How Smart Are Crows? These Fact May Shock You

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Hi Friends, let's talk about some brainy creatures in the animal kingdom - crows! Now, humans like to pat ourselves on the back, claiming how intelligent we are with our fancy brain wrinkles and unique brain regions. We've been quick to dismiss other animals as "bird brains" or worse, but it's high time we change that tune.

Studying the brains of birds, especially corvids like crows, ravens, and jays, is showing us just how smart they can be. And it's not just about the birds; it's also challenging our ideas of intelligence evolution and making us question our uniqueness as humans.

The Crafty Tool Users

Alright, one way to test animal intelligence is by observing their tool use. Tool use is when an animal employs an external object to interact with its surroundings or change something. Think about using a stick to scratch an itch or using a leaf to get ants out of a log's hole.

It's not something all animals do, but it's not uncommon either. Birds have been seen doing this kind of stuff since the 1930s. But hey, some birds, like our primate buddies, take it to the next level. They don't just use tools; they craft and combine them like little inventors!

Let me give you an example. In a study, scientists in the UK watched a smart New Caledonian crow make her tool to lift a bucket of food. The crows in the study were choosing between a hooked wire and a straight wire to pick up the food-filled bucket. But when another bird rudely stole the hooked wire, this genius crow took matters into her wings. She grabbed the straight wire and bent it into a hook, creating her own more efficient tool! Now, that's some problem-solving talent right there.

Crows, The Crafty Toolmakers

Now, there's more to the crow's toolbox skills. In a 2018 paper, researchers set up a challenge for the crows. They put food in a box and taught the crows to use a dowel to push the food out. But then, they removed the dowel and gave the crows shorter objects that couldn't reach the food alone. Clever little creatures, half of the birds figured out that they could combine the objects to achieve the same effect. That's some serious tool innovation!

Do you know what's fascinating? Making tools like that might require higher cognitive abilities, like planning and task coordination. Surprisingly, most modern humans don't start showing off their tool innovation skills until they're between five and nine years old. So, the crows might just be giving us a run for our money in the clever department.

A Peek into Consciousness

Alright, folks, hold onto your hats because things are getting intriguing now. Let's talk about consciousness! Historically, we've believed that experiencing consciousness was unique to humans and a few other mammals. But get this, in a 2020 study, researchers in Germany showed some carrion crows a bunch of shapes, some bright and easy to see, others dim and barely visible. Sometimes, they even showed them nothing at all.

Here's the kicker - the crows were trained to give different responses. Sometimes they would say, "Yes, I see the thing," while other times they would respond when they couldn't see it. But the real show was in their brains. Scientists studied the neural correlates of consciousness in the crows' brains, which means they looked at the neuron activity required for a conscious experience of a specific stimulus.

And guess what they found? Certain neurons in the crow's brain had a stronger response when the crow was going to say it saw the shape, whether it was there or not. Woah! This suggests that crows might be experiencing consciousness! And get this, it's not in the traditional human-like prefrontal cortex. No, no! It's in the nidopallium caudolateral (NCL), which is anatomically different from the prefrontal cortex but seems to serve a similar function.

Crows and Consciousness - Who'd Have Thought?

Now, this is groundbreaking stuff, people! Because the NCL is not the same as the prefrontal cortex, bird brains don't have a "traditional" prefrontal cortex at all. It's like comparing Macs and PCs - different hardware, but they get the job done similarly. So, it's highly unlikely that this intelligence and brain activity evolved before birds and mammals parted ways about 320 million years ago.

What's mind-blowing is that this type of intelligence and consciousness might have evolved separately in different lineages! So, crows, primates, and even cephalopods like octopuses - all three groups exhibit consciousness and smart behaviors but have brains that are completely different from each other. It's like a grand symphony of intelligence evolution, folks!

We're All in the Smartness Game Together

Alright, folks, the takeaway here is that humans might not be the only super-smart creatures around. We're sharing the spotlight with crows, octopuses, and who knows what else! It's not a competition; it's a celebration of diverse and fascinating intelligence.

So, let's applaud the clever crows, celebrate the savvy cephalopods, and appreciate the astonishing diversity of intelligence in the animal kingdom. There's still so much to learn, so many mysteries to unravel, and so many creatures to study. Our brains may be unique, but it looks like we're not alone on the intelligence spectrum, and that's something worth crowing about!

Alright, that's it for now. Thanks for joining me, and until next time, keep an eye out for those crafty crows and the amazing world of animal intelligence! See you soon!