Are Crows The Smartest Birds EVER? (VIDEO, POLL)

When making a list of "smart animals," crows probably wouldn't be at the top for most people. Jane Goodall made a splash in 1960 when she showed that chimps could make tools. Well move over furry friends, there's a new animal brainiac in town.

From britannica.com:

This video below shows an astounding feat by a New Caledonian crow. In an experiment conducted by behaviorists from the University of Oxford, a small bucket of food was placed inside a tube; the crow was unable to reach the bucket because of the length of the tube. She then picked up a short length of wire, and, after a few futile attempts to snag the bucket with it, bent the wire into a hook and lifted the bucket from the tube. What's more, the crow repeated the behavior in nine out of 10 subsequent trials.

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Quick Poll

After watching this video, do you think crows are animal brainiacs?

I'm pretty friggin' impressed.

That's cool, but I don't think it compares with chimps.

I'm glad they can make tools, but I wish they weren't so loud!

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Comments

[Newthron]

There is a lot of animals that manufacture tools to hunt or catch food.
Only human and most specially white human, think that they have the monopole of intelligence.

Without evolution, we would still be, in caves, hairy like bears, frighten by lightnings and over retarded.

This world doesn't suffer from "creationism." The living are not "still life," and animals are not fossils.

Good luck to those who deny emotions and abilities of adaptation to the world of animals.

[daedalus43]

Once I shot a single crow with a pellet gun (almost silent), and during the next several minutes, dozens of crows from what must have been miles away somehow detected the death and came to mourn and wail. Their scolding very effectively shamed me and taught me that these birds are VERY aware and social. They deserve to be respected as "one of us".

[madtom]

On a not summer day outside of Austin, I drove down a country road and saw a cardinal crushed by a car.

Drove by later. Another cardinal (it's mate?) was fussing frantically around the dead bird. The live cardinal really was acting distraught.

Drove by a third time. The live bird was gone.

That was 20 years ago, and I'll never forget it.

[vietveter]

A crow came by and ate the dead cardinal

[DressEyebrows]

QUIET, YOU

[DressEyebrows]

Doesn't it seem that the more we learn about animals, the more we learn how very little we *don't* share in common with them, one way or another? Without romanticizing or anthropomorphizing, humans and other life forms are pretty darn similar in our general motivations, concerns, and daily existence.

[shel3364]

National Geographic did a show called "Why dogs smile and chimpanzee's cry".

Fascinating show about animal emotion. The part with the Meercats made me cry.....

[Pammy2]

So, if it was a not summer day, was it a winter day?

[Xavier Ninnis]

"Pammy2 "
Just what the heck is your malfunction?
It would be annoying enough if your nitpicking comment was aimed at some actual mistake on the author's part, however trivial; but it doesn't even have that going for it, I suppose you've never experienced, say, an unseasonably cool summers day?

[madtom]

Smarter than most Republicans.

[DressEyebrows]

Didn't an "Aesop's fable" predict this several thousand years ago?

http://www.aesopfables.com/cgi/aesop1.cgi?sel&TheCrowandthePitcher2

[bluehand]

Good job birdy. A lot of human wouldn't have thought of that;-)

[Marcospinelli]

This is very old news, and a very old video.

Those of us who know and love crows (and all other birds) have seen them use all kinds of tools they find in the environment around them. I've seen them take nuts in shells, sit on the traffic lights above intersections and drop them on roadways and wait for cars to come by to crush the shells and release the nuts.

And who knew that, like parrots, they can talk?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sLuP3Vf1jo

[helenwheels]

Ha ha! I'm with you! I saw the one you describe and this one years ago. Funny it's just "news" now :)

[Balzac]

Hee hee, me too! I saw it happen on a tree branch looking out the window when I was a bay-bee!

[Ozarks]

They also mimic. They can sound just like a sea gull .

[petekwando]

Okay, this video is a number of years old, but I still find it impressive.

[Joethepauper]

Was his name "Nevermore"? Did did that grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore perch upon the bust of Pallas, just above the chamber door?

[RealityBaseCamp]

Yes, and he's suspected to have written most of Poe's work. He also knew how to Twitter.

[dontpanic1]

He did have a lost love, Lenore :)

[deepfreezevideo]

I have always wanted to have a crow for a pet.
There are three of them who hang around in our backyard.
They're pretty friendly and we often give them little treats because they love to entertain us
when we sit out back.
My wife isn't so keen on crows for the most part but they're winning her over with their clever antics.
I think they're awesome.

[laissezleswontonsbrulez]

Yes, they're really charming creatures once you get to know them. Civilized too: they hve extended families and share child-rearing responsibilities. They're also keen observers of humans and other animals.

They can be very funny too, given to physical humor especially when flying in groups, doing silly-looking swoops and dives around each other. Once at a local park I saw one flying along about 30 feet up, then suddenly drop straight down as if he'd been shot, tumbling out of control to about 2 feet off the ground and pulling out at the last moment, cawing victoriously. I almost literally fell down laughing.

[binca]

Not too surprising -

Crows are fairly closely related to mockingbirds, magpies, and jays, all of which are known for their accomplished mimicry and high intelligence. Crows can even be taught to talk like a parrot.

[ErnestineBass]

Heh...in a previous incarnation his name was Vinny and he used to boost cars.

[RealityBaseCamp]

Repo Crow.

[Krishnamurthi Ramachandran]

This is a very interesting picture for bird lovers.
When i was in Sociology Honors Degree, for us,one paper on family,kith and kin,origin to modern habitants.
Birds are clever for building their nests,groups for mating,and searching latest food available in a particular places,self cleaning,and self healing powers.
There is a custom in South India,we used to provide from my cooked food to crows on auspicious occasions.
Individually, i am a writer and natural lover, i like this article.
After a very long spell, i am a writing a lengthy comment on birds behavior,her intelligence to this valued news channels.
Thanks to your photographer for lively shots.

[113]

so f**king cool

[bjammin]

I demand a recount!

The New Zealand Kea (look it up) is one of the smartest birds in the world, if not THE smartest. I sense a bird vs bird superfight coming up!

[Joethepauper]

African Gray parrots get my vote, as far as birds. "African Grey Parrots have been known to have vocabularies of well over 200 words. In one case a bird named "Prudle", a male African Grey, is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having a vocabulary of over 1000 words."

Dolphin vs. octopus. Which is smarter?