So crows are intelligent?

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AdamantC

AdamantC

Senior member
Apr 19, 2011
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All members of the Corvid family (crows, ravens, jays, magpies, etc) tend to be highly intelligent.

A rook uses stones to raise the water level to get to the food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7cw_9AT5hg


Western Scrub-Jays can remember the the location of over 200 food stashes, whats in them, and the rate of decay. Not to mention they do a fantastic job of cleaning off the wasps under the eves of houses here.

Australian Magpies are the only animals that have figured out how to safely Cane Toads

The crow's solution to pesky humans tearing down their nests? Build lots (and lots) of dummy nests!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/world/asia/07crows.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&
 
BoberFett

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Wasn't here a video floating around a while back of a crow trolling a couple cats until the cats get into a fight, and the crow just sits back watching? You could almost swear you see the crow laughing...
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,866
31,364
146
Nintendesert said:
I see a traind bird doing what it was trained to do. Good job bird!
Click to expand...

tool use is extremely, extremely rare in animals.

This is actually quite remarkable.

And as for "training;" If you mean leaving the crow in a cage with various options until it figures out what to do, then yeah, you might consider that "training."

But we really call that problem solving.
 
Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,641
13,821
126
www.anyf.ca
There is something about how crows move that makes them so fun to watch. It's funny watching them in garbages, because they actually have team work going on too.

I remember once I was trying to feed a squirrel but the crows kept coming to eat the peanuts. So I put the peanuts under this heavy wooden chair.

The crows then lined up and stared at it for a while, analyzing the situation. One of them went slowly under the chair, carefully pulled the container from under it, then they all ate.
 
Kadarin

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
16
81
Some of these crows are smarter than people. Particularly the average Fox News viewer.
 
AViking

AViking

Platinum Member
Sep 12, 2013
2,264
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Interesting documentary (the full one). It all kinda makes sense now. I had a magpie get caught indoors last week and at first I was kinda apprehensive to catch it on my own. It had one hell of a beak and some sharp claws. Since I couldn't find any animal control to take care of it at that time of night though I had to do it myself. I was pleasantly surprised at how calm and well behaved the bird was. Caught it gently and let it outside.
 
Puppies04

Puppies04

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2011
5,909
17
76
In my experience all corvids are intelligent. I go out to shoot crows ravens and magpies on a friends farm to keep the numbers down as they have a nasty habit of taking the eyes out of new born lambs (seen it happening and it isn't pretty). The farmer whos land borders his has regular pheasant shoots and when the shoots are going on you can litterally chase a crow/raven etc across a field on foot as they know not to fly into the air as it means certain death.

On a side note thay are also tough buggers to kill from the front, I gave a crow a 12 guage straight to the chest from under 20 yards and it fell onto it's back flapped a couple of times than stood up looked at me and started to run away. I gave it the other barrel into its back and it died instanly. Feathers = body armour :p
 
Nintendesert

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
zinfamous said:
tool use is extremely, extremely rare in animals.

This is actually quite remarkable.

And as for "training;" If you mean leaving the crow in a cage with various options until it figures out what to do, then yeah, you might consider that "training."

But we really call that problem solving.
Click to expand...



It's not nearly as rare as we once believed. To think you believed the OPs video as presented is awesome. :thumbsup:
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,866
31,364
146
Nintendesert said:
It's not nearly as rare as we once believed. To think you believed the OPs video as presented is awesome. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

well, before it was primates only (and not all primates), and now crows.

Perhaps some other uber animal will step into the light and show us their brilliance, but tool use remains very, very rare in the animal kingdom. This is a far more complex skill than being trained to memorize patterns, repeat words, count, etc.

Yes, I'm sure that wasn't the first time that particular crow had manipulated a stick before. It's probably gone through many of those tests prior to this, so had a real understanding of what to do in that situation. Still doesn't mean it involved training--in the sense of classic trial and error like training a dog to do anything, or any kind of research animal to recognize levers or patterns on a video screen.

Like with octopi (some of the smartest bastards anywhere), you basically put these things in a box, give them a problem, and see if they can figure it out. Figuring it out is impressive, but their ability to repeat the tasks and adapt to newer problems consistently is even more impressive.
 
B

BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,365
16
0
KeithTalent said:
I want my own murder to do my bidding.

KT
Click to expand...

They are protected by the migratory bird act, like eagles. So even though there are 30+ million crows in US, and they are killed by hundreds of thousands by farmers and government agencies, you are not even allowed to own a crow feather.
 
OverVolt

OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
89
91
tmc said:
yep, looks trained.
Click to expand...

Nah, i've seen crows solve similar problems untrained.

They are pretty apt at poking stuff with sticks. Their beak shape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jF_0tZdbqo

Pretty cool use of that wire. They are in fact pretty clever with tools. He goes through the frustrating process of trying and failing before he makes a solution with the wire.

I don't think these are trained. If they were trained he'd grab the stick, then the second stick, then the food without ever sizing up the food or trying and seeing that he can't get it. Like when he tries and fails with the stick that is too short. If he were trained he never would have tried that.
 
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B

BUTCH1

Lifer
Jul 15, 2000
20,433
1,769
126
Guurn said:
I assume the documentary goes over them leaving nuts in the road for cars to crack open.

When I was growing up there was a pet crow in town that could say a few words (football, touchdown and herbie), he used to be someones pet but got away. One story I haven't heard about in these documentaries is that in Utah there are reports of crows chasing deer into the road to be hit by cars. It kinda blew my mind when my nephew told me that. A murder of crows working together to take down a large animal.
Click to expand...

I saw one where in Japan the would drop a walnut near an intersection and wait for a car to crush it then wait for the red light (when it was safe from being run over) then go over and get the cracked-open goodies, quite amazing actually, I'll see if I can find the link...
 
ViperXX

ViperXX

Platinum Member
Nov 2, 2001
2,058
10
81
They are very intelligent. They also pick a mate and stick with that mate throughout their lives.
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,866
31,364
146
BladeVenom said:
They are protected by the migratory bird act, like eagles. So even though there are 30+ million crows in US, and they are killed by hundreds of thousands by farmers and government agencies, you are not even allowed to own a crow feather.
Click to expand...

wait, really? not a feather?

I'm pretty sure they don't get the same treatment as Bald Eagles...


:hmm:
 
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