Intelligence to Crow Over

Science

You may remember from a couple of years ago that scientists accidentally found that a crow (specifically a female crow) had tool-making capabilities that suggested very strong reasoning. While digging up more info on this for one of my classes, I came across a great site about it, which includes a Real Player video clip of Miss Betty the Crow doing her stuff. Yay!

4 thoughts on “Intelligence to Crow Over”

  1. I love this kind of thing. Anything which helps us realize that we’re not the sole keepers of intelligence (or *worse*, lords of all creation) is a Good Thing.

  2. AWESOME!! I’ve always liked crows.

    Here is a crow story:

    There was this cat who belonged to a friend of mine who one day came running into the house with a baby crow in its mouth. My friend promptly returned the cat outdoors ’cause who wants a gross dead baby bird in the house? Well, there was much cawing and commotion outside and then silence. When my friend finally opened the door to check it out, there was nothing there — no cat, no crows, no baby crow. My friend never saw his cat again. Creepy, huh?

  3. Well, one day, a crow entered my room through my open dorm window. He looked around acutely as crows do, and made a half-caw, half gurgle. He eyed me, at the back of the room, and judged the distance to my sandwich and to me, and then jumped twice along the desk and took it. The bastard.

    I saw him perched in the tree a few days later with a clear line of sight to my desk and part of the room. was he waiting for more? He could have been. Clever birds, must have been really hungry and alone from the others to pull somethng like that.

  4. I don’t know about the cat, but that crow was watching to see if you would leave any more food lying around.

    I watch the crows in Seattle (don’t ask) and I have recognized over 10 different calls. It’s usually pitch and intensity that determine urgency. Crows, unlike most other birds will recognize me because I feed them peanuts. As much as a week after I was feeding them, they would come up to me. Nice to be known. Of course the flip side is that if you threaten a nest, they won’t forget you either.

    My story is:

    I watched two crows digging for earthworms. The mud was deep and getting on their faces. One flew away, and then came back with a stick, then proceeded to use it to dig. He’d use it, put it down when he got a worm, then use it again. The other crow noticed and tried to take it. They fought, the second crow took the stick and started using it. The first one flew away and got another one.

    Of course, they probably already learned the behavior, but it makes you think.

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