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.

Read More Here

WATCH:

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!

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[frantaylor]

And yet even more research showing the intelligence of animals:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1242-Science-News-Examiner~y2009m7d8-Monkeys-show-language-recognition

[lillibelle]

The bowerbird ~ engineer and interior decorator ~ is as, if not more, impressive. Quite the charming Cassanova, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ-eisHzA84

[lillibelle]

OOPS!!! Wrong video....Here's the bowerbird:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPbWJPsBPdA&feature=fvst

[GoodwithWood]

WOW! That was way cool!

[rumblingspire]

for those who did not catch it. within the last couple of days NPR had an article about playing behavior. all mammals do it and it is quite revealing article.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/play/

[karela]

Crows are very with it in other ways too. If you pay attention, you'll notice that crows will tend to hang out around people who are generating a lot of mental/emotional energy and they aren't fussy about what kind of energy as long as there's a lot of it. They hang out around people who are exceptionally loaded up with positive energy and they also hang out around people who are steeped in negative energy. You don't have to take my word for it. Notice for yourself. I had heard it before, but I didn't really believe it until I experienced it for myself. People have noticed the negative energy part for centuries, hence a group of crows is officially called a murder of crows. But they are equally enthralled with high amounts of positive energy. I suspect that St. Francis of Assisi spent lots of time with crows.

[rumblingspire]

i've seen various studies of crows throughout my life. one study revealed that crows employ a watchman up high who will call out if danger approaches.

in the 50 and 60s, when i was in school we were repeatedly taught that only humans "think". this dogma is so rapidly falling apart.

[IndyReader]

Humph. If they were that smart they'd run into a store, grab a bag of chips and run out with it. Now that's smart.

[Truelee]

Crows are definitely smart! They don't eat junk food!!

[yosoyeldecider]

Crows do that kind of stuff. They are bad news at a picnic for sure.

[GoodwithWood]

Are you referring to this seagull?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYsMTZLNyFA

[HeWhoReads]

Crows are eerily smart. At my house, they like to eat the dog's food. This was a problem for some time. I tried to stop them by buying larger dogfood, but they 1-upped me by placing the larger food into the dog's water bowl, softening it up so they take apart the food and eat it.

Also, they taught all the other birds how to do this, so now I have to deal with doves, pigeons and finches pulling this crap too.

I still like the crows though. I could do without the pigeons going around in circles looking for the highest place to drink water from the bowl though. They don't understand that the water is even on all sides.

[eichler1]

My parrot does that all the time with her food. If you want know a clever miniature T Rex, er, bird, try living with a parrot. They learn patterns and act accordingly, with respect to both speech and actions.

[tresluv]

As someone with three companion (Amazon) parrots sharing my home (and a former breeder, before I became aware of an escalating over-population problem with parrots in captivity), I second that.
I could write a very long essay about the things I've witnessed parrots do that many people simply wouldn't believe.

This video has been around for a while, but I'm glad it's back in circulation. Keeping information circulating about the intelligence of animals, is a positive step toward encouraging people to be more humane in our stewardship of all living creatures, both pets and in the wild.

[Marcospinelli]

I catch the crows at my house eating the dog's food, too. They'll eat anybody's food. They follow other birds and animals when they see them with food, to find out where they're going with the food and where they're getting the food. Then, in the case of squirrels and birds that store foods, they steal their stash. One crow usually acts as a look-out, or a 'wing-man'.

[rulintheroost]

Crows being intelligent prefer elephants to donkeys. And prefer political parties with the smarter animal mascot.

[eichler1]

I think what you mean is that crows are significantly smarter than the people who prefer elephants, politically.

:)

[Joethepauper]

Crows are intelligent because they don't prefer ANY political party. They don't like elephants or donkeys. Their intelligence is greater than ours because they solve problems instead of arguing back and forth without getting anything done. They don't need to form two opposing groups (opposing each other, often, just for the sake of opposing the other group {even if the opposing party has solutions}), because even on the individual level, they can solve problems solo. Keep thinking like a Republican, rulintheroost. Make sure your party keeps marching in lockstep in the opposite direction of peace and prosperity. Make sure that your party's failed ideology is parroted by every member of the party, ad nauseum (no offense to parrots, who are clearly more intelligent than Republicans).

[Daianto]

Ravens are far smarter than crows and they have a sense of humour.

[laissezleswontonsbrulez]

Ravens and crows are pretty closely related, and both smart. Ravens will help wolf packs hunt, spotting the prey and steering then to it, then sharing in the kill. But even city crows have a sense of humor and like to do zany things for the fun of it..

I worked with a raptor rehab group, mostly owls and hawks, but once we got a raven that someone had been keeping as a pet. It had escaped (was actually found in the back yard cornered by cats and attracted a passerby by yelling "help, help") and got picked up by Fish and Game as an illegal pet, and turned over to us to "de-tame." He had quite a vocabulary and learned new things quickly. One of his favorite phrases when we first got him was "I'm smart, I can really talk."

He even learned to imitate the sound of a group of children playing, complete with high-pitched squeals. The de-taming was not a notable success: after taking him out to a remote area for release he was last seen taking laundry off clotheslines and stealing candy from kids in a local park. Not sure if we cured him of talking, but I didn't hear any reports of that.

[planetjeffy]

Definitely smarter than the entire rebubilcan party put together.

[113]

lmao...zing

[frantaylor]

It was pointed out in the TED video that humans can have symbiotic relationships with animals. We already do this with cats. They kill the vermin that eat our food, and we repay them with room and board and love. It works out great for both cat and human.

[csmcmillion]

I prefer to just eat the cat.

[frantaylor]

There are cats out there that would consider you a tasty meal, too.

[goodneighbor420]

just stop it........why does somebody always say crap like that?

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Reach food inside a tube with wire? That crow is not smart. I could do better.

[frantaylor]

Given the number of brain cells in your cerebral cortex, it would be pretty sad if you couldn't.

[csmcmillion]

That crow is definitely more intelligent than Sarah Palin.

[dst1]

You nailed that one.

[frantaylor]

The crow did not quit!

[neurolux]

If you thought that was cool, you've got to watch this. Joshua Klein talks about the intelligence of crows, and the vending machine he built for them. He trained wild crows to gather loose change to drop into his machine for treats.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html

[csmcmillion]

There is a difference between training and innate intelligence as in the video.

[neurolux]

There may be a difference between trainability and innate intelligence, but certainly they're closely related. Anyway, I thought it was cool.

[malodorousgit]

There may be a big difference between training and innate intelligence (although don't you need innate intelligence to be trainable?) but nobody trained this crow to do this, did they?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0&NR=1

[Mike Vardy]

Any species that is known as a "murder" when they congregate scares the beejzus out of me.

This video amped that up a bit.

[neurolux]

How soon till that bird figures out that that hook can be used to gouge people's eyes out.

[frantaylor]

Ah, how quick we are to assign human traits to animals. Humans are the only animals that torture other animals for no good reason.

[bazooka]

That crow has tracked you IP address and has drained you brake fluid.

[kimmisner]

I'm with you on this one. Crows freak me out. I drove up into my driveway a few months ago, and there was a dead crow on it. There were about 100 other crows in a tree across the street, just staring at me. I think they thought I did it. Anyway, the ground was too frozen bury it, so I just put him in a trash can. I think that made things worse.