: Just because a fox wondered about the hobbits does not mean he could articulate the question It does not make him intelligent

The ability to articulate a question (as a human, elf, hobbit, etc. could understand) is not an indicator of intelligence. As a matter of definition from Webster's II intelligence is the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. All creatures thus have a level of intelligence. However, in this case we can not reject the fox as having intelligence on a par with human, elf, hobbit, etc. understanding. We can resort to the birds of Tolkien (sans the Great Eagles) for an example, as Bilbo used one to convey vital information concerning Smaug's weakness to Bard.

Thus, it is difficult at best to support the statment that "Just because a fox wondered about the hobbits does not mean he could articulate the question It does not make him intelligent".

-RR