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Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

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Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#381

Post by a3n »

WalterBright wrote: post #373
derefr wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So we'd go out in the morning and my grandfather would call out "Jack" and the Dog would come running down the yard, and then next thing you'd see the crow hopping down the yard after the dog. Tangent: this is a handy effect, if you could get it to work, but it’s a bit surprising if it did work: animals have different audible frequency ranges, and, obviously, they’ll only respond to a name they can hear. Dogs and c…

> such that a name like “jack” wouldn’t even register to them My experience disagrees. I often have a back and forth "conversation" with my cat, and she clearly responds to my voice, which is not high pitched.

But you still produce high frequency sounds: the "clicks" and such that differentiate consonants, for example.

The cat may be responding to those discrete high frequency sounds, rather than your overall voice.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#382

Post by a3n »

philipov wrote: post #116
tempguy9999 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rabbits are prey animals. I don't think(?) crows are. Prey animals are wary and startle easily to reduce their chance of becoming lunch.

By that logic, they shouldn't be running towards the car that's gonna eat them.

They don't have the planning ability that a predator has. They survive in numbers by breeding like rabbits.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#383

Post by axaxs »

linuxftw wrote: post #269
billly wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you from? I've never heard anyone say Canada Geese.

Nobody says Canada Geese unless you're on the internet. It's pretty much Canadian Geese.

I agree. I only have ever had one person correct me on this, who was, incidentally, Canadian. It's rather infuriating because the Latin name is literally 'from Canada'...which we already have a term for(Canadian). If anything, it feels like Canada Goose is a bad translation that people stick to.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#384

Post by TylerE »

filoleg wrote: post #323
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…

Sounds like a good theory, until you think about animals like parrots and turtles. Both of those have lifespans that are about as long as that of humans, and no doubt they are very intelligent (esp. pronounced with parrots), but not smart enough to be able to support your hypothesis.

We don't really know what they'd be capable of. Not having opposable thumbs is a pretty massive handicap compared to primates.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#385

Post by ottolin »

dbingham wrote: post #279
dta3456 wrote: post #139

When I was a child, I'd spend a lot of time at my grandfathers farm, and one summer he took in an injured crow that hurt its wing. For some strange reason, he named all of his animals Jack, cats, dogs and now crows. So we'd go out in the morning and my grandfather would call out "Jack" and the Dog would come running down the yard, and then next thing you'd see the crow hopping down the yard after the dog. It would ar…

Crows also have vocal chords capable of producing human language, and - similar to parrots - they can learn human phrases in the right conditions. My partner used to volunteer at the local Wildcare and they had an injured crow resident that they couldn't release named Da Vinci. Da Vinci would always greet visitors with "Hello! How are you? How are you?"

I had a similar experience. When I was a kid I used to buy grocery from a local store. There was a crow greeting every single customer with "Hello! Dinner yet? Dinner yet?". I think that's a good way to connect with local customers :)

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#386

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #378
perl4ever wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, are you having an argument with someone about jackdaws in a parallel universe? If you want to have one with me, you've got to...ease into it.

It's a famous reddit copypasta

What is the point or doing this, especially without linking to the source or proving context?

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#387

Post by perl4ever »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #378
perl4ever wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, are you having an argument with someone about jackdaws in a parallel universe? If you want to have one with me, you've got to...ease into it.

It's a famous reddit copypasta

I never reddit.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#388

Post by desert_boi »

billly wrote: post #246
kldavis4 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada Geese not Canadian :)

Where are you from? I've never heard anyone say Canada Geese.

I've lived in ID and MT (bordering BC and Alberta) for most of my life and people mostly say canadian geese even though I've heard that canada geese is preferred.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#389

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

perl4ever wrote: post #367
S_A_P wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason rabbits and squirrels run into the car is because they assume it’s like other predators and not taking a path. Squirrels are trying to “juke” and anticipating that the car will respond to that.

I have to think that over time squirrels must be evolving due to cars. I do see dead ones, but I often see them running across the road, and notably not zigzagging. They still don't seem to have a sense of how close and how fast a car is moving though. I've seen a coyote not only assess the trajectory of my car, but change its mind about crossing the road in front of me once I demonstrated I had no traction in the sn…

Squirrels make a beeline for the nearest vertical surface they can climb and hide behind. This is what makes them dangerous to bicycles because they will run through wheels on their mission to get to the tree.

Re: Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates

#390

Post by sutterbomb »

dbingham wrote: post #279
dta3456 wrote: post #139

When I was a child, I'd spend a lot of time at my grandfathers farm, and one summer he took in an injured crow that hurt its wing. For some strange reason, he named all of his animals Jack, cats, dogs and now crows. So we'd go out in the morning and my grandfather would call out "Jack" and the Dog would come running down the yard, and then next thing you'd see the crow hopping down the yard after the dog. It would ar…

Crows also have vocal chords capable of producing human language, and - similar to parrots - they can learn human phrases in the right conditions. My partner used to volunteer at the local Wildcare and they had an injured crow resident that they couldn't release named Da Vinci. Da Vinci would always greet visitors with "Hello! How are you? How are you?"

I was staying in a hostel in the Philippines and they had a pet crow that would greet you, but he'd also fuck with you - or at least me. He'd say "Come here" over and over until I went over to him, then he'd turn away from me when I got there. As soon as I turned back away he'd say "come here" again. Funny little shit.
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