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' the scientists find that their reanimated alien is a plant, not an animal. A reporter finds the idea of an "intellectual carrot" mind boggling but is told there are plants on Earth (like the Telegraph Vine and the Century Plant) that have a "kind of thinking". He's also told that intelligence in plants is older than "... the animal arrogance that ignores it." Of course, the chief scientist keeps saying the alien is wiser than us, confusing intelligence with wisdom.
* In ''Film/TheThing1982'', a remake of the above, the American crew of Outpost 31 pretty much collectively shits their pants when they realize how smart the eponymous Thing is. [[spoiler:Everything from destroying blood samples to leaving false evidence as who has been impersonated to picking off the smartest members of the camp who could come up with ways of identifying it, culminates in trying to shut off the power so it can freeze again for a rescue team to discover it, while at the same time killing its human enemies in the brutal Antarctic winter]].
* This continues in ''Film/TheThing2011'', the prequel of the above, with the Norwegan scientists. The thing quickly proves itself intelligent enough to not only clean up evidence of an attack, but to also lie about seeing a different person acting suspiciously and leaving the bathroom with cleaning supplies to not only deflect suspicion, but lull its potential victim into trusting it. [[spoiler:It's also smart enough to ''not'' attack the others with it on the helicopter, knowing to wait until they get to their destination so it can spread, and only attacking when it realizes they're not leaving. In the end, one is even clever enough to try to slip around the "it can't replicate non-organic matter" test they've been using by making a point of wearing its victim's earring -- the only thing it miscalculated on was its intended victim being observant enough [[GlamourFailure to notice the earring was on the wrong side]].]]
* ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' movies:
** In the original ''Film/Tremors1'' movie, the Graboids can not only think, but learn very quickly, to the dismay of the citizens of Perfection. Though they start out just grabbing at whatever's walking around, and smashing through things, later on they dig a trap, and the last one even figures out both the dynamite-on-a-string trick ''and'' the loud-noises-as-a-distraction trick. Val still manages to outsmart "Stumpy" with some ''very'' fast thinking.
-->'''Val''': This thing ain't smarter 'n us.
** Zigzagged in ''Film/Tremors2Aftershocks'', where the Graboids metamorphose into the next stage of their life cycle, three-foot-tall raptor things called Shriekers. Earl, who's dealt with the Graboids before, keeps mentioning their learning abilities as explanation for why the power and communications are suddenly cut off, and their escape vehicle's engine is destroyed. Later on, however, it turns out they were just attacking whatever was displaying heat. As Grady puts it, "[[AchievementsInIgnorance You mean they're acting so smart because they're so stupid?]]" Later though, the Shriekers show intelligence, forming a ladder out of themselves to get up onto the roof the heroes were hiding on.
** In ''Film/Tremors3BackToPerfection'', El Blanco, an albino Graboid that can't transform into a Shrieker, has gotten smart enough to understand that Burt can't kill until it comes onto his property. Though, on the positive side the ending and the following series shows that because he's so smart but can also get ''full'' due to being sterile, it's ultimately possible to 'train' him in a sense so it's possible to co-exist with him.
** During the climax of ''Film/Tremors4TheLegendBegins'', one of the "dirt dragons" attacks and consumes the [[{{BFG}} punt gun]] that Hiram just used to kill one of its brethren; an onlooking Juan then asks in stunned disbelief if it did that on purpose. Later, it ([[CallForward like Stumpy above]]) shows that it's learned to avoid noises being made in an attempt to distract it from attacking the trapped Fu Yen.
* In ''Film/UnderworldRiseOfTheLycans'', the first generation Werewolves, unlike the second generation Lycans, are unable to return to human form. Most consider them mindless, feral beasts, but they begin to bide their time, set up ambushes, and even set up crude booby traps like digging pits in the road to trap carriages. After Lucian makes contact with them, he finds they are able to understand orders and work with the Lycans whether or not they are in human form.
* In the movie ''Film/{{Wyvern}}'', the title monster proves itself far more intelligent than a simple animal. It destroys cars and intentionally uses them to block the interstate to keep its prey from escaping. It opens its attack on the town proper by knocking out the town's power and communications and continues to destroy any it can find. [[spoiler:And later in the movie it uses one seriously wounded but alive victim as bait to try and lure the others out.]] Justified, as it's implied it's actually the child of Hel from Norse mythology and thus less a dragon and more a divine entity shaped like one.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/ChrysalisRinoZ'': The appearance of even a single monstrous ant is cause for alarm at the best of times, since if not quickly exterminated, ants can multiply until they overrun kingdoms. But the fact that that ant was intelligent enough to run away from the alarms and the onrushing soldiers, instead of fighting them, is even more concerning for Commander Titus, and he quickly organises the Abyssal Legion to search for the nest so they can eradicate it. (The ant in question was actually the story's [[ReincarnateInAnotherWorld reincarnated]] protagonist -- and the Legion is no less alarmed when he proceeds to [[spoiler:uplift all the other ants to approximately human intelligence]].)
* ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids'' by Creator/JohnWyndham. The exact level of intelligence of the genetically-engineered [[ManEatingPlant Man-Eating Plants]] is a subject for debate, with the first-person protagonist (who worked on a Triffid farm) rubbishing the idea that Triffids are intelligent -- after all, dissections haven't found anything remotely like a brain. Others are not so sure. One man points out that the Triffids escaped from their farms within hours of everyone going blind. In another scene, a Triffid is waiting outside the very door which a person would run out of if they heard someone driving down the road.
** One of the protagonist's former friends (he's presumably blinded and then killed like most other people), who also happens to be a worker at the same Triffid farm knows that they're intelligent, and has been trying to decipher their language (rattling stick-like limbs against their hollow stems). He also notes that they always go for the eyes, having figured out that this is humanity's greatest strength, '''that''' is intelligence.
** Later on, once the CozyCatastrophe ([[SubvertedTrope which isn't as cozy as its detractors made out]]) is in full swing, it rapidly becomes obvious that Triffids are at least as intelligent as some animals: At the very least, they can learn to associate the sound of a generator with an electric fence being turned on and are seen to use some basic pack-hunting tactics.
* In Creator/PeterFHamilton's short story ''"Deathday"'' (found in the ''[[Literature/NightsDawn A Second Chance at Eden]]'' collection), there's a guy who had just buried his wife on an abandoned colony world. He starts having dreams of her turning into a local [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]] critter called a "slitherskin", which scientists had speculated was also [[PsychicPowers mildly psychic]] as a defense mechanism. Scandalized by this invasion of his mind, the guy goes on a crusade to kill the animal snooping around his house, even remarking at the end that "like every cornered animal, it ''charged''". He later goes back to deposit his rifle at his wife's grave. The next day, he finds that the creature had laid eggs (also a bit psychic) disguised as rocks at the gravesite. The last thing he sees is one of the slitherskin hatchlings taking the rifle, and [[OhCrap pulling the trigger.]]
* ''Literature/TheGreatZooOfChina'': The dragons are FAR smarter than their Chinese zookeepers realise, even having a complex language to communicate with.
* ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'' by Creator/HPLovecraft. The expedition to Antarctica uncovers some fossils of what they assume are prehistoric plants and begins dissecting them. The {{narrator}} later discovers the camp wrecked, and the dogs and scientists all killed except for one missing man, who they assume went insane. It's only when they find his dissected body that they realize the horrible truth -- the so-called fossils are actually sentient aliens capable of hibernating for millennia, and once had a civilization superior to man's.
* In ''Literature/TheReturnOfTheKing'', there were the Two Watchers, gargoyles who guarded the entrance to the Tower of Cirith Ungol. While they seemed to be immobile statues, they also seemed at least partially sentient, and could keep trespassers out with an invisible barrier created through force of will alone. Samwise (who felt an evil presence in them, like "some web like Shelob's, only invisible") got into the Tower the first time using the Phial of Galadriel, but the two Watchers were expecting him when he came back after rescuing Frodo, requiring both of them to use the Phial with the power of Elvish words to escape.
* Variation in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' books. We're told early on that short tailed gars are more intelligent than the long tailed variety, and Zedd even has a brief conversation with one (consisting of threatening it, asking its name, and sending it to kill their pursuers), but even then they're mostly treated like animals. In later books, however, it turns out they're quite intelligent, and a whole herd of the buggers pulls a HeelFaceTurn (or at least agrees to stop eating humans). [[FridgeLogic It took them how long to realize the ''talking'' monsters were smart]]?
* ''Literature/NoGodsForDrowning'': Glories are monsters that prey on humanity, but it's revealed that they can't communicate with people per se that they're much smarter than what you would think. Glories are intelligent and like to prey on sapient prey, as it's more fun to them than killing non-intelligent animals. They mimic the voices of their victims to lure them in and then mentally destroy them to increase their suffering for sheer fun.

* In Jeff [=VanderMeer's=] Literature/{{Ambergris}}-stories many characters express scepticism about the sentience or abilities of the Graycaps, but it's quite clear to the reader that they are quite possibly superhumanly intelligent and extremely dangerous when they want to be. The dual narrators of ''Shriek: An Afterword'' make a pretty good case of this being pure denial that the sceptics pursue to protect their own peace of mind.
* Inverted in ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'', where all the evidence of the AlienInvasion is that there must be some intelligence behind it, yet there's no sign of spaceships or any other means of crossing interstellar distances. The Chtorran gastropedes are assumed to be behind things, yet their intelligence is that of the idiot savant -- they're very good at opening locks and can somehow communicate over distances, yet little else. The series appears to be implying that [[spoiler:the entire Chtorran ecology is some form of HiveMind.]]
* The Museum Beast/Mbwun from the [[Literature/TheRelic novel]] and [[Film/TheRelic movie]] ''The Relic'' is able to recognize traps, hide bodies, and do what it can to stay out of sight from humans. {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that it [[spoiler:used to be human itself]].
* When the heroes in ''Literature/CodexAlera'' first come up against [[HordeOfAlienLocusts the Vord]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero after Tavi awakened them,]] it seems like it's going to be a case of "send in the army to exterminate the nest of mindless monsters". Unfortunately for them, it turns out that the Vord aren't just intelligent, but ''brilliant''. Heck, the Queen [[spoiler:set up all the circumstances for the Alerans' attack herself. And so a MalignantPlotTumor was born...]]
** [[spoiler:In fact, the only reason the Aleran villagers survived the second book was because the Queen [[EvilCannotComprehendGood didn't expect self-sacrifice from humans.]] She was observing their tactics, recruiting their best fighters, upgrading her troops by researching their magic, etc. She was stunned at a bad moment upon realizing that their smartest tactician was AxCrazy (in her eyes).]]
* At first the Dark Ones who are attacking [[Literature/{{Darwath}} the realm of Darwath]] are considered to be simple monsters, no more intelligent than predatory animals. Then they [[spoiler:make and execute a complex plan to kill the infant Prince Altir and his mother in a way that looks like an accident]]. About the same time, Ingold and Gil discover that [[spoiler:long ago, the Dark lived on the surface and even built cities]]. Late in the second book, Ingold and Rudy discover that [[spoiler:the Dark Ones have a HiveMind, and any human wizard who shapechanges into a Dark One loses his or her individuality and becomes part of the mass-mind forever]].
* In ''The Gnome's Engine'', the townsfolk of Hob's Church have been trying to wipe out the local burrowing hobgoblins, considering them unintelligent, destructive pests. When a device under construction is sabotaged, one resident speculates that the hobgoblins did it, thinking it to be another hobgoblin-killing booby trap. One of the heroines calls him out on this ("They ''thought'' it was?"), and the accuser is horrified to realize that he, himself, isn't as convinced that hobgoblins are dumb animals as he'd believed. [[spoiler: In fact, the hobgoblins ''are'' intelligent, but it's a human who sabotaged the device.]]
* Subverted in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', where the mercenary at the Long Island celebrities' fortress hears that their attackers can move quickly, and is frightened by the possibility that the zombies might ''think'', too. It's a subversion because [[spoiler: the attackers aren't zombies at all, but desperate civilians who'd seen the fortress's TV broadcasts, and are determined to seize this refuge for their families.]]
* Non-monster variant: In ''Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH'', we ''see'' this trope take effect upon Nicodemus in the laboratory as his intellect improves. Later, the sapient rats go to considerable lengths to avert this trope from their human pursuers' perspective, destroying all evidence of their more civilized lifestyle [[spoiler: and even leaving a suicide-squad of naked fighters behind, at least some of whom [[HeroicSacrifice are gassed to death,]] all to "prove" they're [[ObfuscatingStupidity just ordinary rats.]]]]
* In the ''Literature/MythAdventures'' novels, the main character's [[OurDragonsAreDifferent pet dragon]] Gleep seems from his perspective to be roughly on the same intellectual level as a puppy. Later novels show things from the dragon's perspective, and reveal both that it is quite intelligent and that it considers the main character to be ''its'' pet.
* Subverted in Stephen Baxter's ''Literature/{{Evolution}}'', in the first flashback. There's mention of a dinosaur that's smarter than the others, but all this means is that it's "smart enough to go insane" - it submerges its survival instincts in order to hold a grudge against one of humanity's ancestors for eating its eggs.
* In ''Brains: A Zombie Memoir'', some of the human antagonists react this way to the protagonists, who are among the few zombies capable of intelligent thought.
* Non-monster example: the ending of ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' suggests that the Curious Squid are somewhat civilized and either built for themselves or adapted to living in the buildings on Leshp. They can't figure out why their city disappears above the sea every once in a while, though.
* In ''Literature/{{Phantoms}}'', there's a very nasty OhCrap moment when the characters figure out the EldritchAbomination has human-level intelligence and awareness, and is terrorizing them ForTheEvulz.
* In ''Literature/TheLongDarkTeatimeOfTheSoul'', Dirk Gently has a crazed eagle trapped in his house, and is squinting through the keyhole trying to see where it is. He gets a nasty shock when he realises it's on the other side of the door, looking back through the keyhole at him. [[spoiler: This is because it's actually a jet fighter [[ForcedTransformation transformed into an eagle]] with the mind of the pilot, for getting in Thor's way.]]
* Three-quarters through ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'', the crew of the Theseus suddenly make the startling discovery that [[spoiler:the [[StarfishAliens "scramblers"]] they have been fighting, capturing, torturing and experimenting on are intelligent beings: They're intelligent without being ''sentient'', a concept that was entirely alien to the crew up to that point and makes the "scramblers" so alien that trying to communicate with them meaningfully is impossible. At this point they also realise their "captives" let themselves get captured intentionally and have been spying on them. Things rapidly take a turn for the worse.]]
* Basically the entire plot of the book ''Literature/WarmBodies'', where an encounter with a human survivor causes a zombie to not only start coming back to life, but also to ''fall in love'' with her.
* ''Literature/NemesisSaga''
** Nemesis' human DNA gives her a conscience that constantly clashes with her {{Kaiju}} side's urge to kill. She can focus her vengeance on specific targets and responds to her human name, Maigo.
** Typhon not only looks mostly human, he thinks like one too.
* ''Literature/TheTerror''. After the monster first attacks a scouting party, the Franklin Expedition sets up a camouflaged hunting blind to ambush what they assume is a large and aggressive species of polar bear. Instead the monster sneaks up on them via a hole they'd cut in the ice for a BurialAtSea, attacks the blind from the side and kills the expedition commander.
* ''[[Literature/SpaceMarineBattles Death of Integrity]]'' goes to great length to establish that Genestealers aren't just a random packs of feral beasts. They can study, ambush, use adaptive tactics, find practical uses for their own corpses, [[spoiler:identify and destroy your communication lines]]...
* ''Literature/{{Prey}}'' by Michael Crichton features a swarm of nanites that has artificial intelligence and algorithms programmed into its features so effectively that these things eventually enable it to ''think''. It learns how to hunt like a predator, kill to eat, and even reproduce way out in the desert where it escaped to, close to the facility it was created in. The scientists who created it eventually decide science went too far and know they need to destroy the nanites, but not before it learns to mimic its prey in form and features. [[spoiler: Eventually, the scientists struggling to survive learn that the swarm was intentionally released so that it may learn to do all this and more.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' the [[{{Kaiju}} Endbringers]] are treated as monsters or natural disasters. Underestimating their intelligence based on this is a mistake. Armsmaster learned this the hard way, thinking he could perfectly predict Leviathan in a combat situation only for it to play along before using a previously unseen move.
* ''Literature/{{Twig}}'': Rev. Mauer realizes this when talking in front of a Primordial lifeform (life capable of learning and altering its own body however it wants). He'd instructed his people growing the Primordial to stop it from developing intelligence, but he soon realizes by its reactions to overhearing his orders that they've failed.
-->'''Mauer''': Do you know? When I said that, you relaxed your muscles at your shoulder, your mouth sagged, and your wings dropped. You subconsciously prepared yourself to wait... and you just tensed. That took you about twenty seconds. You damn well understand me, don't you? And not just my tone of voice.
* The "Phoners" in Stephen King's ''Literature/{{Cell}}'' start out as mindless and vicious zombies, attacking each other and unaffected people alike, but gradually begin to form flocks, then a HiveMind, and eventually a collective with an elaborate plan to turn all the unaffected humans into Phoners.
* In ''Literature/TheExpanse'' novels the Protomolecule pulls this surprise and then more, not only can it think, but it can move an asteroid out of the way of an oncoming starship, and communicate across the solar system. [[spoiler: Most notably the "failsafe" bombs in the Protomolecule-super soldiers of ''Caliban's War'' only work the first time, later ones rip them out before they detonate.]]
* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': During the David trilogy, the team are investigating a problem at sea near some boats when a killer whale moves in on them. They move closer to the boats, thinking the noise of the propellers will drive it off, before it reveals itself to be David in morph. Fortunately, Cassie gets away and morphs a humpback whale before looming up behind him (because he doesn't know enough about whales to know she wouldn't be able to eat him, he backs off).
* In the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' gamebook ''Literature/CreatureOfHavoc'', the protagonist is a hulking, scaly, spiny, clawed, [[ImAHumanitarian man-eating]] monster. When it wanders into the town of Coven, people take one look and run for cover. It can then go shopping, to the utter bewilderment of the storekeeper who accepts its coin.
* Said sarcastically by Literature/SherlockHolmes when he first meets Literature/MaryRussell, who literally trips over him in a field and works out very quickly that he is trying to track bees to find a new hive. She understandably takes offense and quickly becomes his apprentice.
* In the ''Literature/TufVoyaging'' story "Guardians" it's not the monsters emerging from Namor's oceans to attack the colonists that are intelligent, but rather [[spoiler: a small mollusc that the colonists thought was nothing but good with butter, with no idea of their psionic abilities.]]
* ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' is set in an AlternateHistory where sapient dragons exist across the globe. Britain's are either paired with {{Dragon Rider}}s in the Aerial Corps or [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman kept in isolated breeding grounds]], so few Britons know that they're intelligent, and many are quite surprised when a dragon starts talking to them -- or, in Temeraire's case, quizzing them on their mathematical and literary knowledge.
** The same setting features [[YowiesAndBunyipsAndDropBearsOhMy bunyips]] as burrowing dragon-like ambush predators. After Temeraire and Iskierka wreck a few burrows for the bunyips picking off some of their human crew, the bunyips retaliate with frightening intelligence: first by diverting water underground to trap a sleeping Temeraire in quicksand and attacking his crew while they’re occupied with pulling him out, and then by draining billabongs across their projected flight path, in the process demonstrating that bunyip colonies can plan and communicate with each other over long distances. To avoid dying of thirst, Temeraire is forced to placate the bunyips by hunting food for them.
* In ''Literature/SolarDefendersTheRoleOfAShield'', after a MonsterOfTheWeek displays signs of intelligence, [[TheHeart Jenny]] expresses remorse afterwards for killing it. [[ShellShockedVeteran Kawena]] counters that if it was sentient, then the damage it caused was a result of choosing to cause harm rather than simply acting on instinct.
* In ''Literature/SpaceGlass'', Nicora is thrown off guard by the realization that the Marauder can speak.
* ''Literature/ChildrenOfTime:'' Inverted by the partially-[[UpliftedAnimal uplifted]] ants. Despite developing sophisticated behaviors such as glassmaking and metallurgy, they ''don’t'' think. Each individual ant is just a bundle of dumb reflexes, and the intelligence they display as a collective superorganism is pure computation, using trial and error to discover more efficient means of expanding the colony and then improving on those means without consciously understanding why or how they work.
* In ''Literature/TheFindersStoneTrilogy'', the ancient god Moander seems like a mindless, man-eating MuckMonster when he first appears. But when he speaks to Alias through a possessed Akabar, it becomes clear that the god is both intelligent and evil. He tells Alias how he plans to visit the abandoned capital of his ancient enemies and dance on the rubble, and tries to break her spirit by revealing the terrible truth about [[spoiler:her origins as an ArtificialHuman]].

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheAndromedaStrain'': The eponymous [[ThePlague Andromeda strain]] is a contagion that has at least some form of rudimentary intelligence as it can manipulate its carriers to get into locations that will spread the virus much faster, such as having infected birds suicide into a river it can spread itself further via the water.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars "The Waters of Mars"]]: When various crewmembers of Bowie Base One become infected by waterborne parasites that turn them into liquid-spewing bloated zombies, the hive mind-controlling them proves to not be stupid. They even manage to short out the systems of an airlock to bust it open.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone "Flesh and Stone"]]: In their [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink first appearance]], the Weeping Angels were ''merely'' predators who sneak up on you when you're not looking and displace you in time. Here, they work together to [[NeckSnap break necks]], lay traps and steal voices as bait. And that's just the beginning...
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E5Oxygen "Oxygen"]]: The personnel of mining station ''Chasm Forge'' wear "smartsuits", spacesuits with a basic problem-solving AI. When the suits turn against the crew, the AI turns out to be quite up to the task of solving the problems presented by jury-rigged locked doors and missing maps.
** The Dregs in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E3Orphan55 "Orphan 55"]] initially appear to be animalistic predators, but when the Doctor manages to trap one of them in a MexicanStandoff, it's smart enough to figure out the nature of the stand-off, and recognise that temporarily co-operating with the Doctor gives it the best chance of survival.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E6Praxeus "Praxeus"]]: [[spoiler:Suki warns that [[TheVirus Praxeus]] is capable of sensing efforts to cure it, and she's proven right when the infected crows attack the lab moments later.]]
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'': This is Topher's non-verbal reaction to Echo when she ([[EmptyShell in her blank, wiped state]]) outright requests that he give her a "treatment" so she can help him better.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': [[AxCrazy The Reavers]] might be utterly insane and indiscriminately violent, but that doesn't mean that the're ''stupid.'' What little is seen of their methods hints at them having excellent hunting skills, with them typically relying on stealth, patience, and subtlety. Furthermore, when they aren't relying on traps or surprise, they can use high-tech (and non-lethal) methods for disabling and capturing fleeing ships. And in the end, they can always fall back to [[ZergRush strength in numbers]].
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** If his reaction to Jaime calling him an idiot even before is any indication, there is still a somewhat of sentience in Gregor Clegane after [[MadScientist Qyburn]] turns him into an UndeadAbomination. He can also be seen smiling when he is about to torture/rape Unella. [[spoiler: And ultimately, he stops obeying Cersei's orders -- killing Qyburn when he tries to put him back in line -- when given an opportunity to finally [[CainAndAbel face off with his brother]].]]
** Tyrion suggests that the dragons are more intelligent than simple beasts, and goes down to talk to them. It's not clear if they understand what Tyrion says but they don't hurt him, and Rhaegal calmly offers his neck to Tyrion after he removes Viserion's collar. They also don't hurt Missandei, as she's a friend of their mother. Drogon also proves Tyrion right. After witnessing his brother Viserion being shot down by the Night's King via a well-aimed ice spear, when Drogon takes off and the Night's King throws a spear at him, Drogon quickly jerks to the left to avoid being hit and the lance sails harmlessly past his shoulder. Note, he did this ''after'' the Night's King already threw the spear at him, showing Drogon was intelligent enough to guess where the projectile would go and moving quickly enough to avoid it.
* In the ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' episode "The Devil in the Dark", Spock deduces that not only is the monster intelligent, it has a valid reason for killing the miners. It turns out that the "crystals" the miners are collecting are actually [[MonsterIsAMommy the monster's eggs]]. Fortunately, the creature, called a Horta, is able to bargain with the humans to arrive at a mutually agreeable compromise.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' ("Bliss"). Voyager encounters a huge space-dwelling alien that can create [[LotusEaterMachine illusions in the minds of starship crews]] so they fly right into its maw.
-->'''Emh:''' Judging by these bio-scans the organism's been devouring life forms for a bit longer than thirty-nine years. I'd estimate it's at least 200,000 years old.\\
'''Qatai:''' The intelligent always survive.\\
'''Emh:''' I wouldn't go that far. It appears to operate on highly-evolved instinct. I haven't detected any signs of sentience.\\
'''Qatai:''' Oh, he's intelligent, all right. Smart enough to fool your crew into taking you offline.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In the episode “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid”, Dean and Bobby, having locked themselves in a room, learn that the zombies pursuing them have not lost all of their mental faculties as one might assume.
-->[Zombies pound at the door]\\
'''Dean:''' (confident) It’s all right. They’re idiots. They can’t pick a lock.\\
[The pounding immediately stops and the zombies are heard fiddling with the lock]\\
'''Bobby:''' Don’t you ever get tired of being wrong?\\
'''Dean:''' I’m making this stuff up as I go. Sue me!\\
[The door bursts open]
* ''Franchise/TheWalkingDeadTelevisionUniverse'':
** ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'':
*** Although most walkers are pretty much your average run-of-the-mill zombie when it comes to intelligence, several walkers stand out when it comes to this. Morgan Jones' wife, who tries to open a door by twisting the doorknob and even gazes into the peephole, certain members of the walker horde can manage to climb ladders and one particular walker that showed tool use, namely grabbing a big rock and using it to smash in the windows holding them back from potential prey.
*** Milton tries an experiment with an elderly cancer patient to test whether this trope comes into effect, but when said elderly patient simply attacks him upon reanimation instead, he calls it off.
*** The protagonists think that this trope is going into effect in Season 9 when they encounter walkers that appear able to talk and use knives, leading to a discussion about whether the virus that created them could have evolved to this point. However, it's subverted when it turns out that they've actually just met the Whisperers, living humans who wear skin masks and act like walkers to blend in with them.
*** The walkers shown in early Season 1 episodes to have rudimentary human intellect (such as Morgan's wife or the one who used a rock) were initially written off as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, with the show writers admitting that they were making up the rules as they went at the time. However, they were re-canonized when a group of the protagonists encountered a small horde of walkers capable of climbing over walls and opening doors in the Season 11 episode "Variant", the episode title making it clear that these are another variant breed like the below ''World Beyond'' example (which chronologically aired first). These intelligent walkers later prove just how dangerous they are in "Family", when several scale the Commonwealth's walls and open the gates for the rest of the horde to swarm in.
** ''Series/TheWalkingDeadWorldBeyond'': In TheStinger for the final episode, we're introduced to a "variant" zombie quite different from the walkers. And while the most obvious differences are that these reanimate much quicker, are capable of running and appear to be much stronger, it's also evident that they're at least somewhat intelligent -- the woman that we see become one was watching a video beforehand, which is still playing in the background only to be ignored by the new zombie, who instead turns around and rushes off in the direction of the person who just shot her.

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* The unnamed xenomorphs in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series.
** In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', the alien drone pretends to block Ripley's path to the shuttle, causing her to go and try to disable the ''Nostromo's'' self-destruct, while the Alien hides in the shuttle and he waits until Ripley returns and enters with him to escape in the shuttle. The Alien manages to hide in the shuttle, unseen by Ripley by blending his biomechanical body with the pipes and wall of the ship. When Ripley discovers that the Alien is on board the ship with her, the Alien does not attack or chase Ripley and he uses his second jaw and seems to determine that Ripley has nowhere to go. The Alien believes that Ripley poses no threat to him (until Ripley pisses him off with the steam vents).
** In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the power is cut off moments before the aliens attack. In a later scene, Ripley engages in some nonverbal negotiation with the Queen Alien, threatening the Queen's eggs. The Queen clearly comprehends Ripley's threat and calls for her warriors to back off to prevent it. She's also able to operate the lift to pursue Ripley. The only thing they didn't understand was that overloading atmospheric processor...
** In ''Film/AlienResurrection'', the captive xenomorph immediately realises the connection between the blasts of [[KillItWithIce cold-gas]] that hit it and the BigRedButton, backing off the instant the scientist moves to hit it a second time. This later serves to bite the ass of a security mook. Likewise the aliens wait till communications are cut off (during security's fight with the mercenaries) before [[WeNeedADistraction implementing their escape]]. They also notice that the BigRedButton was locked up at the time. They later lay a trap by herding the humans towards their egg room. Plus, the xenomorphs seem to be aware of the acidity of their blood as two xenomorphs kill another, with the blood corroding a hold in the floor for the rest to escape.
** ''Film/AlienVsPredator'' shows the Xenomorphs can work around predator setups just as well as human rigs. When the queen realized she couldn't get out of the shackles, she called back all of her offspring and ordered them to attack her so that her blood would corrode the shackles and free her.
** In ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator2'', when playing as the alien you overhear a human commander explaining their plan to defeat the aliens, who he says are just stupid animals. Your next task is to relay this plan to the Queen, who promptly develops a successful counterattack.
** As in the movies that inspired it, ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' shows the xenomorph to be very adaptive, as it learns your patterns, and ''even uses your own behaviour against you to lure you into traps''. Excessively use noisemakers? It'll start ignoring them, and start trying to pinpoint where the noisemaker was thrown ''from''. Like the flamethrower? It will hang around ''just outside'' of the flamethrower's effective range, waiting for you to turn your back or lower your guard for a split second to make that DeadlyLunge. Use lockers to hide? It will start searching them more thoroughly, and then it will adopt a tactic of ''pretending'' to leave the room and then dropping back in when you emerge. Overuse molotovs and pipebombs? It will avoid trying to catch you in open areas and try to get you in tight corridors and vents instead, where the splash damage prevents you from using them. Most terrifyingly of all though, it ''[[{{Sadist}} develops a personal vendetta against the player character]]'': if it catches her in a wide area or a corridor, it will run after you (and probably kill you as it is a LightningBruiser); if it corners her in a room or other place with no visible means of escape, it will opt for the OminousWalk, as if to say "''Uh oh, looks like you've got nowhere to go this time, you poor thing.''"
* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
** This is especially played up with [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingGhidorah King Ghidorah]] in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' and [[spoiler:his reincarnation, [[Characters/MonsterVerseMechagodzilla Mechagodzilla]], in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'']]. Ghidorah quickly establishes that he's genuinely evil and not only aware of humanity, but actively wants to see us killed. When Madison unplugs the Kaiju-attracting ORCA from the speakers in Boston, Ghidorah not only zeroes in on her in seconds, but Ichi's (Ghidorah's [[MultipleHeadCase middle head]]) eyes narrowing as it looks through the window at her heavily imply that he's worked out he's being tricked by this tiny human - something reinforced by his preparing to obliterate her with all three of his heads' gravity beams even after the ORCA is smashed.
** ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseGodzilla Godzilla]] gives the distinct impression of regarding the protagonist at one point when it eyeballs him close up. The [=MUTO=]s hint at it as well, such as when the female figures out that Brody [[MamaBear is what killed her eggs.]]
*** Another notable moment is the [[Characters/MonsterVerseMUTO female MUTO]] seems to actively ''wait'' for [[spoiler:the train carrying the nuclear weapons]] and ambush them, making use of her natural camouflage. Also, it appears by the point of the San Francisco fight, the Mutos have learned to weaponize their EMP abilities (before primarily using the shockwave accompanying it to throw shoulders).
*** At the tail end of the fight with the male MUTO, Big G is clearly watching, waiting and ''planning''. [[spoiler:He doesn't turn to face the threat, as you'd expect an animal under attack to do, but keeps his back toward the approaching MUTO and thus lures him into position to slam him into a skyscraper with an unexpected tail attack]]. Similarly, Godzilla has clearly learned that the female MUTO is resistant to his atomic breath, [[spoiler:and so he forces her mouth open to [[AttackTheMouth direct the blast straight down her throat]]]].
** In the prequel graphic novel ''Godzilla: Awakening'', when a piece of the [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju Shinomura]] colony escapes its tank in Monarch's HQ, it forms a tendril, which has the intelligence to pull the lever on the other side of the glass which the Monarch staff had previously thrown to feed the captive Shinomura radiation; enabling the creature to regrow its massive form.
** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseSkullIslandKaijuAndOtherCreatures The Big One]], as shown when it [[spoiler:tail-whips Cole into a wall instead of eating him when he's clearly about to pull a HeroicSacrifice]]. Also [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingKong Kong]], when he sees the ship propeller attached to the chain he's holding and figures that he can use it as a weapon.
** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'':
*** [[Characters/MonsterVerseMothra Mothra]] is the first Titan to flat out try to communicate with humans, alerting Monarch to the fact [[spoiler:Godzilla's still alive and actively leading them to help him]]. The novelization seems to have her telepathically contact Madison and save her. This plays into the ambiguity of [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane whether she's just a huge prehistoric animal worshipped as a deity, or a genuinely supernatural animalistic goddess]].
*** In the novelization, a cephalopod-like Titan called Kraken (''not'' [[OneSteveLimit the same one from]] ''[[OneSteveLimit Skull Island]]'' mentioned below) tricks Monarch into thinking it's died, then it destroys the facility monitoring it with remarkable cunning and efficiency.
** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': As is the norm, both titular monsters come across as far more intelligent than their appearances suggest, with both showing adaptive and reasoning skills -- the Monarch crew express incredulity when they witness Kong communicating with Jia using sign language.
** ''WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023'': The BigBad, the [[KrakenAndLeviathan Kraken]], is clearly intelligent ''and'' malicious, its CombatTentacles toying with the humans that they attack, before fatally maiming them or hurling them into the sea to certain death. The Kraken is also tactical enough that it refuses to leave the water in order to fight Kong, because it knows that it has the HomefieldAdvantage against Kong in the sea, while the opposite will be true if it comes after Kong on the island's dry land -- instead, it tries to goad Kong into fighting it in the water in blind rage, by killing innocent whales and throwing their bodies across the sky at Kong's temple.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/AllFleshMustBeEaten'': The vast majority of zombies are mindless; the default Intelligence is "Dumb as Dead Wood", a -2 on a scale of 1 to 6. But the Zombie Master is given a full palette of intelligence options, from Tool Use (at 1, they can break windows with rocks; at 3, they can ''drive cars'') to Long-Term Memory (they know you went behind that wall, and they know you have to come out sometime) to Problem-Solving (sure, you locked the door, but they can figure out how to move boxes and get into the window). A clever Zombie Master can shock the players with just how much the zombies can learn.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Oozes are typically mindless creatures that work purely through ingrained stimulus and response. Mustard jellies stand out for having human-level intelligence, enough to recognize the value of treasure as bait to lure in more victims. They are thought to have come about when a young wizard attempted to polymorph herself into an ochre jelly.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': This is quoted in ''GURPS: Magic'' 4th Edition, where it's played for horror. The funny thing is that it's mentioned again in Chapter 17 (Meta-Spells) on page 121, where the actual enchantments are explained as well as how they work, and again in Chapter 24 (Technological spells), where the reaction in Chapter 14 is played for laughs.
-->'''Chapter 14:''' "This abomination ''thinks'', somehow. It perceives, it decides, and it acts. Yet it does not live..."\\
'''Chapter 24:''' "My cell phone does that." "Well, yeah, but this doesn't have any mana chips in it or anything. It's all spells and analog enchantments." "Oh. So?" "I dunno. I guess that used to be a big deal..."
* ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'' has Pandorans, mindless miscarriages of the process of creating a new Promethean who hunger endlessly for the vitriol of Prometheans. However, in rare occasions, a number of Pandorans can pull themselves together and form a Sublimatus, a fully-intelligent, nearly-human monstrosity that uses its new wits and cunning in an attempt to feast on Prometheans.
* ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'': Many creatures are scarily intelligent, often to the surprise and despair of the Earthlings that first encountered them. The trip line spider of Venus sets up complicated booby traps, the Yetis of Callisto are intelligent, able to slip out of captivity and evade pursuit in the mountains of Germany and then there are creatures that may well be sentient.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** Back before the Literature/HorusHeresy, the few times the Emperor acknowledged that there were ''[[OurDemonsAreDifferent entities]]'' in [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]], he denied this trope. Unfortunately for everyone, he was lying, and the Chaos Gods were not just intelligent, but actively scheming to ruin the galaxy.
** Most followers of [[WarGod Khorne]] are AxeCrazy [[TheBerserker berserkers]], but many of his top champions, such as Kharn the Betrayer, are full-on {{Genius Bruiser}}s... ''and'' still AxeCrazy [[TheBerserker berserkers]].
** The is frequently cited as the greatest danger of fighting [[OurOrcsAreDifferent the Orks]]. While the average Ork Boy is a DumbMuscle BloodKnight, they possess a bestial cunning that can surprise an overconfident foe. The Warboss who leads a warband is the [[LargeAndInCharge largest]] Ork in it, but is oftentimes also the ''smartest'' Ork in it, especially those from the Blood Axes clan, who appreciate [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame turning an enemy's tactics against them.]]
*** The overwhelming majority of Orks are so impetuous, rowdy and unsophisticated that some Imperial commanders flat-out refuse to believe that Ork [[StealthExpert "Kommandos"]] exist, but there are indeed Orks who revel in slithering through the underbrush to slit sentries' throats and perform acts of sabotage to support their warband. And then there's Boss Snikrot of the Red Skull Kommandos, an utter genius at guerilla warfare even by ''human'' standards.
*** This gets topped by [[BigBad the Beast's]] Orks in ''Literature/TheBeastArises'', who possess Eldar-tier technology, professionally-manufactured weaponry, and a solid grasp of strategy and tactics at all levels of military operation as well as formal military organisation. One of the Orks gives a WhamLine when he offers terms of surrender [[spoiler:in fluent Gothic: "Don't need an interpreter. We tell you how to surrender, you surrender. Easy."]]
** This pops up a lot when the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] are involved. Individually, Tyranids are hyper-evolved killing animals, but the HiveMind directing them has proven to be frighteningly intelligent, staging ambushes and feigning attacks to probe enemy defences. The Hive Mind has fooled Imperial Guard generals, Space Marine captains, Chaos warlords, even [[MagnificentBastard Eldar farseers]] have been confounded by its tactical prowess.
*** The Swarmlord is the most advanced, most intelligent Hive Tyrant to ever exist. Its tactical and strategic genius is such that, during the Tyranid's assault on the Ultramarines homeworld, the monster consistently outfoxed the Ultramarines, who are known to be the best Space Marines in terms of adaptability, tactics, and strategy. The Swarmlord is functionally immortal, for each time its body dies, its mind is reabsorbed into the Hive Mind so it can be respawned into a new body wherever it is needed anywhere in the galaxy. In this way, it has accumulated eons of combat experience, quite possibly making it the most experienced military leader in the galaxy.
*** Deathleaper is a particularly cunning Lictor that, during the Tyranid invasion of St. Caspalen, realized that [[DontCreateAMartyr simply killing the Imperials' leader would galvanize morale.]] Instead, Deathleaper repeatedly stalked and attacked Cardinal Salem's bodyguard, killing everyone around him and soaking him in their blood, but never laid a talon on the Cardinal. After a few rounds of this, Cardinal Salem went quite insane, and with his suicide the defense of the planet all but collapsed.
** Officially, Razorwings are animals. However, they often display worryingly intelligent behavior, such as complex coordination and tactics during hunts, usually paired with what are clearly verbal and visual signals, and a tendency to elaborately parade the fruits of their kills to each other. One incident in the ''Liber Xenologis'' suggests that they may be smart enough to deliberately play human factions against each other for their own benefit.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', trolls are just barely tool-using and capable of speech to some degree, but mostly considered little more than humanoid beasts. Many troll slayers who sought out the infamous chaos troll Throgg have failed to realize in time that amongst his obvious mutations is a subtle one and he's not just hideously strong and tough but probably smarter than they are.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* The witch in ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' acknowledges this trope upon realizing a giant has entered the kingdom.
-->"With a giant, we'll all have to battle. A giant's the worst. A giant has a brain. Hard to outwit a giant."

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The [=UAVs=] that Erusea deploys against Osea in ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'' [[{{Averted}} avert]] this trope, [[spoiler: but [[FinalBoss Hugin and Munin]] play this straight. When they go online, they fly towards the Lighthouse to use its radio transmission capabilities to upload their data to automated drone factories to start a RobotWar. When they’re shot down and fly in their base forms, one of them proceeds to record and analyze Trigger to further improve themselves, while the other one flies into the underground tunnel towards the lighthouse, hacks into the tunnel’s shutters to slow down Trigger and Count when they chase after them, and even stages an ambush near the end of the tunnel.]]
* The titular ''VideoGame/AoOni'' initially seems like a mindless cannibalistic predator, but quickly proves itself capable of thinking and planning. It's able to lay traps, cut you off by locking exit doors and destroying an escape ladder to trap you in the house, and [[spoiler:your friends who have been turned into onis themselves are wholly capable of masquerading as humans, speech and all, to trick you]].
* A few creatures in ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved'':
** ''Troodon'' selectively prefer to attack humans and tamed creatures over wild ones. Helena posits that they are HuntingTheMostDangerousGame, are not so much tamed as ''allied with'' by letting them battle and kill your creatures, and describes them as being capable of communicating their experiences to each other where most animals have to learn on their own.
** The giant mantids in ''Scorched Earth'' are capable of tool use (they have opposable claws on their forearms), complex language, and sophisticated ambush tactics. Dahkeya's notes describe an incident where they broke a water pipe into the village purely so they could attack the humans that came out to fix it.
** The Noglins in ''Genesis Part 2'' are parasites that can control any creature to which they are attached. This includes humans, so they are [[RequiredSecondaryPowers by necessity]] intelligent enough to operate anything a human can operate, from spears to HumongousMecha. [[spoiler: This is intentional; Rockwell made the Noglins to enslave the Genesis ship's human personnel and serve him.]] Like Troodon, wild Noglins are tamed by allowing them to attack (in this case, possess) your creatures until they decide you're worth obeying.
* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine:''
** Although it's been revealed that [[spoiler: the Projectionist]] used to be [[spoiler: [[WasOnceAMan Norman Polk]]]], he seemed to be one of the many mindless monsters in Joey Drew Studios. He never spoke to Henry, only screeching instead when he saw him. Prior to Chapter 4, he also had NoObjectPermanence, which allowed Henry to get away easily by hiding in a Little Miracle Station. However, at one point in Chapter 4, he [[spoiler: chases Henry up the stairs.]] There, the door has been sealed shut ahead of Henry, and when Henry tries to hide, he keeps looking at the Little Miracle Station where Henry is, even coming closer. Luckily, [[spoiler: Bendy shows up]].
** Although Bendy falls for Henry hiding in the Little Miracle Stations too, there are some points in the game where it's clear that he's got some level of intelligence. Perhaps the most obvious example is in Chapter 5 - he hid the [[spoiler: [[SecretWeapon one thing that could harm him, a reel labeled "The End,"]]]] in the one place all the studio's other inhabitants are too scared to go: his lair.
* Grace Holloway in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' has this realization about Subject Delta, the Big Daddy that you play as, should you choose to spare her.
-->'''Grace:''' You had me under a gun... and yet you just walk away? No monster alive turns the other cheek... No ''monster'' does that. A ''thinking'' man does that.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': Most of the bosses you face are humans who lost themselves to the Beast Scourge and are now feral. And then there's the first boss of the [=DLC=], [[spoiler: Ludwig the Accursed. He starts out as feral as any other beast, but halfway through the fight, he'll see the light of his Moonlight Greatsword and [[RestorationOfSanity his human mind will return]], changing his title to [[KnightInShiningArmor Ludwig, The Holy Blade]] and giving him a new moveset where he wields the blade as a MasterSwordsman.]]
* ''VideoGame/CapellasPromise'' has the Mother, who was originally thought to be a monster creating weapon before being revealed as having intelligence. [[spoiler:This might be a subversion due to the fact that Zanara fused with her, meaning he might be the reason that she gained intelligence.]]
* ''VideoGame/CreatureShock'' have you battling the main Geomorph, who looks like a savage, mindless insectoid alien monster, albeit one clad in armor. But after you put it down, the Geomorph revives itself and comes at you piloting a JetPack and blasting away with a {{BFS}}.
* As per the ''Warhammer 40000'' example, while playing the ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar II: Retribution'' Tyranid campaign [[EnemyChatter you can hear]] Imperial Guardsmen realizing "They're using cover! They're supposed to be just animals!" In their defense, their training manuals do insist that Tyranids are simple-minded beasts.
* The Hillbilly in ''Videogame/DeadByDaylight'' seems like any other mindless HillbillyHorrors stereotype, but the fact that his default perk is Tinkerer implies that there is more to him than just brute strength.
-->''The Hillbilly makes impressive tools out of scraps. Tools aimed at maiming us in creative ways... It's horrifying to think it's actually intelligent.''
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising4'': [[MadScientist Doctor Barnaby]] invented a hybridization machine that would prevent the recently infected from going insane, effectively making them sentient zombies. Unfortunately, the guy who tests this is driven insane from existing injuries interfering with the process, [[TranshumanTreachery and he acts as the final boss railing against humanity]].
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' has an example of this being PlayedForLaughs. Doppelgangers in the series are demons that take the form of another being and can be used by powerful enough demons to [[DoppelgangerAttack fight alongside them]], though just how sentient they are remains in question. However, Vergil's doppelganger apparently has a strong enough sense of self to break away from Vergil's control and, much to his horror, ''[[https://youtu.be/dmOGaqMMzzA start dancing.]]'' While it's debatable if this is a creature with its own thoughts, a manifestation of Vergil's subconsious, or [[spoiler:an example of V living on after being reformed into Vergil]], the doppelganger clearly knows what its doing when it beckons for the embarassed Vergil to join in and continues to humiliate its master until cut down.
* Zombiemen of various types in ''Videogame/{{Doom}}''. In the first few games, they aren't much of an example; just intelligent enough to walk around and fire their guns. In ''VideoGame/Doom3'' and ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', they receive a massive step up.
** In ''VideoGame/Doom3'', compared to the slow, mindless shambling civilian zombies that can at best wield a flashlight or pipe wrench as a bludgeon, Z-Sec zombies can tactically sprint around, communicating through radio and firing standard firearms. Commando zombies are similarly intelligent, with chaingunners providing cover fire for their tentacled brethren.
** In ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', the Possessed Soldiers are tactically cognizant and will make great use of their arm-mounted plasma guns; the Security will even tactically utilize their giant energy riot shields, firing in defilade and dropping the shield at range to adopt a more accurate firing stance. The regular Possessed, on the other hand, are just mindless zombies that shamble at you in a slow gait.
** ''VideoGame/BrutalDoom'' amplifies the zombiemen's intelligence considerably. They fire their assault rifles in bursts instead of one shot at a time, can coordinate to hunt the player down, and can even operate tanks, helicopters, and ''mechas''.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' shows this trope early on with a [[spoiler: talking darkspawn. It turns out that these all originate from one darkspawn, called the Architect, who was born free-willed and sapient and found a way to make other darkspawn free-willed and sapient just as he is.]]
** [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins The game proper]] also demonstrates this with regular darkspawn, which, while still mentally bound and completely loyal the Archdemons, still exhibit independent personality, such as making threatening gestures, giving battle cries, and even [[EvilLaugh laughing evilly]] during fights. Overall, their behavior is fairly reminiscent of the relationship between [[Literature/TheHobbit Sauron and]] [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Orcs]].
** The Mabari war-hounds. They were bred by a mage to be smart and understand what they are told, and additionally to remember, understand, and carry out complex orders. In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Hawke's Mabari is smart enough to play cards (he'd do better if he'd stop wagging his tail whenever he gets a good hand)!
* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': While most non-animal enemies attack you because they've gone mad after the Shattering, enemy behavior and item descriptions imply or explicitly point out exceptions.
** When the scholars of Raya Lucaria haven't aggroed, they stand around reading books, implying that that's what they'd rather be doing and they're only attacking you because they consider you an invader of the academy.
** Pages are exceptionally dangerous enemies because unlike most of the actual warriors (such as the Lordsworn Soldiers), they retain their wits and use tactics against you.
** Perfumers in Leyndell can be seen tending to the wounded and talking to Pages when they're not attacking you.
** Trolls are often treated as beasts of burden in the Lands Between, but they have human-level intelligence and can integrate with human society if given a chance. House Caria of Liurnia even has troll ''knights'', and one of Ranni's servants is a troll blacksmith named Iji who spends most of his time reading.
** Dragons' lore paints them as just as smart as humans; Adula was knighted by Ranni and Ezykes remained focused on killing practitioners of Dragon Communion even as the Scarlet Rot got to him. The Ancient Dragons were their own faction who fought Marika before the Shattering, and eventually became objects of worship as part of the Dragon Cult. All of them use their own lightning incantations, Fortissax struck up a lifelong friendship with the demigod Godwyn, and Lanseax fell in love with the human knight Vyke.
** The Kindred of Rot attack you on sight because spreading Scarlet Rot is literally what they're born to do, and they can't communicate with humans anyway, but the description of the Pest Glaives they wield note that they possess a keen, if inhuman, intellect.
** The Beastmen of Farum Azula seem savage and wield crude-looking weapons, but the item descriptions note that they quite possibly know more than humans, their weapons are well-made, and they have unique cultural practices like crafting pots specifically to use the broken shards as shields.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** In his "opus", series' recurring character St. Jiub the Eradicator recounts his [[HunterOfMonsters quest to eradicate]] the [[TakeThatScrappy much reviled]] [[GoddamnedBats Cliff Racers]] from Vvardenfell. As he was hunting a lone Cliff Racer, it led him into a trap where [[ZergRush hundreds of Cliff Racers]] suddenly descended upon him. Two days of fighting and hundreds of dead Cliff Racers later, Jiub finally collapsed, exhausted and wounded. He would have died if not for the [[DivineIntervention timely rescue]] of the Dunmeri PhysicalGod Vivec, who was so impressed with Jiub's actions that Vivec declared him to be a saint.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', though they give the impression of mindless [[TheMorlocks Morlock-like]] monsters, the Falmer clearly have some semblance of intelligence. They corral and breed chaurus, craft weapons and armor, brew crude poisons from fungi, and in ''Dawnguard'' they've built impressive networks of bridges and ledges throughout the Forgotten Vale to host their settlements on. According to some scholars and Knight-Paladin Gelebor [[spoiler:the [[LastOfHisKind last surviving uncorrupted Falmer]]]], they're beginning to venture above ground, and demonstrate cunning and deductive reasoning in their battle tactics.
* The monsters of ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' fall under this. Story-wise, they're at least as intelligent as humans, identifying specific threats and adapting their tactics in response. One can only imagine the horror as the colonists realized that not only were these things massive and deadly, but intelligent as well. In-game, their intelligence depends on the player controlling them. This could range from simply being able to recognize a few strategies to openly toying with the hunters by dissecting and countering their advantages and tactics.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':
** Deathclaws, twelve-foot-tall bipedal reptilian killing machines, are smart enough to open doors, something many ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' players found out the hard way. ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', meanwhile, has a whole questline about a party of mercenaries that was tracked down and slaughtered by an angry Deathclaw after they stole its eggs. Should the player choose to return the last surviving egg to the Deathclaw nest, another Deathclaw will jump in out of nowhere, cover up the egg, and then watch warily, letting the player character walk away unharmed.
** The player character gets put on the receiving end of this trope in the ''Old World Blues'' DLC of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. The Courier's brain and various organs have been removed and replaced with Tesla coils and cybernetic organs by the Sink's Auto-Doc, a process that normally destroys the patient's brain and leaves the rest to wander Big MT as a mindless, aggressive zombie. It takes the Think Tank quite a while to realize that their newest "lobotomite" has been tracking their conversation and can, in fact, understand and respond to every word they've been saying.
* The Aragami in ''[[VideoGame/GodEater God Eater]]'' are an interesting example. Though they behave like constantly-evolving mindless beasts, they aren't actually "evolving" at all. Instead, they learn new configurations for themselves from the environment. For instance, the Chi-You type Aragami use the "bring it" gesture and martial arts moves. Another Aragami takes it cues from a tank, complete with biological missile launchers, but the treads are crudly adapted into misshapen forelegs. This is an enigma in-universe since it clearly implies higher learning ability, yet the only behaviour they display beyond violence and consumption is pack scavenging. [[spoiler:And then there are humanoid Aragami, who can very quickly learn how social structures work, and eventually internalize concepts like empathy.]]
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife''
** Everyone thought the Vortigaunts were just dumb slaves. Turns out they really aren't, as shown in ''2''.
** [[LivingShip Combine Gunships]] of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' are smart enough to realize that rockets are the only thing capable of harming them, so they accordingly try to shoot any enemy-fired rockets down. [[ArtificialBrilliance The gunships are a particularly interesting example]], because the programmers [[GoodBadBugs didn't mean for this to happen]]. It was just a fluke of the AI programming to fire at the biggest threat (which the programmers were thinking meant anyone armed with a rocket launcher). When they first saw it happen in testing, it looked like a RealLife example, [[ThrowItIn and decided to keep it]].
** A Fast Zombie in ''Episode One'' will, if you throw a grenade at it, lob it right back. It was originally a physics glitch, but [[AscendedGlitch the developers liked the idea and ran with it]].
* The Flood in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''. When first encountered in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', they seem like dumb zombies, just running toward you and whipping you with their CombatTentacles. The first OhCrap moment comes when they suddenly start using weapons. Then 343 Guilty Spark warns you that they're going to repair the ''Pillar of Autumn'' to escape from Halo. Wait... '''[[WhamLine repair?!]]''' Turns out that they gain intelligence from the sentient beings they assimilate; they almost used Keyes' brain as a BorrowedBiometricBypass to get to Earth. Then in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'', they not only start attacking you with vehicles, but it's revealed that [[spoiler:they're being coordinated by an ancient and highly intelligent HiveMind]]; by the start of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', they've successfully taken over [[spoiler: High Charity]] and several of its escort ships, and are poised to begin a galaxy-scale infestation.
** ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' reveals the true extent of their intelligence; [[spoiler:the Flood are the direct descendants of the Precursors (not to be confused with the Forerunners), who were the most technologically advanced species to ever live in the Milky Way, and have inherited all of their knowledge. This means that a sufficiently large infestation is capable of technological feats far more advanced than what any other species in the galaxy is capable of; the Forerunners had a huge OhCrap moment when the Flood started reactivating Precursor relics. And then another whammy reveals itself: The Flood are not ''the'' Precursors, but '''a''' Precursor, one who transferred its essence into the Gravemind and took it over, which is what gave the Flood its sapience; before this, it was a ghastly, if somewhat manageable, parasite. After that? ''Full-on OutsideContextProblem.'']]
* The Beast from ''VideoGame/HomeworldCataclysm'' starts "merely" as a ship-consuming techno-organic virus, but having absorbed enough data from the assimilated ships it becomes self-concious, learns to synthesize itself a VoiceOfTheLegion from their communication records and becomes smart enough [[DealWithTheDevil to strike deals with other villains]] ([[ILied and even to screw them over]]).
* In the first ''VideoGame/HunterTheReckoning'' video game, when the Hunters first meet [[NobleDemon Carpenter]] and he speaks to them, they promptly react by pointing their guns at him. Carpenter responds with [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech this speech]]:
-->'''Carpenter:''' Do you think I can't see you shaking at the other end of that barrel? Do you think I don't know your brain is trying to process the horrible fact that 'Oh my god it talks!' and if it talks, it ''thinks'', and you can't stand that, can you?
* In ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'', using objects found around the battlefield as bludgeons and projectiles will result in [[EnemyChatter hearing the horrified voices of your assailants]] [[OhCrap as they realize]] the Hulk is no mere mindless brute.
-->"It's constructing a rudimentary weapon!"
-->"It's learning as it goes, sir!"
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** As Yen Sid explains in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', this is what separates the Heartless from the Nobodies; while the Heartless are little more than mindless animals who function on instinct, the Nobodies are fully capable of thinking things through and planning ahead.
** Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, aka Xehanort's Heartless, is in fact a Heartless himself, but retains all of his human intelligence and selfhood; the real Ansem the Wise theorizes that this is because Ansem/[[spoiler: Terra-]]Xehanort willingly became a Heartless.
** Kairi is able to realize that the Shadow following them is [[spoiler: Sora]] because it shows signs of intelligence most Shadows don't. (Presumably for the same reason as Ansem, [[spoiler: Sora]] willingly chose to become a heartless)
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** The Master Crown in ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. At first glance, it just looks like a powerful artifact that grants its wearer great powers such as ripping apart time and space itself to create rifts to other dimensions. However, when seen on [[spoiler:[[BigBad Magolor]]'s]] head, it can be seen wiggling around and its claws wrap themselves around his ears, implying that the crown is sentient and controlling him. In addition, [[spoiler:Magolor Soul's]] pause description implies that he is outright [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the Master Crown and has turned into an EmptyShell. [[spoiler:''Deluxe'' confirms all of this - according to its pause description, whoever wears the crown will not only be granted great powers, but the crown will use ThePowerOfHate to fuel the wearer's heart with darkness and will slowly be turned into a OmnicidalManiac and drive them to destroy everything. We see this in action in the Magolor Epilogue, where the crown possesses the restored Gem Apple Seed and turns it into a BotanicalAbomination by possessing it. Not only that, but the new [[FlavorText Flavor Texts]] for Magolor Soul focus on freeing him from the darkness of the Master Crown as he slowly becomes the crown himself.]]
** There's also [[spoiler:[[GodOfEvil Void Termina]]]] from ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies''. [[spoiler:His first form is merely an AlmightyIdiot powered by the darkness and hatred in [[SinisterMinister Hyness]]' heart whose sole instinct is to destroy anything and everything around him. Once he is exposed to [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Kirby's]] happiness and friendship, however he starts to become more strategic in his attacks, such as using fire and ice arrows and using replicas of the Master Crown. Once you encounter his true form, he is said to have started thinking and feeling, suggesting that Kirby is somehow causing Void Termina to become sentient and be exposed to feelings. As Void Soul, he gains more sentience and fights without needing to rely on Hyness to do so. Then, as Void, he has gained full sentience as well as fully being exposed to Kirby's joy and happiness as he learns to settle down and enjoy life; this culminates with his RedemptionEqualsDeath moment upon defeat, where Void decides to GoOutWithASmile - '''Kirby's''' smile - and is most likely being purged from the darkness it was once powered by.]]
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', [[spoiler:the eponymous [[ArtifactOfDoom Majora's Mask]] reveals itself in the climax to be capable of speech and being the real puppetmaster of the Skull Kid supposedly responsible for all the chaos in Termina. Up until the moment it opens its mouth, [[FairyCompanion Tatl]] was eager to lay the blame for everything on the Skull Kid.]]
** On two occasions plant monsters are shown to be far more intelligent than just mindlessly hungry predators, so much so that they seem wholly sentient. Kalle Demos, the boss of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Forbidden Woods]] actually waits for Link to arrive before eating Makar and then ''[[KickTheDog laughs at Link]]'', while the Big Baba of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess The Forest Temple]] leaves a key out in the open until Link arrives and ''then'' eats it in front of him, to force him into a confrontation and lure him into range to get it back.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'':
*** [[EldritchAbomination Calamity Ganon]] is assumed by the inhabitants of Hyrule to be a mindless force of evil and destruction, with its [[WasOnceAMan origins as a Gerudo man]] barely remembered. Everyone is caught off guard when it [[DemonicPossession possesses]] the {{Magitek}} machines that defeated it 10,000 years ago in an act of unexpected tactical foresight.
*** Several of the more humanoid monster types, although AlwaysChaoticEvil, often show signs of deeper culture and tactical thinking. Bokoblins and Lizalfos will attempt to grab any kind of weapon before engaging you, they'll whack away bombs you toss at them, they'll set weapons on fire if open flames are present to improve their attack strength, and can be seen chatting, dancing, cooking food, and sleeping together peacefully when not aggro-ed. It's mentioned in a side-quest that the Lizalfos once had an advanced kingdom which once warred with and nearly defeated the Zora nation, and both species have scattered settlements around Hyrule.
*** Despite being incredibly aggressive and vicious monsters, the Lynels are described as having "intense intelligent", which is depicted by their comparatively advanced battle tactics. When one spots you, they often won't immediately attack, but just observe you until you pull out a weapon or get too close. Unlike other enemies, they will shoot arrows up in an arc when you get too far or take cover behind an object. They will try to fake you out by charging up one type of attack only to end up performing a different attack. And they aren't fooled by the [[PaperThinDisguise crude masks]] that can be used to sneak past other monster types. Their attacks as a whole are also far less telegraphed than basically any other enemy type.
* ''VideoGame/ManEatingPlant'' is a rather odd Android game where you play as... like the title said, a ManEatingPlant. But you're actually sentient and capable of expressing emotions, including glee and excitement as you gobble up assorted goblins, humans and blobs. With several accompanying thought-bubbles:
--> "Hungry... Deeeeeeath! Taaaassste Good!"
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', you come to a space station which was overrun by rachni, and you can read a log where a scientist states "we treated them like beasts, should have treated them like POW's". Mind you, the race is well known to be sentient - although their appearance can certainly deceive. The theory was that without the connection to the Queen that all the warriors would become mindless beasts, and in the eyes of the Queen that is what they have become, but it turns out they're insane due to a warped childhood; no parental figures, and their lullabies are "Silence of the Void" and "Eldritch Death Knells".
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the yahg are revealed to be this. Originally abducted for study, a yahg specimen showed increasing intelligence and was chosen by the Shadow Broker to join a strike team tasked with eliminating threats. The yahg had other plans and decided instead to [[spoiler:kill the Shadow Broker and take his place. This yahg remained the Shadow Broker for years until Liara and Commander Shepard show up.]]
** It comes up again in the third game, in which it's possible to recruit the rachni against the Reapers. Many characters express a little too much surprise at the technical prowess the rachni display. Hackett {{Lampshades}} it, saying that in hindsight, these guys once waged war on the ''entire galaxy'': you can't do that without being very smart and technologically advanced.
* Happens quite a bit in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}.''
** In ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion,'' Samus and the computer discover that the X Parasites' capacity for intelligence increases over time, especially since they gain access to their victims' memories and knowledge. The X claim a scientist so they can set the station's core to meltdown, destroy all of Samus' upgrade access points, and steal an upgrade for themselves.
** The fact that the icy, [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience blue]] X which once targeted Samus for her newly-found weakness to the cold (due to her now [[ItMakesSenseInContext part-Metroid DNA]]), start to run away from her soon after she recovers the Varia suit, which negates this weakness, [[DevelopersForesight but not before a few of them suicide dive you, then the others flee when they see it's not hurting you anymore]].
** The X continue to show off in ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'', as once they break out of quarantine on ZDR, one of them possesses [[GeneticAbomination Experiment No. Z-57]] and tries to block up the thermal vents in [[LethalLavaLand Cataris]] in order to freeze over the planet and kill Samus via her Metroid vulnerablility. [[DidntSeeThatComing Only the fact that Samus just got the Gravity Suit]] prevents this from working. It also fights ''smart'' during the boss fight.
** Implied with the series' titular creatures in ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus.'' Samus's weapons and upgrades are typically acquired through Chozo statues. In this game when you find the statue offering the Ice Beam, it's been seriously damaged; the head has been torn off and the body slightly crumbled. Metroid have a crippling weakness to extreme cold, making the Ice Beam an incredibly effective weapon against them. The fact that ''this'' statue is the one that's been damaged makes it clear that they attempted to destroy the upgrade to keep anyone from using it.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'':
** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterGenerations Ultimate'': In the G-rank missions, you receive reports that a number of fortifications have come under attack and their damaged parts are missing without a trace. At the end, you fight a Neopteron known as the Ahtal-ka, who doesn't appear to put up much of a fight... [[spoiler:...and then it hops into a web-spliced HumongousMecha built from those very same missing parts]].
** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'':
*** The game has Pukei-Pukei during the ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' crossover quest - if you have Geralt free it from being trapped in roots produced by Leshen, not only will it help you fight the Leshen, but if it survives the battles, [[spoiler:it will outright try to ''thank'' Geralt by giving him an attack gem]].
** Ruiner Nergigante in the ''Iceborne'' expansion. It was trying to eat Shara Ishvalda, another Elder Dragon that was causing mass destruction across the New World, but knew it couldn't drag it out of hiding alone. So it waited where Shara Ishvalda was likely to be, made a show of fighting the [[PlayerCharacter Sapphire Star]], played dead ''even whilst being carved'', and then dealt the killing blow to Shara Ishvalda after it was weakened by the hunters. And then, since it likely knew it couldn't take on 12 Hunters at once, it opted to just [[KnowWhenToFoldEm fly away after the kill]] rather than sticking around to eat its meal. In short, this thing appears to be capable of what seem to be ''rudimentary plans''.
** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'' introduces a ''bunch'' of monsters that can think. Bishaten, Tetranadon, Goss Harag, Somnacanth, the list goes on. [[spoiler:The new Elder Dragons, Wind Serpent Ibushi and Thunder Serpent Narwa, top them all with ''disturbingly'' human thoughts (even though they're mostly about how horny they are).]]
* The Shades from ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}''. At the beginning, they seem like mindless monsters. By the end, they're using weapons and armor, and they can sucker the title character into a deadly ambush with one of the {{Plot Coupon}}s. This is a big part of TheReveal: [[spoiler:Shades are human souls stripped from their bodies.]]
* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' explores this with the Machine Lifeforms. While some of the androids of [=YoRHa=], like [=9S=], are quick to dismiss Machine Lifeforms as unthinking automatons who act without any rhyme or reason, there are some that exhibit varying -- and increasing -- levels of intelligence, enough to found communities, civilizations, and even religious cults. [[spoiler:TheReveal that [=YoRHa=] androids are built using Machine Lifeform cores makes them more alike than unlike.]]
* ''Videogame/{{Nihilumbra}}'': The Void is not just some mindless force of nature, it's learning how to hunt you down better.
* One of the more terrifying aspects of ''[[VideoGame/{{Penumbra}} Penumbra: Black Plague]]'' is this trope. The dog/wolf monsters in ''Overture'' seemed to just be aggressive beasts. Your first encounter with one of [[spoiler: the infected]] in ''Black Plague''? [[spoiler: It's [[StealthBasedGame looking for you]] with a flashlight in its hand]].
* In ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'', after defeating [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis Nemesis]] for the first time, it utters its catchphrase as usual, prompting both Chris and Jill to comment that they now work for BSAA. And then...
-->'''Nemesis:''' [[HilarityEnsues B......S......AA......!]]
* [[TheVirus Redlight]] in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' seems like your typical zombie plague. In the backstory, however, is the way the first outbreak occurred: after the test subjects - a few citizens of a small town - were infected, nothing happened at all for ''four years'' until the scientists who'd expected a spectacular response packed up and let their guard down. At that point ''every single subject'' - by then ''the entire town'' - suddenly mutated and attacked all at once. TheVirus had waited patiently, spreading quietly, for just such an opportunity. It only acts that way when it has a [[HiveQueen Runner]] to direct it, though; the rest of the time, it really is your typical zombie plague.
** And of course the next iteration, Blacklight, is a fully sapient individual, obviously capable of complex independent thought, speech, planning, and emotions - [[spoiler:Alex Mercer, [[TomatoInTheMirror the player character]]]]. Then you find out what [[spoiler:the real Alex had done]]: namely, in a gesture of revenge against his former employers, he released the Blacklight Virus upon the city of Manhattan before being gunned down. Upon finding this out, the virus ''itself'' is disgusted and appalled.
* In ''VideoGame/RaidenV'', after exploring the cave full of crystals in Stage 2, Max comes up with a hypothesis that the Crystals are actually an intelligent lifeform that can communicate with one another mutually. Max's suspicions are confirmed when he made an [=SOS=] call to a French port, where the Crystals were for sure staging an attack, as that is where Max sent a shipment of the crystals he retrieved from the cave. Upon meeting Kraken, Max's concerns grow even more as it showed the Crystals can upgrade the machinery they contaminate. Later on, Max orders a mission to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) facility, where the shipment of crystals from the cave ended up. As Max expected, there was a massive amount of contaminated machinery invading the LHC. Max then hypothesized that the Crystals had a sort of commander giving orders, as the LHC invasion was organized as if it was a precision military operation. Again, Max was proven right. With the help of [[spoiler:Valbarossa Hawkeye after her flagship was contaminated and the information from the SHIFT facility they destroyed,]] Max and Eshiria were able to determine that all of Max's hypotheses were unfortunately true, with Helga confirming that the information stored on one crystal is shared collectively with all the others. This necessitates Helga relaying the order from the council for the ''Bellwether'' and Fighting Thunder to launch a counter-offensive towards the Crystal's homeworld in order to put an end to their threat once and for all.
-->'''Helga ([[DiscussedTrope regarding the Crystals' intelligence]]):''' I've heard that even among terrestrial lifeforms, if an individual learns a new way to hunt, the same method of hunting was suddenly acquired by other individuals all around the world. This may be like the collective unconscious that [[UsefulNotes/CarlJung Jung]] talked about.
-->'''Max:''' It's hard for me to understand difficult things, so can you explain it in more layman's terms?
-->'''Helga:''' Simply said, [[HiveMind the information that comes into contact with crystals is being leaked to all the contaminated weapons.]]
-->'''Max:''' I see. So they are making it as unclear as possible as to where they're heading.
-->'''Helga:''' That's correct.
* Many of the monsters from the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series have varying displays of intelligence.
** The UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube remake of [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 the first game]] uses this as a [[spoiler:TearJerker when battling [[TragicMonster Lisa Trevor]]. You ''can'' fight her by knocking her off the ledge, but if you push the four boulders off the edge to crack open the grave where her mother's body is, she'll sadly take the skull and jump from the ledge herself.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Lisa:''' Moth...ther...]]
** Similarly, when she appears in the Wesker levels of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheUmbrellaChronicles'', she displays a decent degree of planning and understanding. [[spoiler:She appears to recognize Wesker as one of the people responsible for turning her into a monster and hunts him ''relentlessly'', unlike the other survivors who she really only attacked when they entered her living spaces and wouldn't bother to chase them once they left. She also lies in wait to ambush him, and even seems to understand that the mansion is minutes away from blowing up as she does everything in her power to block Wesker from escaping out the front door.]]
** The T-00 Tyrant from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' (AKA: "Mr. X" or "Trenchy" depending on the version) is smarter than the zombies and other creatures you have to deal with, having been created specifically to LeaveNoWitnesses and to retrieve a G-Virus sample. Notably this actually works against it late in the game as Claire manages to dupe it into falling off a catwalk and falling into a massive smelting tank using a sample of the G-Virus as bait -- the thing is so fixated on it that literally ''all'' it thinks about is getting that sample, like a computer program or an ant following a pheromone, and so it runs right off the edge trying to grab it and falls to its death [[spoiler:[[TurnsRed or so]] [[FinalBoss Claire thinks]]]]. The [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake Remake]] ramps the Tyrant's intelligence up even further, such that it spends its time in the Raccoon City Police Department looking for you specifically, honing in on any loud sounds you make from slamming doors or firing your gun. If a zombie stands between it and you, it will shove it out of the way. Conversely, if it sees a zombie grab you, it will stand and watch: if the zombie ends up killing you, it still technically counts as destroying its target. If you try to fire at its face, it will raise a hand up to block your bullets. Overall, the Remake version of the Tyrant is a methodical -- and [[ImplacableMan unrelenting]] -- hunter. It even seems to be fond of its hat, as if you shoot the hat off and then manage to ditch it, you might catch a glimpse of it morosely feeling its hatless head.
** The Nemesis from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis''. Unlike all the other monsters up to this point, it is smart enough to follow orders, track the main character, open doors, use weapons, set ambushes, and ''speak'' (albeit only one word: "S.T.A.R.S.", his mission target). Even when Jill tries to make her escape via helicopter, Nemesis is smart enough to ''shoot the helicopter with a rocket launcher to cut off her escape''.[[note]]Though not smart enough to ''wait for her to board the helicopter first''. Later game events imply, especially in the remake, that he's purposely toying with her to make his hunt more fun.[[/note]]
** Those infected with [[PuppeteerParasite Las Plagas]], as seen in both ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 5]]'', are practically human in intelligence. They are capable of using weaponry, setting traps, cooperating with each other, and (depending on the actual host) can even speak properly. A good example would be [[BossInMooksClothing the Verdugo]]. If you blast it with a rocket launcher, it shrugs off the explosion ''and tauntingly wags its "finger" at you before resuming its attack''.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' features several monsters that are quite intelligent than the standard RE enemies:
*** First off, the game features an [[EvilKnockoff evil(er) knockoff]] of The Nemesis with [[ImplacableMan Ustanak]]. It's smart enough to predict where you're going and set a trap rather than just smash through the wall to keep chasing you, select and equip weapons, and even deploy small flying creatures in a search pattern to cut off your escape and track you down. And if you think you outsmarted it by hiding in the dumpster, [[NonStandardGameOver try it three times]].
*** Secondly, The C-Virus zombies are considerably smarter than the T-Virus ones. They can use tools such as melee weapons and guns (though not very well), and even climb over obstacles such as fences.
*** Lastly there's the J'Avo, who have retained almost at the very least enough intelligence to behave like [[SuperSoldier normal soldiers.]]
** [[spoiler: Rachael]] from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' seems to exhibit this trope when it starts jumping out or air vents to attack you.
** The Lycans from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' have degraded into savage beasts, but are still smart enough to stage ambushes, use weapons, and strategize (e.g. dodging and keeping a safe distance) when facing the player.
* The Scurge in ''VideoGame/ScurgeHive''.
** Interestingly enough, it's initially averted, then the aversion subverted, because a mid-game conversation points out that the Scurge originally didn't have any sort of sentient thought. It only began to develop such after absorbing enough sentient life that it began to form its own collective mindset and began planning its escape.
* In ''[[VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire]]'', the Progenitor factions initially think of humans as relatively-intelligent animals rather than sentient beings. A couple of EncyclopediaExposita entries and vignette events show them as taken off guard when humans prove them otherwise.
->''Missile attack on Zeta-5: humans activate first defense successful. Afterwards: danger posed by innovation suddenly clear.''
-->-- '''Usurper Judaa Marr''', ''"Human : Nature"''
* PlayedForLaughs on ''VideoGame/SlimeRancher'' with [=BOb=], an NPC who is [[TotemPoleTrench a pile of Pink Slimes in a trenchcoat]] who can be spoken to on the Ranch Exchange, revealing that the various slimes are indeed capable of speech and using technology. However, all he, they, whatever uses it for is to ask for chickens to eat with hilariously bad grammar and spelling.
--> [=PSs.-- chickKn=]
* Several mutants in ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' will use this:
** One notable example has you wandering through an abandoned building and hearing the sound of a crying baby, coming from inside a closet. There's a Burer waiting inside for you to open the door.
** Another example of this has a Controller growling to you a chilling warning ('''"LEAVE HERE, MAN!"''') should you approach the entrance of the cave it's dwelling inside.
** As for Bloodsuckers, well, they will [[ArtificialBrilliance use dangerously efficient stalking and hunting tactics when facing you]], and you ''will'' feel like prey if you're attacked by more than one of them at once. There's also a bit where one leaves a dying man on the floor crying out for help as bait to lure you into the open so it can pounce.
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'':
** Arcturus Mengsk (and the [[TheEmpire Confederate]] [[MadScientist scientists]] he stole the idea from) thought the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Zerg]] were just a sort of eusocial animal that [[ZergRush swarmed]] to whatever planet [[MoralEventHorizon he placed a Psi-Emitter on]]. Oh, how wrong he was...
** Even the [[SuperiorSpecies Protoss]] thought this at first, until a Zerg probe [[AllThereInTheManual they captured]] revealed that it was, in fact, [[OhCrap looking for them]].
** And [[InvokedTrope invoked]] in ''[[VideoGame/StarcraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm Hearts of the Swarm]]''. Kerrigan's broodmothers are capable of autonomy and building up a force, but lack the strategic vision to be truly dangerous, so she has them intentionally made smarter. When pointed out [[TheStarscream this makes them a danger to her, too]], she says she wants them as dangerous as possible.
** The Primal Zerg that remain on Zerus, unlike the Zerg that were integrated into a HiveMind by the Xel'Naga, are sapient intelligent predators that have spent generations hunting, killing, and adapting. They consider the other Zerg to be corrupted.
* Like most Vaults, the Vault of the Traveller in ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' contains an obligatory giant monster, the largest one seen in the series, in fact. It comes as a horrifying realization to the characters that this one is actually intelligent. It's smart enough to [[spoiler:leave Gortys alive because it knows that it will disappear if she is killed]], and when hit with an ineffective attack, it ''laughs''. To make matters worse, it's main ability is one you ''really'' don't want a smart opponent to have: TeleportSpam.
* This results in a MassOhCrap from the whole party in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' when it turns out a monster that has been harassing them as they traverse a dungeon (on the way to the DiscOneFinalDungeon) has actually been ''herding'' them into a trap. It takes the resident party CowardlyLion stepping up and deciding to HoldTheLine despite the risks for them to survive.
* According to the [[MonsterCompendium Tempedia]] in ''VideoGame/{{Temtem}}'', some species show signs of intelligence:
** The care with which Valash sharpens its claws is a sign of primitive sapience.
** Seismunch is nearing proto-human cognition, as it tends to mimic human behaviours such as martial arts poses (which can be seen in its battle animations).
** Pupoise is adaptable and known to use tools in the wild.
* Implied with some of the zombies in ''[[VideoGame/{{Timesplitters}} Timesplitters: Future Perfect]]'', who are perfectly capable of weaponizing guns against you.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'':
** During the [[WhamEpisode Second Dream quest]], it's revealed that [[spoiler:your Warframe is exactly that, just a mindless bio-mechanical [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin frame]] piloted by the ''actual'' Tenno, the player character.]] However, after the Stalker stabs his new sword right through its chest and starts strangling [[spoiler: the Operator]], it springs back to life and rips the sword in half, forcing the Stalker to retreat.
** This is taken further in the "Sacrifice" quest with Excalibur Umbra. [[spoiler:When you first try to pilot him, he ''throws you out'', almost kills you, and then starts running around the system slaughtering everything in his path]]. When you finally get control of him for good, his passive ability is that he can act independently when [[spoiler:you are outside in Operator mode (normally warframes just stand still like statues without an Operator piloting them)]].
** Warframe also has the Infested, the results of a techno-organic virus infecting and mutating various people and machines in the setting. Typically, Infested will mindlessly swarm the Tenno or whatever else they're attacking... until you encounter bosses. Which will ''talk'' to you and use fairly good tactics to try to kill the squad.
* Many of the monsters from ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'' are ''definitely'' not mindless. This especially applies to [[{{Mook}} the Haunted]]; they're capable of using weapons ranging from simple knives to firearms, dodging the player's attacks, setting up traps and ambushes, cooperating with each other, and often like to [[PlayingPossum play possum]].

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* Parodied and taken to extremes in the ''WebAnimation/HowItShouldHaveEnded'' video "How Franchise/JurassicPark Should Have Ended". The Velociraptor figures out how to speak, finds a weapons closet, sends an email to the protagonists, and tries to attack them with guns.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The creatures of Grimm are generally mindless, but grow more powerful and intelligent as they age. The most powerful Grimm are smart enough to avoid humans rather than attack outright and will employ simplistic tactics in battle. This increases their survivability and threat level with time. Subverted by one type of Grimm that is introduced in Volume 8. [[spoiler:The Hound displays human-level intelligence, battle tactics, and the ability to talk. However, this intelligence is not connected to the aging process, it's because Salem has started transforming ''[[WasOnceAMan people]]'' into Grimm.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/DICETheCubeThatChangesEverything'': [[spoiler:The Final Die]] turns out to be sentient. Dongtae asks [[spoiler:if the embodiment of all human Desire has a wish of its own.]] It decides it can act independently[[spoiler:, and while it still obeys X, it revives everyone who've died in the arena and makes X play fair for the last time.]]
* Showed up with the Diamondshell Beetles in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' -- we, and the mercenaries, perceive them as just big, ugly monsters, but they're actually fairly intelligent, communicate amongst themselves, figure out how to use human weaponry in a surprisingly short amount of time, and see the humans (and, in particular, Sergeant Schlock) as frightening monsters…
** To be fair, even Schlock's friends think of him as some sort of monster.
** Another example with some rather chilling implications are [[spoiler:the planet sized Dark Matter Entities]]. Just one of them could manhandle a battleplate[[note]]one of the most powerful warships known to man[[/note]] and they're not just fully sapient but completely xenophobic; they are convinced that the only way to survive a universe full of civilizations that run on teleportation which is inadvertently killing them off is to ''kill them all first''. [[spoiler:They conquered the entire Andromeda galaxy, wiped it clean of non-dark matter life forms, and turned their galactic core into a thermonuclear sniper rifle that can pinpoint anything in the Milky Way]].
* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': This seems to be the case with the PlagueZombie monsters and their spirits, especially their BodyOfBodies variants that are likely combining the mental power of their components. The bodies composing one giant are seen going for the weapons of humans defending against it, while the MergerOfSouls that is shaping up to be the prime antagonist is able to lead coordinated attack with a large number of trolls and ghosts.
* ''Webcomic/Trevor2020'': While Trevor seems to have completely lost his mind and is acting purely on instinct, he retains enough cunning to figure out how to maneuver himself closer to his victims.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Website/GoodbyeStrangers''. Even though strangers display human-like emotions, often in very unsettling ways, and some strains even have social behaviors, they seem to have little to no capacity for thought at all. They are effectively mindless and do not have a thoughtform, which is equivalent to a soul. All of their behavior is instinctual. Even though several kinds of strangers can use human language, there are no known strangers that can actually have conversations.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives''. The monsters on the Earth are often sapient, but they constantly have to remind the institute staff that the [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] they serve barely think at all. [[SentientCosmicForce At least, not like us]]. [[spoiler:[[DoubleSubversion And then one of them learns how to.]]]]
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', the increasingly desperate rebellion makes use of forbidden experimentation with primordial life to create a LivingWeapon to use against the Crown. When Reverend Mauer visits the experiments, however, he realizes that the AdaptiveAbility of primordial life has allowed them to rapidly develop sapience and learn human language based on overheard conversations by reading their body language and noting how they react to his words.
[[/folder]]

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: In ''Godzilla Awakening'', when a piece of Shinomura escapes its tank in Monarch's HQ, it forms a tendril and pulls the same lever on the other side of the glass which the Monarch staff had previously thrown to feed it radiation, enabling it to regrow its massive form.

* The unnamed xenomorphs in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series.
** In ''Film/{{Alien}}'', the alien drone pretends to block Ripley's path to the shuttle, causing her to go and try to disable the ''Nostromo's'' self-destruct, while the Alien hides in the shuttle and he waits until Ripley returns and enters with him to escape in the shuttle. The Alien manages to hide in the shuttle, unseen by Ripley by blending his biomechanical body with the pipes and wall of the ship. When Ripley discovers that the Alien is on board the ship with her, the Alien does not attack or chase Ripley and he uses his second jaw and seems to determine that Ripley has nowhere to go. The Alien believes that Ripley poses no threat to him (until Ripley pisses him off with the steam vents).
** In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the power is cut off moments before the aliens attack. In a later scene, Ripley engages in some nonverbal negotiation with the Queen Alien, threatening the Queen's eggs. The Queen clearly comprehends Ripley's threat and calls for her warriors to back off to prevent it. She's also able to operate the lift to pursue Ripley. The only thing they didn't understand was that overloading atmospheric processor...
** In ''Film/AlienResurrection'', the captive xenomorph immediately realises the connection between the blasts of [[KillItWithIce cold-gas]] that hit it and the BigRedButton, backing off the instant the scientist moves to hit it a second time. This later serves to bite the ass of a security mook. Likewise the aliens wait till communications are cut off (during security's fight with the mercenaries) before [[WeNeedADistraction implementing their escape]]. They also notice that the BigRedButton was locked up at the time. They later lay a trap by herding the humans towards their egg room. Plus, the xenomorphs seem to be aware of the acidity of their blood as two xenomorphs kill another, with the blood corroding a hold in the floor for the rest to escape.
** ''Film/AVPAlienVsPredator'' shows the Xenomorphs can work around predator setups just as well as human rigs. When the queen realized she couldn't get out of the shackles, she called back all of her offspring and ordered them to attack her so that her blood would corrode the shackles and free her.

** After being stabbed through the abdomen with a sword and escaping, [[spoiler:Captain Ryan ambushes Cooper in the cellar, and seems more interested in beating the shit out of Cooper with his superior strength, rather than just eating him or infecting him, and nearly succeeds in killing Cooper by pinning him against a support pole and trying to force the tip of the sword through Cooper's mouth, until Sam intervenes.]]

** See below for [=MonsterVerse=] examples.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
** This is especially played up with King Ghidorah in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' and [[spoiler:his reincarntaion, Mechagodzilla, in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'']]. Ghidorah quickly establishes that he's genuinely evil and not only aware of humanity, but actively wants them dead. When Madison unplugs the ORCA from the speakers in Boston, he not only zeroes in on her in seconds, but Ichi's (Ghidorah's middle head) eyes narrowing as it looks through the window at her implies he's worked out he's being tricked by this tiny human - something reinforced by his preparing to obliterate her with all three of his gravity beams even after the ORCA is smashed.
** ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseGodzilla Godzilla]] gives the distinct impression of regarding the protagonist at one point when it eyeballs him close up. The [=MUTO=]s hint at it as well, such as when the female figures out that Brody [[MamaBear is what killed her eggs.]]
*** Another notable moment is the female MUTO seems to actively ''wait'' for [[spoiler:the train carrying the nuclear weapons]] and ambush them, making use of her natural camouflage. Also, it appears by the point of the San Francisco fight, the Mutos have learned to weaponize their EMP abilities (before primarily using the shockwave accompanying it to throw shoulders).
*** At the end of the fight with the male MUTO, Big G is clearly watching, waiting and ''planning''. It doesn't turn to face the threat, as you'd expect an animal under attack to do, but keeps its back toward the approaching MUTO and thus lures into into position to slam it into a skyscraper with an unexpected tail attack. Similarly, it's clearly learned that the female MUTO is resistant to its atomic breath and so forces her mouth open to direct the blast straight down her throat.
** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': Ramarak, as shown when it [[spoiler:tail-whips Cole into a wall instead of eating him when he's clearly about to pull a HeroicSacrifice]]. Also Kong, when he sees the ship propeller attached to the chain he's holding and figures that he can use it as a weapon.
** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'':
*** Mothra shows this by being the first Titan to flat out try to communicate with humans, alerting Monarch to the fact [[spoiler:Godzilla's still alive and actively leading them to help him]]. The novelization seems to have her telepathically contact Madison and save her. This plays into the ambigiousity of [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane whether she's just a huge prehistoric animal worshipped as a deity or a genuinely supernatural goddess]].
*** In the novelization, a cephalopod-like Titan called the Kraken tricks Monarch into thinking it's died, then destroys the facility monitoring it with remarkable cunning and efficiency.
** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': As is the norm, both titular monsters come across as far more intelligent than their appearances suggest with both showing adaptive and reasoning skills. The Monarch crew express incredulity when they witness Kong communicating with Jia using sign language.
** See Comic Books folder for another example.

* As in the movies that inspired it, ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' shows the xenomorph to be very adaptive, as it learns your patterns, and ''even uses your own behaviour against you to lure you into traps''. Excessively use noisemakers? It'll start ignoring them, and start trying to pinpoint where the noisemaker was thrown ''from''. Like the flamethrower? It will hang around ''just outside'' of the flamethrower's effective range, waiting for you to turn your back or lower your guard for a split second to make that DeadlyLunge. Use lockers to hide? It will start searching them more thoroughly, and then it will adopt a tactic of ''pretending'' to leave the room and then dropping back in when you emerge. Overuse molotovs and pipebombs? It will avoid trying to catch you in open areas and try to get you in tight corridors and vents instead, where the splash damage prevents you from using them. Most terrifyingly of all though, it ''[[{{Sadist}} develops a personal vendetta against the player character]]'': if it catches her in a wide area or a corridor, it will run after you (and probably kill you as it is a LightningBruiser); if it corners her in a room or other place with no visible means of escape, it will opt for the OminousWalk, as if to say "''Uh oh, looks like you've got nowhere to go this time, you poor thing.''"
** In ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator2'', when playing as the alien you overhear a human commander explaining their plan to defeat the aliens, who he says are just stupid animals. Your next task is to relay this plan to the Queen, who promptly develops a successful counterattack.

* In ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'', after defeating [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis Nemesis]] for the first time, it utters its CatchPhrase as usual, prompting both Chris and Jill to comment that they now work for BSAA. And then...

** "You sure the third one is contained?" [[TemptingFate "Unless it can open doors."]] Cue raptor learning how to open a door in the very next scene...

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', [[EldritchAbomination Calamity Ganon]] is assumed by the inhabitants of Hyrule to be a mindless force of evil and destruction, with its [[WasOnceAMan origins as a Gerudo man]] barely remembered. Everyone is caught off guard when it [[DemonicPossession possesses]] the {{Magitek}} machines that defeated it 10,000 years ago in an act of unexpected tactical foresight.

** ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' reveals the true extent of their intelligence; [[spoiler:the Flood are the direct descendants of the Precursors (not to be confused with the Forerunners), who were the most technologically advanced species to ever live in the Milky Way, and have inherited all of their knowledge. This means that a sufficiently large infestation is capable of technological feats far more advanced than what any other species in the galaxy is capable of; the Forerunners had a huge OhCrap moment when the Flood started reactivating Precursor relics. And then another whammy reveals itself: The Flood are not ''the'' Precursors, but '''a''' Precursor, one who transferred its essence into the Gravemind and took it over, which is what gave the Flood its sentience; before this, it was a ghastly, if somewhat manageable parasite. And after? ''[[LetsGetDangerous Ohhhh]]'' ''[[OutsideContextProblem boy.]]'']]
* The Beast from ''VideoGame/HomeworldCataclysm'' starts "merely" as a ship-consuming techno-organic virus, but having absorbed enough data from the assimilated ships it becomes self-concious, learns to synthesize itself a VoiceOfTheLegion from their communication records and becomes smart enough [[DealWithTheDevil to strike]] [[WeCanRuleTogether deals]] [[EvilerThanThou with other villains]] ([[ILied and even to screw them over]]).
* In the first ''[[VideoGame/HunterTheReckoning Hunter: The Reckoning]]'' video game, when the Hunters first meet [[NobleDemon Carpenter]] and he speaks to them, they promptly react by pointing their guns at him. Carpenter responds with [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech this speech]]:

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' has an example of this being PlayedForLaughs. Doppelgangers in the series are demons that take the form of another being and can be used by powerful enough demons to [[DoppelgangerAttack fight alongside them]], though just how sentient they are remains in question. However, Vergil's doppelganger apparently has a strong enough sense of self to break away from Vergil's control and, much to his horror, ''[[https://youtu.be/dmOGaqMMzzA start dancing]]''. While it's debatable if this is a creature with its own thoughts, a manifestation of Vergil's subconsious, or [[spoiler:an example of V living on after being reformed into Vergil]], the doppelganger clearly knows what its doing when it beckons for the embarassed Vergil to join in and continues to humiliate its master until cut down.
* Zombiemen of various types in ''Videogame/{{Doom}}''. In the first few games, they aren't much of an example; just intelligent enough to walk around and fire their guns. In ''VideoGame/Doom3'' and ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', they receive a massive step up; in 3, Z-SEC zombies can tactically sprint around, firing pistols, shotguns, and submachine guns, compared to the slow, mindless shambling civilian zombies. In the 2016 version, the Possessed Soldiers are tactically cognizant and will make great use of their arm-mounted plasma guns; the Security will even tactically utilize their giant energy riot shields, firing in defilade and dropping the shield at range to adopt a more accurate firing stance. The regular Possessed, on the other hand, are just mindless zombies that shamble at you in a slow gait.