BIRDBRAINED
Birds aren’t usually the first animal that people think about when they think about smart animals. In English, calling someone birdbrained means that they are stupid. And saying something is ‘for the birds’ means that it’s trivial or worthless.
However, these expressions couldn’t be more wrong. Some birds, particularly crows, can be amazingly smart. In fact, their problem-solving abilities are as good as those of a seven-year old child.
In one experiment, a crow worked out how to solve a complex three-step problem using tools. The crow was given a short stick hanging on a string, a long stick out of reach in a box, and a piece of food also out of reach in an even deeper box. The crow removed the stick from the string, then used that short stick to reach the longer stick, and then used the longer stick to reach the food in the deeper box.
Crows not only use tools, they are also the only non-primate animals to make tools.
In another experiment crows were given a straight piece of wire and food that was out of reach in a tube. Unable to remove the food with the wire, one crow was recorded bending the wire to make a hook.
Even more amazing is that crows seem to use language. Researchers at the University of Washington began capturing crows for identification. However, after the first few times, the scientists found that catching new crows was becoming harder.
The crows were learning to recognize the face of the person that captured them and then telling other crows that that person was a threat.
To test how well crows could do this, the scientists started wearing a rubber mask when they captured crows. Soon after, the crows were sending off warning cries whenever anybody with that mask approached.
Later, the scientists observed that crows that had never been captured were giving the same warning cries in reaction to the mask. Over the months that followed, they reported that eventually 89% of the crows, most of which had never been captured, were attacking anyone wearing the mask.
What do you think? If tool use and language is a sign of intelligence, is it possible that given a few hundred thousand more years, crows might develop human-like intelligence?
