Welcome back my fellow curious critters! Now, I know you may be confused about the title of this week’s post, and that’s ok, you will understand by the end. Crows are equal parts amazing and terrifying. I firmly believe that if the human race was ever wiped out, crows, and other members of the corvid family, will take over and establish a new world order. They are smart, make and use tools, hold grudges, and pass those grudges down through generations. (So be nice to crows!) They are even known to hold funerals when their fellow crows die. Absolutely wild stuff. So, go leave a nice little snack for your local crow friends, grab yourself a snack, and let’s learn all about crows.
Like I said, corvids are scary smart. In general, crows have the intelligence equivalent to that of a seven year old human. This is amazing for a number of reasons. Now, when you close your eyes and think of a brain you probably think of a wrinkly, pink, mass of tissue, which is what most mammalian brains do look like. Crows, on the other hand, have smooth brains. Somehow they have been able to develop mental prowess similar to primates with far less surface area to do so. They fully lack the area of the brain, called the neocortex, that is believed to make advanced cognition possible. Instead, they are able to do “mental gymnastics” at an elite level with just a few densely packed clusters of neurons. Next time someone calls you a bird brain, take it as a compliment.
So, what are some of the fun “mental gymnastics” that crows are able to complete? There is evidence that crows are able to count and have some qualitative abilities. New Caleonian crows are able to make their own tools and not just use them, a behavior that was previously believed to only be possessed by primates (humans are in the primate family). Crows are also believed to have theory of mind. Theory of mind is the ability to recognize that, “hey, I am me and I have my motivations and you are you and you have your own motivations that might be different than mine.” In fact, my friend Meaghan Fowler, who you will meet later this week for this month’s Scientist Spotlight, told me about some amazing crows in Japan that have learned how to use traffic lights to crack open nuts they can’t open themselves. Basically, they will wait for the light to turn red, fly down and place their nut in the path of a car, fly back up, wait for a car to run it over, then, once the light is red again and it’s safe to go back down, they will go grab their now opened nut and have a lil snack. How amazing is that?! I honestly just can’t get over how smart these birds are.
Another really cool thing about crows is that, like humans, crows in different areas will have different dialects. Their calls will vary slightly from other groups and if a crow moves into a new area, they will adopt that dialect. It’s kind of like when humans move to a new place and they pick up a bit of an accent and the slang commonly used in that area. For example, I’m originally from the Cincinnati area, but moved to Eastern Kentucky when I was going into the 3rd grade. While I don’t have a super obvious accent, (my mother fought hard to keep me from succumbing to the southern twang) if I am around someone with a thick accent or am really tired, my twang will come out. A lot of my friends in college were from the Chicago area, so I would even catch myself picking up a bit of their dialect and accent if I spent a lot of time around them. (I will never pick up their love of deep dish pizza though. Thin crust is superior and nobody can ever convince me otherwise.)
Now, for probably my favorite thing about crows; they will hold a grudge and make sure their entire family hates you too if you wrong them. That’s right, crows can be petty. Crows have the ability to recognize and remember specific human faces. Basically, a crow can not only recognize your face, but also your car, and your dog, and pretty much your entire neighborhood. They have even been observed playing with friendly neighborhood dogs. So, if you ever wrong a crow, it will recognize you and send up an alarm call any time you are in the vicinity. They will also pass along the knowledge of you being a threat to their family and offspring. Studies have shown crows sending up alarm calls for people they have never met, but that are known “bad guys” to other crows in the group. But, in the same respect, if you are nice to a crow, they will let everyone know you’re one of the good guys. If you really want to make friends with your local crows, leave them some nice healthy snack, like plain nuts. Once you have gained their trust and form a bit of a relationship with them, they will even bring you little trinkets and presents in return.
Thank you for coming along and learning with me today! Personally, I really want to befriend a group of crows one day. Were you surprised to learn that crows are so smart?! I know, growing up, I was always led to believe that birds were very stupid animals. That couldn’t be further from the truth! I hope you all had fun learning about crows today and I’ll see you all back here to introduce my friend Meaghan Fowler on Wednesday for our Scientist Spotlight!
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