AbstractThe main topics in the study of animal cognition are reviewed with special reference to direct links to human, and in particular developmental, cognitive sciences. The material is organized with regard to the general idea that biological organisms would be endowed with a small set of separable systems of core knowledge, a prominent hypothesis in the current developmental cognitive sciences. Core knowledge systems would serve to represent inanimate physical objects and their mechanical interactions (natural physics); numbers with their relationships of ordering, addition, and subtraction (natural mathematics); places in the spatial layout with their geometric relationships (natural geometry); and animate psychological objects (agents) with their goal‐directed actions (natural psychology). Some advanced forms of animal cognition, such as episodic‐like representations and planning for the future, are also discussed. WIREs Cogn Sci 2010 1 882–893This article is categorized under: Psychology > Comparative Psychology