Signs of Intelligence

Simba woke up this morning with his right ear standing straight out with only the tip slightly bent. It must a sign of intelligence (we've had our doubts how much cow dog intelligence he might be hiding in his blocky little skull). But the ears are definitely up. The left ear is perky as well. The two ears simply popped up over night--probably because his head has finally grown in proportion to his feet and body.

But when Simba strategized a way to get his cherished toucan-stuffed toy away from Chelly this morning, I think there must be little more gray matter growing inside his head as well. When Chelly took off with the toucan, Simba paused for a moment, studied the situation, picked up the rubber chew toy, flipping it wildly around his head and pouncing on it like it was a mouse. He then carried the rubber chew toy over to Chelly capturing her attention and provoking her to play with that toy instead. Distracted, Chelly let go of the toucan and quickly snatched the rubber toy from him while Simba grabbed the toucan and ran away like a bandit. It's a move Chelly has made a number of times to distract Simba, but the first time Simba has ever played the move on her.