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Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

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Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#21

Post by NDizzle »

rewq4321 wrote: post #10
NDizzle wrote: post #3

I’ve always thought this was confirmed with the video of one snowboarding down a roof. https://youtu.be/1WupH8oyrAo

Amazing. It carries its "sled" back up to the top, stands on it, and pecks it get it started. Whenever I see stuff like this, I can only think about this[0] (normal operation in US and AU at least), and how absurd it is that we treat animals like this, knowing how intelligent they are. [0] https://i.imgur.com/ucJNZoX.png

Yeah I guess "sledding" is more accurate than "snowboarding".

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#22

Post by vmception »

saagarjha wrote: post #12
cassalian wrote: post #7

> crows know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds, a manifestation of higher intelligence and analytical thought long believed the sole province of humans and a few other higher mammals. I've always found the common thought that only humans and a select few of other animals are the only ones that posses higher intelligence to be incredibly arrogant of our species. Why wouldn't they have higher…

Perhaps it’s humans that lack the higher intelligence that would allow them to understand that other species may also be intelligent.

There is very consistent supporting information to explore that thought further.

We rely too heavily on structured vocal responses to determine intelligence. On top of that we rely on observing erroneous unnecessary behavior to consider something might be thinking. This could be a real limitation of us as a species.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#23

Post by guerrilla »

novok wrote: post #20
cassalian wrote: post #7

> crows know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds, a manifestation of higher intelligence and analytical thought long believed the sole province of humans and a few other higher mammals. I've always found the common thought that only humans and a select few of other animals are the only ones that posses higher intelligence to be incredibly arrogant of our species. Why wouldn't they have higher…

Humans were effective in their intelligence and rule the world with it, no other animal has shown anything approaching something like that. You judge them by their results.

That's not a measure of our intelligence, only our ambition and aggression. The two may not even be correlated.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#24

Post by missedthecue »

guerrilla wrote: post #23
novok wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans were effective in their intelligence and rule the world with it, no other animal has shown anything approaching something like that. You judge them by their results.

That's not a measure of our intelligence, only our ambition and aggression. The two may not even be correlated.

So crows could build a jumbo jet, they're just lazy? It's pretty obvious that animals lack any type of intelligence even close to human ability. It's not even in the same ballpark.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#25

Post by padjo »

biggc wrote: post #6

> a clueless hedgehog across a highway before it becomes roadkill Before watching the linked video I thought this was describing crows deliberately placing hedgehogs in harm'ss way so that they could eat the resulting roadkill

I would urge caution in interpreting motive from animal behaviour. To my eye that crow could just as easily be attacking the hedgehog as helping it.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#26

Post by sharkweek »

My crow story, which I think I've mentioned on here before.

We have young children, and thus the back of our car is always a little disgusting with things like goldfish crackers littered all over the floor and in-between the cracks of their car seats. We got in the habit of throwing the crumbs out onto the driveway when we got home. It didn't take long for us to notice anytime we pulled in, the crows would be lined up on the power lines waiting for their free meal.

But it gets better. One of my kids loves watching the birds, so we go out there and do so a lot. Sometimes we throw them some crackers etc. for free entertainment.

We were outside one day and someone walked by pretty close to us. They didn't pose any (recognizable) threat, but apparently the crows thought we were in some sort of danger because several swooped down and attacked the person walking by. They were totally fine after the crow mauling, but I did read that crows do view people as friend and foe, depending on what they might be trying to protect.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#27

Post by arooaroo »

I’ve mentioned this previously but it’s on topic and still amazes me, so I’ll just copy & paste:

I know someone who works at one of the London airports and is responsible for keeping the runway operational. One of the jobs is keeping the birds well clear, and if necessary, sadly, may resort to shooting. The crows know the score though. This acquiantance says the crows know to disappear if they see the bird clearers. What's "clever" is that they only take flight if it's one of the shooters. They recognise the veichle(s) despite them being all the same fleet. So if someone else is driving round to check something else, the birds completely ignore. If it's the "bird guy" then off they go with little encouragement.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#28

Post by guerrilla »

missedthecue wrote: post #24
guerrilla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a measure of our intelligence, only our ambition and aggression. The two may not even be correlated.

So crows could build a jumbo jet, they're just lazy? It's pretty obvious that animals lack any type of intelligence even close to human ability. It's not even in the same ballpark.

See, there's your arrogance again. They may have no interest in doing so or anything leading up to it and desire is not a measure of intelligence.

Re: Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

#30

Post by sdwa »

missedthecue wrote: post #24
guerrilla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a measure of our intelligence, only our ambition and aggression. The two may not even be correlated.

So crows could build a jumbo jet, they're just lazy? It's pretty obvious that animals lack any type of intelligence even close to human ability. It's not even in the same ballpark.

Crows absolutely could build a jumbo jet, they just have no need to because they can already fly.
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