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Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

bbc.com

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Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#231

Post by IanSanders »

sethammons wrote: post #214
eps wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cats tend to bring gifts too. My grandmother used to receive that of dead moles, freshly caught mice and what have you, invariably placed dead center on her pillow. She wasn't a fan of that cat before, and she didn't like it much better after. No idea why.

One theory I heard on cats leaving dead things for you is that they think of you as a non-effective cat that needs help killin things, similar to a mom cat teaching kittens to hunt.

Wonder what one can do to "prove themselves", perhaps let the cat witness them catch something? Sounds like a great research subject.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#232

Post by mcv »

gerbilly wrote: post #223
mcv wrote: post #204

Does the title really fit the article? The article discusses how smart crows are. It doesn't compare them in any way to other smart non-primates like elephants, cetaceans and cephalopods. Of course their tool use is a pretty big deal, but it's not the only aspect of intelligence. Squids have shown to be amazing problem solvers too. By the way, a while back I read that the tool-using crows of New Caledonia had their e…

> a group of crows (on Hawaii I think) also used tools. You're thinking of the New Caledonian crows. https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/00000161-1f5...

The New Caledonian crows are the original group of tool using crows that's already widely publicised. The more recently discovered group is indeed from Hawaii.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/this-cro...

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#233

Post by Pigo »

tannhaeuser wrote: post #159

Crows are known to give "presents" to humans they like, such as dropping small pieces of metal they picked up, or worms. Also, crows have very rich tribal behaviours going on. There's a town close to mine called Husum (in North Germany) where there's a multi-year battle going on between crows in the park. You immediately notice it by the noise, and in fact by dead crows lying on the ground.

I wonder if this kind of behavior is connected to the etymology of the term "murder of crows".

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#234

Post by Tyr42 »

ajuc wrote: post #128
djtriptych wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But to be fairer (to crows), I've witnessed crows just cross the yellow painted lines in a road to get to safety. They've adapted to our traffic rules.

They 'bomb' the street with walnuts where i live to open them. That's smart but not that impressive. What's impressive is - they don't do it on the parking lots where cars rarely drive, nor on the main road where cars drive constantly. They target pedestrian crossing near the main road, wait for cars to crack the walnut, then eat it. They understand where the perfect number of cars is gonna be.

And crosswalks are great, as when the light changes, they have the chance to eat it without getting run over.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#235

Post by gerbilly »

Tepix wrote: post #45
pmoriarty wrote: post #14

This article focuses mostly on problem solving, planning, and tool use as the primary hallmarks of intelligence. But what problem does writing a poem solve? Do you have to be intelligent to write a great poem? What about the intelligence need to compose a great whale song[1]? Or paint a great painting? These are things not measured on intelligence tests and that don't fit well in to scientific experiments because the…

Early humans didn't have poetry. Were they not intelligent?

Do you mean written 'academic' poetry?

Because poetry had a more day to day use than that. The rhythm and the rhyming is a mnemonic device. It makes it much easier to remember a text than when spoken in prose.

I can't imagine even our early ancestors not making use of that. In fact the earliest literature was passed from generation to generation as an oral tradition.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#236

Post by Tyr42 »

kldavis4 wrote: post #219
harimau777 wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, if you are out driving and there's a flock of Canadian Geese walking across the road, try only slowing down to 5 to 10 mph. They are used to people stopping until they finish crossing so they freak out when you don't. Note: I generally do not advocate purposely messing with animals, but geese are evil! Also don't do this if there are young that might not be able to get out of the way in time.

Canada Geese not Canadian :)

We put all our fill will into the geese, then send them south for the winter to let it all out. It's how we maintain our niceness.

Might have had some side effects though.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#237

Post by _f9cu »

Watch and learn. - All animals are good at it. Man made world - A smart mans survival strategy so that he can sit back and relax for his future. But, another criminal monkey looks and thinks "Oh I can make money out of it"

Creates life hard for other human beings.

Whats survival in this man's world - "Learn what other human had created, because whole crowd is following."

wait a minute. Crows smarter than humans? Of course they are. They dont load bullshit in their head.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#238

Post by sethammons »

IanSanders wrote: post #231
sethammons wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One theory I heard on cats leaving dead things for you is that they think of you as a non-effective cat that needs help killin things, similar to a mom cat teaching kittens to hunt.

Wonder what one can do to "prove themselves", perhaps let the cat witness them catch something? Sounds like a great research subject.

Interesting thought! You could take folks who regularly get dead animal presents and then have their cat witness them catch a rodent or bird, and see if the presents continue. I'd enjoy that read or youtube video, haha.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#240

Post by ajuc »

Tyr42 wrote: post #234
ajuc wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They 'bomb' the street with walnuts where i live to open them. That's smart but not that impressive. What's impressive is - they don't do it on the parking lots where cars rarely drive, nor on the main road where cars drive constantly. They target pedestrian crossing near the main road, wait for cars to crack the walnut, then eat it. They understand where the perfect number of cars is gonna be.

And crosswalks are great, as when the light changes, they have the chance to eat it without getting run over.

These particular ones have no lights. But people are still more careful around them so still good idea I guess.
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