Live data from Hacker News

Crows possess higher intelligence long thought a primarily human attribute

statnews.com

231–240 of 390 posts

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

#231

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 u…

Years ago, we had a dead crow in our yard. We think our dog did it, but we didn't see. My wife and I dealt with it, but had a lot of crow onlookers. They were pissed. For the next year or so, every time either my wife or I would walk out the door, if crows were in the vicinity they would sound an alarm until they were happy we weren't going to attack them. They never seemed to do that for the dog, though.

That’s called “being framed” ;)

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

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to build it. But having an animal intelligence researcher consulting would be very helpful...

If you look up the researchers working on the stuff you think you might be able to help with - just email them. They may even have some budget to help you out. I've found most scientists to be super open to talking w/ interested parties, and often willing to let you help for free :) Some are busy divas, or busy in general, or also teaching and busy, so it doesn't always work, but there are a lot of folks out there do…

echoing this. i find typically that academics in highly specialized areas are excited a member of the general public is this enthusiastic about the conceptual problem the academics are working on.

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

#233

I have a personal experience story regarding crows. This is completely anecdotal of course but, to me, compelling. I live on an island near Seattle, very quiet and rural. We have a lot of wild life. One morning I was woke by persistent crowing by... well crows. Black Crows (not the band). Having been awoke from wonderful REM sleep I was understandably annoyed. So I went out to the street in front of my house and grab…

It seems they have the capacity for the principle of reciprocity, amazing!

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

#235

I have a personal experience story regarding crows. This is completely anecdotal of course but, to me, compelling. I live on an island near Seattle, very quiet and rural. We have a lot of wild life. One morning I was woke by persistent crowing by... well crows. Black Crows (not the band). Having been awoke from wonderful REM sleep I was understandably annoyed. So I went out to the street in front of my house and grab…

I have a woodworking setup in my garage and in summer I work with the doors open. The local crows know me and come by in small groups and I’ll throw a few peanuts for them.

One time recently, my shop vac’s 20-foot hose got clogged so I took it out into the back yard to unclog with a broom pole. Took me a while, and I had to shake it vigorously quite a bit before I was done. When I looked up there were more than a dozen crows quietly perched in the tree above me, watching closely. I realize that to them it might have looked like I was fighting a huge snake to the death! Afterwards I’m sure they all took turns to come check on me (or maybe get more peanuts, but they were definitely more attentive that day).

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

#236
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll just leave this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISE6R_-b3A

A less vulgar bird: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfsnHVaScjg

I'm so blown away by the clarity of speech! After hearing him talk like that, hearing the normal bird noises almost sounds strange, like a human mimicking a bird, or like he's gotten impatient and wants us to understand his native language.

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

#237

I have a personal experience story regarding crows. This is completely anecdotal of course but, to me, compelling. I live on an island near Seattle, very quiet and rural. We have a lot of wild life. One morning I was woke by persistent crowing by... well crows. Black Crows (not the band). Having been awoke from wonderful REM sleep I was understandably annoyed. So I went out to the street in front of my house and grab…

Yep. You can make friends with crows, and they will remember you for a very long time. If you get shiny things, then you're the crow's meow. Bones maybe just "meh."

https://youtu.be/dg3ApNJct6Q

https://youtu.be/0fiAoqwsc9g

https://youtu.be/HWXe7Js6GnI

https://youtu.be/VOmRNeYZVfE

Furthermore, crows can be sneaky. A murder of them hanging out behind my mechanic's goaded the dork of the group into stealing a bag sunflower seeds on top of a rolling toolbox 30 ft / 10 m on the other side of the shop from the roll-up doors. It had to figure-out how to sneak-in, hop up on the toolbox, and sneak-out without being detected like a bloody ninja. The group of them had a sunflower seed party in the alley and one mechanic wondered where his snack went to. And there were 3 people in the shop at the time! xD

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

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are other cases of them bringing shiny rocks and glass to humans as gifts. I think this is well established.

Your comment reminded me of another article about crows. It sounds like gifting is a known phenomenon but isn't that well established or researched. https://www.audubon.org/news/did-crows-actually-make-these-g...

Is there a possibility of human-crow co-evolution? I really can't think of any other reason the crow would give gifts.
Post reply on HN