Success at hunting seals may not be measured on a standard I. Q. test, but scientist Alison Ames considers it a sign of the polar bear's brain power.

As part of a study funded by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, Ames researched the behavior of captive polar bears in British zoos. She has seen her subjects stack heaps of pipes that they later knock over in elaborate games. She has also watched them smash open ice blocks in order to extract imbedded fish.

Her conclusion: the great white bears are just as smart as apes.

"This is learned behavior and reveals that polar bears are very intelligent animals," Ames told the London Observer. "They are highly cognitive creatures that top the food chain in polar regions. You have to be very clever to do that. Hunting and trapping a seal is no easy matter."