Nat Geo AMAZING: Clever Crows (VIDEO)

Check out this cool clip from National Geographic, which shows the incredibly clever talents of crows to solve a myriad of complex problems. Some scientists claim these birds are as intelligent as the great apes, as they show a similar use of tools. HuffPost green has already noticed how smart these creatures are with this video.

New Caledonian crows use twigs to fish bugs out of holes, and in captivity they modify tools to solve complicated puzzles with the reward of food. Crows in Japan even wait high above traffic, dropping nuts into the road, waiting for a car to break it open. Once the snack is ready and waiting, the crows have learned the rules of the road, and wait until the traffic signal changes to walk in the street and pick up the treat.

Watch amazing stories likes this and others, when the new show Nat Geo AMAZING! premieres on Friday, July 9th at 7pm EST on the National Geographic Channel.

WATCH clever crows:

Comments

[Ann Joyce]

11:02 PM on 07/11/2010

Crows in my area truly are the eyes in the sky...they have different calls/signals that warn of intruders be it birds of prey, cats, foxes and even bear...........and they are quite comical strutting around in front of the house, trying to blend with the squirrels and chipmunks...I don't let on....

[Happyexpat]

05:02 PM on 07/12/2010

.I don't let on....

So funny!

[yannb]

06:04 AM on 07/11/2010

The crows in my neighborhood are hoodlums. Many have gouged eyes, ruffled feathers, and they limp. They fight all the time and crow at each other. They look at me funny when I leave the house. One of them once walked up to me and leeched for a cigarette. I don't feel safe anymore.

[Marcospinelli]

01:48 AM on 07/11/2010

Imagine running into this the next time you're at the beach -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTDn2FMg0J8

[kareemachan]

07:31 PM on 07/10/2010

When I was working at our school library a couple of years ago, it was a hot day and we had the door open to cool things down. The crows in the area would check the school out around lunchtime (good pickings for them!) and one flew into the library, scoped out both rooms and flew out again, cool as could be. I'm sure that if he had seen something edible, he would have been back with his buddies!

[kareemachan]

07:36 PM on 07/10/2010

Also meant to add that while doing some surveying in Alaska, ravens discovered that my husband and his crew carried sack lunches with what seemed to be a treat for them, individually wrapped crackers. They would check out each lunch, just take the crackers, and hide them around the area. When the crew came back for lunch, the ravens would start in on their pilfered goodies - right next to them. They seemed to be bragging about what they had done! ;-)

We have a rescue conure now, and you can almost see the wheels turning in his little head. Smart bird, escape artist, and very loving when he wants to be. Our cockatiel, on the other hand, is a *total* birdbrain and tries to molest our toes....

[CodyCollie]

08:49 PM on 07/10/2010

We have had a cockatiel for 5 years now that was a stray in our backyard. He'll still hiss at me sometimes and has never learned to be really nice, but we have taught him to whistle songs, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the Vonage commercial song, Jingle Bells, etc. I am still amazed he can whistle in his throat because he obviously doesn't use lips!

[VanTroi]

11:45 PM on 07/10/2010

My cockatiel thinks he is a cat rarely flies anyone prefers to walk on the ground. He eats the dry cat food along side the cats and squawks when one cat, his favorite, is out of his sight. He hates when I pick him up to go into his cage but now knows just to fly to it and get in. All of this behavior is new after having him for over 11 years.

[SchrodingersKatz]

12:51 PM on 07/10/2010

In Hawaii we see a lot of Mynah Birds. These sassy little guys know exactly how to gauge the speed of oncoming vehicles, and will be standing in the road until the last possible minute, attending to some matter, before they fly up at the last possible second and out of the way.

People don't think about Mynah birds very much, but they are always observing us and everything else in the environment. They make loud and raucous comments about these observations from time to time.

Before I was aware of the implications of the trade in birds, I was the proud owner of exotic birds. Each one had a distinct personality. One day I cam home from work to find my hy husband sobbing. He had just seen the jealous Amazon parrot kill a baby parakeet he was training. When we had our first child, we decided to find the Amazon a new home, as she was lunging at our by then walking baby.

Now, I am opposed to caged birds and animals.

[Paintio]

10:57 PM on 07/10/2010

Dogs and cats are good pets though. Humans made these things because they need them. Well.....................and because they could. Mostly the second one.........I guess.

[VanTroi]

11:50 PM on 07/10/2010

Some birds exhibit jealous I have only seen in some really crazy humans.

[Happyexpat]

08:48 AM on 07/10/2010

I was intrigued to see in the video a crow with a white band around its neck. I live in the Apennines outside of Bologna and this bird is ubiquitous, but from what a can gather the Italians call it a "gazza ladra" a thieving magpie. Anyone out there know for sure?

[StephenJK]

06:22 PM on 07/10/2010

Could be a mynah...not sure. But, yes, there is a bird known as the "thieving magpie".

[StephenJK]

06:25 PM on 07/10/2010

Actually, I am wrong. I guess "thieving magpie" is an opera or concerto of some sort.

[Happyexpat]

05:05 PM on 07/12/2010

Yes, the Gazza Ladra is an opera by Rossini, but it's named after the bird of the same name. So you are right on both counts. :)

[rougebaisers]

03:53 AM on 07/10/2010

Most of humanity is too stupid to see or hear or embrace all the intelligent life around them. We would not even be here if that asteroid that rendered the dinosaurs extinct had not happened. And dinosaurs, even in their violent and lifestyles, never could have done to this world and the life on it, all the vile things humans have done. There is far more intelligence in a single plant than the vast majority of humans.

[Paintio]

10:52 PM on 07/10/2010

I'm gonna guess that you consider yourself an exception. Just sayin'.

[StephenJK]

03:07 AM on 07/10/2010

Check him out mod'ing his "tool" when the straight wire didn't work, he/she THOUGHT "alright, gotta bend this thing into a hook shape....alright that should be good, give it another go....yeahhhhh there it is......Next food task, please....I'm hungry today, guys"

[HHUA]

12:46 AM on 07/10/2010

Many creatures are "intelligent"... We humans are just too stupid to know it!

[Marie Gage]

09:45 PM on 07/09/2010

maybe one of them would be so kind as to join the senate and governors race here in ill and annoy - we have a lot of problems to be solved -

[StephenJK]

02:53 AM on 07/10/2010

We should be so lucky to have a predator for all the RATS scurrying around.

[mlaiuppa]

06:53 PM on 07/09/2010

Birds are the decendents of dinosaurs.

Sorta makes you wonder, and be kinda glad those big carnivores aren't around any more.

[Paintio]

10:49 PM on 07/10/2010

Humbling, ain't it?

[pmagellan]

04:34 PM on 07/09/2010

If only Republicans could be this smart.

Birdbrain has become a compliment near being called a Republican :)

[PigsOnSoma]

01:13 PM on 07/09/2010

Crows and magpies are two of the most interesting animals I've ever watched. Love these birds.

[StephenJK]

02:55 AM on 07/10/2010

One of my favorite "Magic: The Gathering" cards is "Thieving Magpie: Whenever you deal damage to an opponent with Thieving Magpie, draw a card." LOL I'm such a dork.

[PigsOnSoma]

12:44 AM on 07/11/2010

Well, count me in in the dorky fanclub.

[omobob]

12:43 PM on 07/09/2010

Bird Brained? I think not.
The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.
The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.
He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.
N'kisi's remarkable abilities feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.
N'kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1099

[PigsOnSoma]

01:16 PM on 07/09/2010

Once saw a parrot sing 'Yankee Doodle'. It's quite remarkable. The difference between us and some of these animals is that we can destroy the planet.

[omobob]

01:58 PM on 07/09/2010

"The difference between us and some of these animals is that we can destroy the planet." Brilliant.

[woodshoe]

09:49 PM on 07/09/2010

*'..are destroying...'

and yeah.

key to recall though, that much like every other animal.. for hundreds of thousands of years, recent hominids found ways to live cyclically and sustainably.. to embrace cultural and economic forms that did not depend on the destruction of their surroundings.

a specific human culture, civilization, seems the more accurate candidate for planet-destroyer

(just riffing btw, i do know what you meant and i do agree.)

i am always just cautious that the "we" doesn't mean "humans", but rather "me and you".. as we are both obviously in the position to employ a computer..

which very likely means we both live where computers go.
not where they come from..

which also likely indicates that neither of us are miners of tantalum, tungsten, tin, or gold..
we rationalize the redistribution of that most onerous labor.

and yet it remains a very seductive culture

rather than trust the world.

a crow told me all of that,

i am deeply suspicious of a culture which supposes that "most intelligent" has any objective value whatever if "most intelligent" is a title which is allowed to be held by those who are actively engaged in undermining their natural surroundings..

fractional responsibility = intelligence?
widespread violence = intelligence?
unsustainability (suicide)= intelligence?
of course not, OR if so then who should hope to be intelligent?

any crow (or parrot) knows this.. reflexively.
;)

[caroline gray]

03:49 PM on 07/09/2010

awesome!

[omobob]

12:40 PM on 07/09/2010

Crows are problem solvers. Across the street form my parents crows pick yup walnuts from the ground, fly high and drop them on the pavement, breaking the shells. Food Prep? Plus they fly in a murder (flock).

[woodshoe]

10:05 PM on 07/09/2010

murder of crows.. have always enjoyed that one.

and ravens, who flock as unkindness;

an unkindness of ravens.

[Happyexpat]

08:30 AM on 07/10/2010

And an exaltation of larks.....

[Paintio]

10:44 PM on 07/10/2010

I saw one once with a live Gobi (small fish).