Crows and other certain types of ravens are known to be extremely intelligent. In fact in clinical studies they were not only shown to be self aware, but also to be capable of basic calculations and reasonably difficult problem solving.
One experiment I remember, had a string threaded through a fence with food at the end of it. The string itself was too far away to reach and pull on, the only thing in reaching distance of the crow was a short stick wich was just about too short to reach the string on it's own. However on the other side of the fence there was a longer stick just out of reach for the crows to pick it up with their beaks.
Not only did all the crows in the expieriment solve this successfully, but they did so on their first try, without resorting to trial and error. Noticing that, while the short stick would be useless to get to the food directly, it would be a good tool to reach the longer stick, to then reach the food with. The crows were seen to look at and take in the whole situation before acting on it.
In fact I remember reading an article that theorized that bird braincells are more powerful than mammal braincells. Not only are their brains very small, but they are also lacking the creases and folds (like a walnut) that are characteristic for mammal brains and serve to give the meninges more surface area and thus more space for braincells.
If bird braincells worked exactly the same as mammal ones, with their small surface area and therefore relative lack of braincells, birds should be relatively stupid, yet they are among the most intelligent animals we know of.
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
