Most intelligent snake ?...

[BoidKeeper]

I think that everyone is talking about instinctive behaviour. Intelligence leads to problem solving, which involves thought process. Put a snake in a maze or something or find some way to observe problem solving and then you can measure intelligence I think.
So all though many of your arguments are very good I still feel that snakes are instinctive not intelligent.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Vanan]

Mambas have been known to "remember" weak points in their cages and attempting to escape using the same weak spots everytime. Wish I'd bookmarked that post.

[Lisa]

Vanan, I believe most snakes exhibit this behaviour... One of our boa's figured out how to open her cage... she kept opening the door over and over. we had to install locks for her.

Trevor: There was a study on snake learning, and it was found that most don't respond to mazes well. why? because they're ambush hunters.
They did respond to other stimula such as being in an open chamber and having the exit door clearly marked but moved consistently...

[rwg]

I've always read that mambas and cobras were the most intelligent. I've seen nothing in any of the colubrids or boids I've seen or worked with to lead me to believe they have any significant intelligence.

Lizards I think are another story. Tegus and some monitors seem to show fairly complex behavior IMO... You'd need studies to prove it, but I think some of them can tell individual humans apart, which requires a bit of intelligence.

rg

[sapphire_moon]

I have heard of some snakes being able to tell humans apart as well (can't remember the species). But being fine with one person, then if another (same person every time) tries to hold it, it gets all huffy and tries to bite.

I also believe that instintual has to be SOME kind of "smarts". We started out with "instinctual" and evolved into what we are now, computers, cars, planes, and a world of science I couldn't even explain.

[crimsonking]

King cobras.
:Mark