The Corvus, in scientific terms, is a widely distributed genus of birds in the family Corvidae. In English, it is commonly known as the crow.
Researchers have long studied the intelligence level of the bird since the 18th century. They have been found to engage in activities such as sports, tool usage, the ability to hide and store food across seasons, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use individual experience in predicting the behavior of environmental conspecifics.
In 2007, researchers from the University of Oxford-England presented data acquired by mounting tiny video cameras on the tails of the New Caledonian crows. It was discovered that the crows pluck, smooth and bend twigs and grass stems to procure a variety of tools. This scientific research was necessitated due to the ability of the bird to manufacture and use tools in the day-to-day search for food.
In Queensland-Australia, where it is believed to be one of the origins of the bird, it is said crows have learned how to eat the toxic cane toad. To do this, it flips the cane toad on its back and violently stabs the throat—where the skin is thinner—allowing the crow to access the non-toxic innards. Their long beaks ensure that all of the innards can be removed. Those who have witnessed crows performing this action describe it as “remarkable and wonderful”.
Researchers therefore conclude that crows are among the world’s most intelligent animals, with an encephalization quotient approaching that of some apes. But that is not the end of the road for research on the bird. Further research aimed at fully exploring the intelligence of the bird is continuing.
A new video, released by a researcher studying the bird, reveals some more details about the intelligence level of the animal. In the video, a crow code-named “007” is seen easily solving an 8-step complex problem. The problem, which may have even been challenging for some humans, comprised of 8 separate steps that the crow needed to complete in order.
The video, just over three minutes in length, showed the crow easily solving the complex eight-step problem to earn a snack. The video was posted to the BBC’s YouTube channel. Since the video was posted, it has gone viral with almost 7 million views.
In fact, some people who commented on the video admitted that the crow is more intelligent than some people they know. That sounded somehow offensive to some people. But the argument and the counter-argument continued.
Watch the video and share with us your opinion on the intelligence level of the crow. Do you also believe that the crow is more intelligent than some human beings? Feel free to tell us what you think!
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corvids are awesome
How that crow did that is only the beginning of our questions about animal intelligence, which, like most things, we understand only dimly thanks to our many prejudices.
Consider this case: Decades ago, researchers at a university campus pulled a “prank” on a colony of crows, dressing up in rubber masks to resemble some (in)famous public figures of the time and threatening the crows’ nests. Years later, new researchers put the masks on, went into the woods — and were immediately attacked by the great-grandchildren of the birds their predecessors had pranked.
Think very carefully about what cognitive skills that implies.
Are you sure that the vrows weren’t simply frightened by the mask? What scares the first generation will most likely scare any subsequent generation.
For me this is a “no brainer”. I used to live in Spotsylvania County in VA. I often went to one of the battlefields to walk. A crow for about 8 weeks in a row sat in the same tree and “cawed” to me. Why this is so, I don’t know. I don’t think its just a coincidence.