New approaches to Quality-of-Service (QoS) Routing in wireless sensor networks which use different forms of learning are the subject of this paper. The Cognitive Packet Network (CPN) algorithm uses smart packets for path discovery, together with reinforcement learning and neural networks, while Self-Healing Routing (SHR) is based on the Ant Colony paradigm which emulates the pheromone based technique which biological ants use to mark paths and communicate information about paths between different insects of the same colony /citeKoenig. In this paper we present first experimental results on a network test-bed to evaluate CPNs ability to discover paths having the shortest delay, or shortest length. Then, we present small test-bed experiments and large-scale network simulations to evaluate the effectiveness ofthe SHR algorithm. Finally, the two approaches are compared with respect to their ability to adapt as network conditions change over time.