Thursday, March 25, 2010

Now that's a smart bird!


It seems Japanese crows are rather smarter than your average bird. This video clip demonstrates their applied intelligence in action.





That's pretty amazing, for an animal with a brain the size of a baked bean!

Peter

4 comments:

  1. THAT is called urbanization... Lots of animals/birds 'adapt' to their surroundings and mitigate their behaviour based on their environment. Good 'proof' though :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The problem though, is collecting the bits without getting run over"

    No joke.

    Now that takes "Yield to Pedestrians" to a whole 'nother level.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I recall seeing a report (here?) of crows learning to not only use tools, but to fabricate them also.

    Perhaps a similar note, I've taught the magpies around here that they won't be bothered if they keep the noise down, and they appear to understand the lesson.

    Jim

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's pretty small potatoes for a crow- they're up there with parrots in terms of avian intelligence, and perhaps are smarter. (Parrots may just be more communicative.)

    Yes, corvids (the family crows belong to) have fabricated tools to solve problems- the example in question I recall was bending a bit of wire to suit the task. Magpies have even passed the mirror test of self-awareness.

    ReplyDelete

ALL COMMENTS ARE MODERATED. THEY WILL APPEAR AFTER OWNER APPROVAL, WHICH MAY BE DELAYED.