History Main / AmplifiedAnimalAptitude

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'': Regular example: Angus the horse, who seems to understand everything Merida says. The other examples were magically enhanced: [[spoiler: [[PollyWantsAMicrophone the witch's crow can hold a conversation]], Mor'du the demon bear is incredibly strong and ignores any attacks against him, and the enchanted Queen Elinor, also a bear, has more realistic strength but retains her human intelligence.]] '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample:''' What can Angus do that real horses can't? What can Mor'du and Queen Elinor do that real bears can't?

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Toothless turns out to be pretty smart for a dragon, understanding Hiccup's spoken commands, able to create art (even if it's just a jumble of lines), and the concept of forgiveness, sparing those who chose to spare him even if they had tried to kill him before.

* Juju from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. He seems to possess the same level of sapience as Mama Odie's animals friends.

* And the tradition continues in ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', which features the emotive chameleon, Pascal, and the horse, Maximus, who happens to be more competent than his own rider, the (presumable) captain of the guard. Over the course of the film, he is shown tracking his quarry by scent, locating secret passages, and even 'sword fighting', all of this more competently than the humans who are supposed to be 'his' masters. It's no surprise then, that at the end of the film [[spoiler: Maximus is made the actual leader of the kingdom's guards]].

%%** Jack. The monkey Jack.

[[Folder:VisualNovels]]
* Played for horror in ''VisualNovel/DoNotTakeThisCatHome'', where the Cat's uncanny intelligence is the first sign that this is more then just a cute kitty. [[spoiler: At the end, it's able to actually [[ItCanThink talk to you and tell you it's been masterminding the whole thing.]]]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/AstroLOLogy'': In "Monkey on the Moon", Aquarius is prepping [[ApesInSpace a monkey for travel to the moon]], but the monkey won't take anything seriously, so Aquarius copies his own intelligence into its brain to make it smarter. [[GoneHorriblyRight It works a little too well]] when the monkey tricks Aquarius into taking the rocket to the moon instead.

* ''{{Anime/Stratos 4}}'' has Alice, an old cat who is the pet of Rin and Ran Mikuriya. Alice, who is also nicknamed "Admiral," definitely shows a comprehension of what's going on (especially as shown in her occasional captioned cat-noises), including watching the news, displaying emotion rather clearly, and trying to smuggle herself or stow away on a plane in order to fly to the skies herself (though it's a RunningGag that she keeps on being found and removed from said planes). She even has an encounter with several other cats that display a similar level of intelligent thought, including a kitten whom she adopts. This is parodied in the short "Stratos 4.1".

* ''{{Anime/Stratos 4}}'' has Alice, an old cat who is the pet of Rin and Ran Mikuriya. Alice, who is also nicknamed "Admiral," definitely shows a comprehension of what's going on (especially as shown in her occasional captioned cat-noises), including watching the news, displaying emotion rather clearly, and trying to smuggle herself or stow away on a plane in order to fly to the skies herself (though it's a RunningGag that she keeps on being found and removed from said planes). She even has an encounter with several other cats that display a similar level of intelligent thought, including a kitten whom she adopts. This is parodied in the short "Stratos 4.1", in a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

* The protagonists of ''ComicBook/HeroCatsOfStellarCity'' are intelligent even by human standards and possess complex skills (Rocket is a tech wiz, Cassie is literate to the point of understanding the teachings of The Art of War, and Belle has the gift of telepathy, among others), and are dedicated to protecting the city against any threats. Note that there is so far no indication of them being 'uplifted' in any way, and very few humans suspect them of being anything other than normal cats.

** Krypto understands everything humans say and do.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'''s Dogmeat is a downplayed example. In most areas he's just a well-trained guard dog, but he also recognizes guns, medicine and ammunition well enough to fetch them when asked. While it's not impossible that he's been professionally trained, given the [[CrapsackWorld state of the world]] it's unlikely.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Doc's dog Einstein seems to be at an almost human level of intelligence at times. For starters, after Doc finishes reading the letter that [[WriteBackToTheFuture his future self wrote to Marty]], Einstein seems to be rather sad about Doc being TrappedInThePast. In addition, Einstein is the one who discovers Doc's tombstone, and he seems to realize what it says.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Doc's dog Copernicus seems to be at an almost human level of intelligence at times. For starters, after Doc finishes reading the letter that [[WriteBackToTheFuture his future self wrote to Marty]], Copernicus seems to be rather sad about Doc being TrappedInThePast. In addition, Copernicus is the one who discovers Doc's tombstone, and he seems to realize what it says.

* Most of the animals in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' are completely normal, except for Laddie the dog, the turtle from Terrapin Wax, and Itchy & Scratchy.

See also AnimalTalk, FriendToAllLivingThings, TimmyInAWell, ActionPet, and MostWritersAreHuman. See UpliftedAnimal, for when it's deliberately done in-universe. Not to be confused with MysteriousAnimalSenses. Not to be confused with TropeyTheWonderDog, which is about metaphorical dogs.

See also AnimalTalk, FriendToAllLivingThings, TimmyInAWell, and MostWritersAreHuman. See UpliftedAnimal, for when it's deliberately done in-universe. Not to be confused with MysteriousAnimalSenses. Not to be confused with TropeyTheWonderDog, which is about metaphorical dogs.

Ordinary animals in fiction have a [[ArtisticLicenseBiology significantly increased intelligence]]. Not necessarily the {{Talking Animal}}s. Not the {{Civilized Animal}}s and {{Funny Animal}}s. Just the wild and domestic animals encountered in stories where humans are the main characters. Such animals can frequently clearly understand everything humans say, understand human emotions, read, figure out how to solve problems on their own, and so forth. This is also true for cases in which the animals can [[AnimalTalk talk to each other]] [[TranslationConvention (so the audience can hear them) but are common animals in the eyes of any humans in the film]].

Beyond that, they will, if they belong to a human, also circumvent their natural instincts in order to aid or protect their humans.

* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': Creator/MercedesLackey usually uses magic as an excuse for her intelligent animals. Companions are [[OurAngelsAreDifferent actually angels in horse form]], for example, and [[NobleWolf kyree]] are {{Uplifted Animals}}; both are fully as smart as humans and notable for having large heads and broad foreheads.

* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': Creator/MercedesLackey usually uses magic as an excuse for her intelligent animals. Companions are [[OurAngelsAreDifferent actually angels in horse form]], for example, and [[NobleWolf kyree]] are UpliftedAnimals; both are fully as smart as humans and notable for having large heads and broad foreheads.