Animals: Gosh Did I Underestimate Them

Providing irrefutable proof that animals are not half as dumb as we make them out to be, they have finally figured out the two essential qualities that every creature should posses to get by in this world:

• The ability to communicate with people.
• The realization that truth is an inconvenient commodity and that if you want to be successful then the ability to lie is almost a pre condition. (Read the whole article.) Here are the relevant parts:

  Their trainers believe they uncovered instances where the two gorillas were economical with the truth. In one example, Koko broke a toy cat, and then signed to indicate that the breakage had been caused by one of her trainers. In another episode, Michael ripped a jacket belonging to a trainer and, when asked who was responsible for the incident, signed "Koko". When the trainer expressed some scepticism, Michael appeared to change his mind, and indicated that Dr Patterson was actually to blame, before finally confessing.
  

  And also:

  At feeding time, each elephant was given a big bundle of hay. Morris noticed that a couple of the elephants tended to eat their own hay quickly, sidle up to their slower-eating companions, and then start swinging their trunks from side to side in a seemingly aimless way. Morris's repeated observations suggested that this apparently innocent behaviour masked a duplicitous intent. Once the trunk-swinging elephants were sufficiently close to another elephant, they would grab some of the uneaten hay, and quickly gobble it up.

Expect news articles with headlines that scream:

Mahout sues elephant for breach of trust.
The elephant was allegedly offering its services to another Mahout for a few sugarcane sticks.

Here is the video of the elephant that practices every night to err, perfect his diction: