According to animal researchers at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, crows have reasoning abilities that are comparable to a seven year old child! They engage in play, communicate, cooperate with one another, and are the only non-primate species known to make tools (such as prodding sticks and hooks to pick up insects).
American Crow
In Aesop’s fable, A Crow and a Pitcher, a thirsty crow uses its intelligence to get water:
A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.
It turns out that crows really are capable of this type of reasoning and have the ability to drop sinking rather than floating objects, solid rather than hollow objects, to raise water levels in order to get food. They also can choose a tube with a high water level over one with low water level, and a water-filled tube over one filled with sand, in intelligence tests.
In addition to using their intelligence to help them survive, crows are known to engage in play! According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:
Young corvids are very investigative, and love to handle objects. They like to pick them up, peck at them, and then hide them. Most corvid species hide food for later retrieval (some, like the nutcrackers in the genus Nucifraga, are extreme, hiding and remembering thousands and thousands of seeds). Juvenile birds “play” with inedible objects, picking them up, pecking them, and eventually hiding them. (Play is just doing appropriate actions with inappropriate objects, just like children playing house.) In the wild, they would play with sticks, stones, acorn caps, and things like that. In captivity, they will do the same thing to just about anything small and portable, and they may be attracted to shiny things, like keys, coins, or the like. Most corvids are “scatter hoarders” and hide only one or a few things in any one location (rather than being “larder hoarders” that store everything in one place, like a packrat). So if your pet crow hid your keys, don’t expect to find them in the same place that you find your diamond ring.
Their abilities mean that crows can avoid and interact with humans in unique ways. Crows have excellent memories and have been known to change their entire migration pattern to avoid farms where even a single crow has been shot in the past. In the village of Panama, the crows certainly remember when its garbage day and often come out and try to get a free meal! Because they have the ability to recognize faces, you might want to remember to be nice to crows – they will remember you and what you do!
Crows won’t just remember people who try to harm them or catch them, they also remember people who are nice to them! In Seattle, a little girl named Gabi began feeding crows in her neighborhood. Soon, the crows began to present Gabi with gifts! From the BBC:
One time it was a tiny piece of metal with the word “best” printed on it. “I don’t know if they still have the part that says ‘friend’,” Gabi laughs, amused by the thought of a crow wearing a matching necklace… “If you want to form a bond with a crow, be consistent in rewarding them,” advises John Marzluff, professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington. He specialises in birds, particularly crows and ravens.
We may even be able to learn something from the way crows behave.
Kevin McGowan talks about what he calls crow “family values”—when we hear them cawing—they’re communicating to each other—often helping save one another from danger, an owl for instance. And they’ve been observed feeding injured adult crows in their family. “They have great family values,” McGowan says. “They do neighborhood watch. They help each other out. They are everything almost that you would want from a moral animal as we see it. They really do pay attention to the threats that are occurring to other crows. They are very interested in working together to make the world a safer place for other crows. It’s kind of just the way they are.” – WBUR’s Wild Life
So remember, intellectually crows are not that different from a child. Be nice to them and you might make some wild friends!
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