The incredible intelligence of crows

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Crows demonstrate remarkable intelligence, as evidenced by their ability to solve complex puzzles and use tools to access food. Observations include crows scavenging for food, manipulating objects to obtain nuts, and even discarding empty food wrappers responsibly. The discussion highlights their problem-solving skills, such as soaking dry bread in puddles and using traffic to crack nuts. However, there is a concerning trend of crow deaths in certain regions, attributed to motorcycles. Crows can warn each other about cars but struggle to recognize the danger posed by motorcycles, leading to significant mortality rates. This intelligence and adaptability make crows a fascinating subject of study, while their decline raises important ecological concerns.
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A crow solves an 8-part puzzle to use a longer stick to get at some food.

 
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We had a couple of threads here (or at least posts) about how smart crows are, and yeah, they ARE
 
Here (Perth) they always steal plastic and smash lunch boxes to uncover and get the remains of food.
 
phinds said:
We had a couple of threads here (or at least posts) about how smart crows are, and yeah, they ARE
Recently I saw a crow scavenged a dumped bag of potato crisps, then dumped the empty bag into a nearby wheelie bin!
 
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A few years ago, I watched a few years a couple of crows for about 10 minutes.
One had a walnut and was trying to drop it onto the street to break it open, but the second crow wanted to get the bits when the walnut broke so it was following the first bird around. The first crow therefore took lots of devious means to drop the walnut such that the nut would be on the ground near him (or her) before the other bird could get to it.
It was fascinating to watch.
 
Not just crows, but birds in general, particularly parrots.
 
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That's certainly not what I thought when a crow pooped on my favourite hat as a child.
 
  • #11
We don't have a lot of crows in NZ but we do have a very intelligent mountain parrot we call the Kea. They are great problem solvers but are mainly known for their ability to strip your car of every piece of plastic, rubber or material.

Cheers
 
  • #12
I once saw a crow on the street that was soaking a dry piece of bread in a puddle. Smart-ass ;)
 
  • #13
MulderFBI said:
I once saw a crow on the street that was soaking a dry piece of bread in a puddle. Smart-ass ;)
That's cool!

Prepare to be further amazed:
Smart Heron Used Bread To Fish - Super Smart Animals - BBC Earth
 
  • #14
Crows really are intelligent birds. Unfortunately they've been dying by the thousands up in my province lately.

The problem was so bad, the provincial government commissioned a study to see what was causing all the crow deaths. I have a friend who does a lot of those bird surveys and he was asked to help out by the group conducting the study.

My friend ended up spending weeks out in the fields, "counting crows" so to speak and at the conclusion of the study, it turned out the problem was motorcycles.

You see crows spend a lot of time or roads, either for the heat or to nibble on road kill or worms that have washed up after a storm. But they're smart enough to warn each other. When a four wheeled vehicle approaches they all start crying out: "CAW CAW CAW!"

But the problem is that none of them can say: "MOTOWCYCLE MOTOWCYCLE MOTOWCYCLE!"

o0)
 
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  • #15
How crows are making use of driving cars to open nuts really blew my mind:

 
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http://www.crowdedcities.com/#training

"The crow goes out telling the others, or keeps this secret to himself – we are not sure."

It will be interesting to see how this works out in the real world.
 
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  • #17
Choppy said:
Crows really are intelligent birds. Unfortunately they've been dying by the thousands up in my province lately.

The problem was so bad, the provincial government commissioned a study to see what was causing all the crow deaths. I have a friend who does a lot of those bird surveys and he was asked to help out by the group conducting the study.

My friend ended up spending weeks out in the fields, "counting crows" so to speak and at the conclusion of the study, it turned out the problem was motorcycles.

You see crows spend a lot of time or roads, either for the heat or to nibble on road kill or worms that have washed up after a storm. But they're smart enough to warn each other. When a four wheeled vehicle approaches they all start crying out: "CAW CAW CAW!"

But the problem is that none of them can say: "MOTOWCYCLE MOTOWCYCLE MOTOWCYCLE!"

o0)
10/10 execution from antitheses to conclusion.
 
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