Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

Post by Sharlin » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:30 PM UTC

garren wrote: post #272

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.

I’ve read this, too. Cats leave you gifts not because they’re being particularly friendly, but because they regard you as an incompetent hunter. You see the behavior in indoor-only cats as well though, say, leaving toys on your pillow, etc. In that case, I wonder if they’re reciprocating? You feed me, I feed you (kind of).

Post by Sharlin » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:35 PM UTC

j8014 wrote: post #294

csomar wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if what makes humans "intelligent" is exactly this. Plus we have a 70-90 years of life. Which is long enough to learn and do stuff, compare that to 10-15 years for your average crow. We start bombarding babies with information since a very early age. Parents, are incentivized to teach their babies how to talk, walk, read, write, do stuff, eat, sing, etc... The amount of cognitive exercise is insane. And a hu…

My 10 year old can start a fire, create a shelter, gather/sterilize water, hunt, trap, clean game and cook it. Humans are scary smart compared to other life and can easily pickup survival skills, manipulate their environments to suit them, even as a child.

Post by Sharlin » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:42 PM UTC

rotexo wrote: post #308

gullywhumper wrote: post #176

Here's another article about crow intelligence and crows in Seattle [1]. Some interesting topics from the article include crows have 'funerals', they can recognize individual humans, individual crows commute to the same specific areas during the day to forage and return to concentrated roosts with other crows at end of the day. Living in Minneapolis with a home office overlooking the Mississippi River, I've noticed c…

In the East San Francisco bay area, I have observed that the crows behave in an incredibly habitual fashion. Every evening, huge crowds of them gather near Lake Merritt in Oakland. I see them streaming over my apartment in Berkeley a little before dusk. Some contingent flies north over my apartment around dawn. It seems like they disperse to forage during the day. I really wish I knew how they decided who gets what t…

Post by iainmerrick » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 9:56 PM UTC

csomar wrote: post #205

mrtksn wrote: post #25

Previously I heard about crows in Japan leaving nuts on the way of the cars to crash them when traffic lights are red and collecting them the next cycle. This summer I witnessed the exact same thing when I was driving through a particularly jammy traffic light here in Europe. Are these crows inventing the method over and over again independently, like scientists finding the same thing at the same time in different pa…

I wonder if what makes humans "intelligent" is exactly this. Plus we have a 70-90 years of life. Which is long enough to learn and do stuff, compare that to 10-15 years for your average crow. We start bombarding babies with information since a very early age. Parents, are incentivized to teach their babies how to talk, walk, read, write, do stuff, eat, sing, etc... The amount of cognitive exercise is insane. And a hu…

Post by magic_beans » Thu, Dec 12, 2019, 10:07 PM UTC

bdamm wrote: post #334

klenwell wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a wonderful story. My only New Year's resolution this year was to befriend a crow. So far, no progress. Maybe next year.

You'd probably need to start with a lone crow. As a group they can be quite nefarious and clever about it. I once slowed down a group of crows from killing and eating an injured bird; once they boldly got past my interference, they formed a sub-group and that sub-group followed me all the way home (1/2 mile) hopping from tree to tree, cawing the whole way.