Can crows read?
Crows can recognise and ascribe numerical meaning to symbols, a new study
shows, suggesting that the unusually intelligent birds may be able to “read”
numbers and simple icons. Crows are known for their extraordinarily good
memories, tool-making skills and ability to discern minute subtleties in
judging…
Sunanda Creagh , Editor
Crows can recognise and ascribe numerical meaning to symbols, a new study
shows, suggesting that the unusually intelligent birds may be able to “read”
numbers and simple icons.
Crows are known for their extraordinarily good memories, tool-making skills
and ability to discern minute subtleties in judging a threat level. It was
reported earlier this year that the US military considered using crows to
help track down al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In the latest edition of the journal Animal Behaviour, Japanese researchers
describe an experiment in which eight jungle crows were presented with two
containers, one with “2” written on the lid and one with “5”. The “5”
container had food inside, while the “2” did not. The crows soon learned to
pick the “5” container at a 70 % success rate.
Other experiments tested whether the crows could differentiate between
containers marked with non-numerical symbols such as shapes. The birds
scored a 70 to 90 % success rate picking the food-filled container for 19
out of 20 non-numerical symbol tests.
“These results suggest that jungle crows have a natural tendency to select
the larger quantities and that decisions were affected by the numerical
ratio and stimuli magnitude, indicating the use of analogue magnitude
mechanism for numerical judgement,” the researchers said in their paper.
Dr Stephen Debus, a bird expert and honorary research associate in zoology
at the University of New England, said the results were interesting but not
surprising because crows were renowned for their superior intelligence.
It is unclear why the birds evolved such smarts, he said “but I gather that
it is probably related to their complex social organisation and also, being
omnivorous in complex environments, they need to be able to find food in
novel situations and solve problems in obtaining that food.”
He said he expected the study of crows to reveal more of their skills in
future.
“I’ve heard it said that crows can count, and that the usual bird
photographer’s ruse of having a ‘seeing-in’ party accompany the photographer
to a hide, then depart (leaving the photographer in the hide to photograph
the unsuspecting bird), doesn’t work with crows, because they see how many
people went into the hide and how many then left. That is, they know that
someone is still in the hide and so won’t approach within ‘shooting’ range,”
said Dr Debus, who was not involved in the Japan study.
“They seem to know the effective range of guns, too, and the difference
between an armed and unarmed person, and that they’re safe and approachable
in areas such as cities, where guns can’t be used.”
http://theconversation.edu.au/can-crows-read-3740?utm_source=The+Conversation+Daily+updates&utm_campaign=270c2494ca-DailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email
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