Are you smarter than a Crow?

Please review this quite astounding video of a Crow solving possibly the most complex multiple step puzzle ever solved by an animal:



It goes toward indicating that 'bigger' brains might not necessarily be better.
If bigger were better, we'd expect Whales, Elephants, and other animals with greater brain masses to blow us out of the water at our own games.

Hey, a woman's brain, on average, is smaller than a man's, and everyone knows girls are smarter than boys.

Okay, kidding aside, this is pretty amazing and could very well lead toward further understanding what it is that actually makes intelligence what it is.

Here's a fun article where I originally saw the video:
Are you smarter than a crow?

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


I have seen this before and all I can say is a Crow is smarter at being a Crow than I will ever be.. As a Cricket, Snail, Whale etc etc all have me beat at their game; just as I have them beat at mine.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


People who live in rural areas know all too well how smart crows are. this doesn't surprise me a bit

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


Few years ago I watched a docu about parrots in NewZealand (considered a pest) that worked together. A box was built with a door on the front. To get the food the door had to be opened. The door was opened by pulling on a string on the back of the box. Let go of the string and the door closed. The food could only be gotten if one bird opened the door while the other bird got the food. They managed it and took turns at opening the door.

Another impressive bird I saw was a Heron in the uk. It would steal bread from fishermen and drop it into the water. When the fish came for the bread the Heron ate the fish.

Brain size.
Many years ago on British tv (Horizon) I watched a docu about people who had hollow brains. Some had little more than a membrane! They were just as intelligent as anyone else!

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


They can also talk!



When I was about 6 I went to a pet store with my Dad and they had a raven there that could talk. He said "Hello" very clearly as soon as we walked in and the owner claimed he knew 4 different words. Remarkable creatures

I had a sort of pet crow as a child, it used to appear when I needed it to, even on the washing line when I looked out the window and squak, like when a warning or whatever was needed. Still happens though I guess it isn't the same crow, at least physically.

Crows are kind of like guardians to me, as are other animals, but crows are super intelligent.

I remember reading or hearing somewhere that it wasn't necessarily the overall size but the folds in the cortex that counted most. The folds increase surface area.

Crows are highly intelligent & can make "decisions" based on each circumstance.
Any animal or insect can be trained including birds & the crow. But not all can view
everything as a whole concept. Crows have the intellect to make decisions, to figure
out puzzles & solve problems, which separates them from the rest.

I had a crow for 10 1/2 years, bloody smart as hell & could talk (no slit tongue)
& I was just starting to teach him soccer when he passed. Damn I miss him!

Cheers
Ektar

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


Reasoning and problem solving. I've seen my dog do it too. I think the motivation (food usually, but not always) has to be there. If we listen and observe with patience, we can learn that they can do a lot. Great video.

A crow flew into a building I was working in today. It kept smacking into the windows trying to get out. It was a little disturbing.

All attempts to communicate with the bird were useless. The open window was just around the corner. Argh! Frustrating! Well it finally stopped and looked at me for a second then flew out like it knew where to go all along.

Stupid bird.

reply to post by MALBOSIA


Maybe stupid, but it had wings and could fly...
and you had to continue working.

Nice video. I would like to know how much coaching he got and how many chances. I have seen my cat problem solve. Octopus I hear also have very good cognitive skills. But to me it appears that animals stop increasing intellegence at "getting easy food". I would think that if animals got smarter the apes we work with would be more adapt at changing their physical environment, opposable thumb and all. Sure we can teach them sign language but it's just training they have no desire to do it naturally.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


S/F for a fascinating subject !

Ravens hereabouts pile pecans on the roadways , and then wait for passing cars to crack the shells...

I want to raise one to ' scout ' for money about town - for a nice treat , of course. Maybe even cruise ATMs . He he .

And people think ' drones ' are the future .

MALBOSIA
A crow flew into a building I was working in today. It kept smacking into the windows trying to get out. It was a little disturbing.

All attempts to communicate with the bird were useless. The open window was just around the corner. Argh! Frustrating! Well it finally stopped and looked at me for a second then flew out like it knew where to go all along.

Stupid bird.

edit on 13-2-2014 by MALBOSIA because: (no reason given)

People are just as stupid.

MALBOSIA
A crow flew into a building I was working in today. It kept smacking into the windows trying to get out. It was a little disturbing.

All attempts to communicate with the bird were useless. The open window was just around the corner. Argh! Frustrating! Well it finally stopped and looked at me for a second then flew out like it knew where to go all along.

Stupid bird.

edit on 13-2-2014 by MALBOSIA because: (no reason given)

You were at work?

I'd be tempted to advance the crow was trying to send you a message about the futility of your career.
You think you see something worth getting at beyond the glass, but, in reality, you're trapped, and just keep smacking into the glass.

After getting his/her point across to you, the next logical choice was to demonstrate how easy it is to find an open window where then you can soar.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


It depends. Is the crow dead or alive? I am as smart as a dead one and almost as smart as a live one!

ketsuko
I remember reading or hearing somewhere that it wasn't necessarily the overall size but the folds in the cortex that counted most. The folds increase surface area.

Yes, Cortical Folding in the Cerebral Cortex has been linked to part of the ever so complicated formula that makes up intelligence.

It's, however, only part of the equation, and we're still attempting to factor in all the variables that go into defining what intelligence actually is, and how it comes about.

Some advance that language and language complexity plays a part in it, but, we see standardized communication symbols used consistently among dolphins and other cetaceans, yet, though having a larger brain and language, they're still not near as smart as us.

We then have the spooky brains of Octopi, Cuttlefish, and Squid which in testing indicates quite a bit of clever, but, do they have language? How smart are they?

There's also Chimpanzee 'flash' memory wherein a chimpanzee would seem to have a more consistently eidetic (photographic) memory than human beings:



Here's a link to the chimpanzee test: Are you Smarter Than a Chimp?

All in all, isn't intelligence fun?
Hopefully some day we'll have a complete comprehensive understanding of it, what it is, how it works, and perhaps, how to be 'smarter'.

They don't always need a food reward. They make decisions for themselves.
Crows are known to fly hickory nuts & place them in the road for vehicles to drive over
& crack them open so the crow can retrieve the meat. Not only that, they can achieve
this task in the city as they have learned the light signals & when it's safe to be in the crossroad.

They have also set them up in a situation unknown to them ahead of time with a test-tube
buried with food in it...the opening is ground level...there are 4 instruments to choose
from...only one will work to get the food out...the crow knows immediately which one
will work & he retrieves the food. A huge surprise is there was another bird of a different
species they put in with the crow & that bird learned from the crow.

That bird had no clue prior to being with the crow...afterwards they put that bird
by itself in the same situation & set up & the bird did exactly as the crow. It learned
from the crow.
It is rare for any animal especially a bird to be able to problem solve & make decisions
based on that & to resolve the problem.

Cheers
Ektar


NO one taught them this & they have been know to steal quarters out of soda machines
& still NO one taught them this, they love shiny things. Crows are different & it is why
they are being studied.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite


A whale is wayyyyy smarter than I am at navigating the sea. It is very relative to what you want to do. Animals don't start wars. Just that is a huge step forward, maybe we need to smarten up?

P.S. Your old avatar was a lot nicer.

reply to post by AliceBleachWhite

I've always been a little skeptical of the claim that humans were the only intelligent species on the planet, but I guess it depends on how you define intelligent.

That crow has a combination of intelligence and motor dexterity that I don't think our current AI and robotics tech could replicate, though maybe someday.

Humans do have some gifts but so do some other species, and when I see something like this I think we humans aren't as uniquely gifted as we'd like to think.

I've seen crows in the city but they are often scared away by cars so fast I rarely get to observe their behavior much, but people that grew up with crows in the country where they stick around and get to know people have told me some amazing stories about crow intelligence. I must admit I'm less skeptical of those amazing stories after watching this video.