Crows May Be Smarter Than We Thought

The Nugget

Crows possess remarkable intelligence, evidenced by their ability to create mental templates for tools, a skill previously thought to be unique to humans. This finding challenges our understanding of animal cognition and suggests that advanced cognitive abilities may be more widespread among corvids than initially believed.

Make it stick

🧠 Crows can create mental templates, allowing them to recall object shapes and sizes even after they've been removed.
🎓 Cumulative culture: Young crows learn tool-making by stealing and adapting their parents’ tools, showcasing advanced learning capabilities.
🔍 Recent studies suggest this ability to form mental templates is not exclusive to the New Caledonian crow but is increasingly seen in broader corvid populations.
🕰️ Experience matters: Older crows performed better in tool-making tasks, highlighting that age may enhance cognitive abilities.

Crows can memorize the shape and size of objects after they are removed, enabling them to reproduce something similar.
The hooded crow, studied in recent research, demonstrated this skill by matching colored paper templates, suggesting a broader cognitive ability in corvids.
Mental templates likely evolved in common ancestors of corvids, indicating a deeper evolutionary significance to avian intelligence.

Young crows learn about tool use by stealing tools from their parents, which fosters their ability to create similar tools over time.
Unlike humans, crows do not seem to directly copy each other's behavior; however, they can learn through observation and experience.

Understanding how crows form and utilize mental templates could provide insights into the evolution of intelligence across various species, not just birds.
Evidence of cognitive flexibility in tool-making among crows could revolutionize how we perceive non-human intelligence and cultural transmission in animals.

"Mental templates allow animals to create tools, ultimately leading to a better chance of survival."
"Creating and using mental templates might be a skill that evolved in the ancestor of all corvids."
"Unlike humans, who regularly copy each other’s behavior … we don’t have much evidence that crows will watch each other and deliberately copy what another crow is doing."
"Understanding the ways corvids use mental templates can help illuminate the nature of bird intelligence and intelligence across the animal kingdom."
"Young crows often steal their parents’ tools, learning through experience and memory."

This summary contains AI-generated information and may have important inaccuracies or omissions.