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60 Comments
- jer2eydevil88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+48I think it’s obvious to anyone who drives frequently that few people ever exhibit intelligence when driving.
- Jadey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24My dad had a pet crow as a kid and insists it was the smartest pet he had. It knew what time he was done school and would fly down to meet him, fly back home with him. It would also sit voluntarily the basket on his bike when he was riding it.
- Tugboat78, on 11/09/2008, -1/+24Do you think early humans were in the caves doing out algebra? No. Do you think they were creating preliminary tools to help them survive? Yes.
That is what the article is pointing out. - Vineman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25"Human-like" doesn't mean they can do algebra or everything humans do, it means they exhibit characteristics that we also share. You dont need to be able to drive to have human-like intelligence.
- msgyrd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20Crows are amazing birds. I've witnessed them exhibit more intelligence than any other bird. Where my dad works, they have these covered trash cans with the spring loaded hatches (like you see in bathrooms or at the mall). The employees would always throw away food, so the crows would work together to get inside. They usually worked in groups of three. Two crows would fly down, land on the lid of the trashcan, reach over the side and push open the spring loaded hatch. The third crow would jump/fly into the trashcan, pick out the food it wanted and fly back with it's feast. Once outside, it would drop it on the ground and share it with the others, and if there wasn't much food brought out, they would repeat the process.
I've only watched it once, but my dad says it happens several times each week (and really causes a mess near the entrance). I don't know if it make them human-like in intelligence levels, but you shouldn't doubt the craftiness of a crow. - zatrix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18why is intelligence only a human thing, what if intelligence is just a general trait of life, and different species etc have different amounts of it
- jesusphreak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17My boss had a crow when he was younger (he lived out in the country). If you split their tongues when they are younger they can learn to talk like parrots, and this one had its tongue split like that.
He said it was VERY smart. One little kid was always throwing stones at it so eventually the crow would wait for the kid's school bus to get home and then fly down and peck the kid all the way home. He also said the crow would do things like stand at the top of the steps and fly down to the bottom over and over again, noticing that the dog was watching it. I think the craziest thing he told me about was how the crow didn't like one of the dogs in the neighborhood so it would chase it around yelling "Go on dog, get!"
I have no reason to doubt my boss, and seeing this bit about crows only convinces me more that they are capable of stuff like that. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16This just in: Some humans have crow like intelligence..
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16i'm yet to see a cat or a dog fly to meet it's owner after school.
- DylanGreene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Anybody who's seen Dumbo knows this to be true.
Crow #1: Did you ever see an elephant fly?
Crow #2: Well, I've seen a horse fly.
Crow #3: Ah, I've seen a dragon fly.
Crow #4: Hee-hee. I've seen a house fly. - ryllharu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12There was an older article in NG where a researcher in Alaska tied a piece of meat to a string and hung it from a branch. The crow observed it for a while, then 'stepped' on the string, pulled in some with its beak, and held that in place with its foot. After about a minute or so, the crow had reeled in enough to eat the meat. He also noted on several occasions that the crows had spontaneously learned to open the Velcro pouch on his snowmobile to steal food, and apparently had taught the others how to do it as well.
If you've ever been to Harrisburg PA, they had a huge crow problem years back. Crows by the thousands would roost in a few trees and squawk all night long to each other. This exhibited highly evolved social structure and interaction.
It's the problem solving skills and cooperation that makes them stand out. I'd say that they exhibit "human-like" intelligence. - Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Damn that's even cooler than my owl. Respect
- The_Decryptor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Heh, miss-read the title as cows, thought for a second that cow tools might exist.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10the crow fight with the squirrels in my back yard... what a ***** racket. i have to get out the slingshot just to get some peace and quiet.
- Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Wait, no reference to The Birds made yet?
Maybe they are capable of doing algebra with their beaks, but write it down in another dimension. - lashray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7You don't even need to split their tongues, my dad also had a pet crow with a split tongue, but I used to hunt many years ago and we used dogs hunting whitetail deer. Well I heard a dog while at my stand one day and this 'dog' was covering some ground faster than possible. After awhile I could zero in on where the sound was coming from, it had got closer. Guess what? A crow flying around and barking. No *****. I wasn't hallucinating but for a second or two I thought I had been in the bush to long.
You're the only other peerson I've ever heard mention splitting the crow's tongue, kinda confirms that my old man wasn't full of *****. - DeadWisdom, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Hell, most PEOPLE can't drive cars or do algebra.
- kc7gr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Crows can also be natural comedians. There's a group (flock?) of three or four of them that I feed, regularly, near my office, and they're a lot of fun to watch.
Most recently, I had some peanuts (in the shells) out on the picnic table, near one edge. One of the crows came by to check it out, then started trying to pick up two peanuts at once. While doing so, the critter apparently forgot how close he was to the edge of the table. Went right over the side, then recovered and flew off, practically radiating an air of "You didn't see that!"
Last summer, more feeding going on. I was experimenting at the time to see which seed mixes were favorites. The mix I had that day contained these huge white pumpkin seeds. One of the birds picked up said seed, mouthed it for a moment, then let it drop and went after a different type. A smaller bird, who'd been watching the whole thing, picked up the dropped seed right away.
I swear, if crows can give dirty looks, that's what the larger one gave the smaller. The smaller one just froze, with this look like 'oh, sh..'
A moment later, the larger one body-tackled the smaller one, and they both went straight over the edge of the table. I couldn't stop chuckling about that one for the rest of the afternoon. ;-)
And no, they're not really that afraid of cats. I've watched a crow make dive-bombing runs at a cat easily twice its size, and that cat simply panicked and hid under a parked car.
Crows... hours of free entertainment! Just spread some munchies around for them. Trust me, they'll come to remember you in a big hurry. - fjoggen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Saw a film clip once filmed by a hidden camera a fisherman had set up to find out who stole his fish.
This was in the winter and the water was therefore cowered by ice. The fisherman was fishing by drilling a hole in the ice and putting a line into the water and let it stay there to the next day. He was sure that somebody stole his fish since every morning the line was lying on the ice and the bait was gone.
Naturally the fisherman was quite surprised when he discovered that a crow would first check if a fish had been hooked and if it was, then pull it up and out of the water and unhook it from the line and fly away with the fish...... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7i watched a doco where crows took nuts from a tree, dropped them on an intersection, let car run over them to crack them. once the lights turned green the ran out on to the road to eat the insides.
now tell me that isn't problem solving? the trees aren't anywhere near the cars, they must have seen the cars run other stuff over and worked out they could do the same thing with the nuts. - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5O_o
thats a real media file, how dare you try and infect my computer as such - kc7gr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@datastorageguy,
Heck... I'd feel safer with a crow behind the wheel than some of the nutcases on our local freeways!
I, for one, welcome our new feathered over... oh, never mind! - serpentor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Growing up, I remember finding a crow in the woods that had a damaged wing and couldn't fly off. To accelerate nature taking its course, I dragged my two cats into the woods (kicking and clawing the whole way, the non-adventurous bums!) to show them the damaged prey for an easy hunt! They were very interested as soon as they spotted the hurt crow, but as they approached, a pack of crows flew out of nowhere to fend in defense for their injured brother! They fought my cats off, and the kitties ran like babies all the way back to the house. Those crows have earned my respect ever since..
- kevinmotel, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8i for one welcome our new crow overlords
- burke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No, sorry, you're 100% wrong.
- RuskiBanger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4A friend of mine had one too and it was much smarter than a parrot.
I love watching the crows when they run off the big red tail hawks, its amazing to watch the natural dog fight. - databasecowboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Wow if Crows possess Human-like intelligence and Ravens are far more intelligent than Crows it is only logical that Ravens are smarter than Humans.
The Raven is the Black Parrot and if you have lived around them you would know they are our overlords. I used to have this one that hung out with me a lot. It would steal food from my sled dogs and fly with me when I went biking or driving a team. It often seemed it would try to warn me of open ice ahead or of moose or inform me of the best place to fish.
It would be awesome to have one as a real pet though. Could you imagine walking around with a Black Parrot on your shoulder!? But they are wild animals and better to be left to their world. - ripter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4From Answers.com
in·tel·li·gence (ĭn-tĕl'ə-jəns) pronunciation
n.
1. The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
2. The faculty of thought and reason.
3. Superior powers of mind. See synonyms at mind.
I'd say that falls under "acquire and apply knowledge" - mushoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Props to the crows. But it seems like your cats are a bunch of well...pussies.
- BESTenemy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3When few years back on my way to get groceries I witnessed a crow sitting on a fence holding a string in its beak, playing with a cat, or seemed more like teasing, as the cat was obviously more interested in catching the bird itself, but couldn't get it. After a few minutes the crow would drop the string an make a noise that almost resembled human laughter. The cat looked totally pissed.
- hfilby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why is it that we think intelligence is a human-only trait? Animals display intelligence, emotion, memory, and many other so-called "human" traits. They also posess traits that we humans have lost long ago, such as natural instincts, and a few that we may never have had: sonar, infrared/UV vision, magnetic field/electric current detection, pheromone receptivity etc.
Mankind may (or may not) be different from animals, but I don't think intelligence is what differentiates us. What separates man from the animals is not something that can be observed, methinks. - donatj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I love crows, leaving fat out for them and watching then come and get it, they're beautiful birds.
- gormly, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7Hey PathDeamon.. just run head first straight into a wall about 4 times..
you won't have to worry about what a mess we've made, from then on you'll only care about all the pretty colors. - Agent_M, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Direct link to the video: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/av/crow_080802.ram
Fascinating! If only the video were higher quality. - bronstad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3there is a big difference between wolves and ants, though
- Azap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Caledonian crows are among the smartest birds in the world. I believe it was Oxford that did a study (I could be wrong) that found they had very accurate estimation skills, and excellent tool building skills. The videos on this web site are Amazing.
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kgroup/tools/tools_main.shtml - styromaniac, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If the next million years or so work just right, Chozo may rise from crows. I think the only things that truly separate us from some animals are brain size, vocal ability, and hands.
- icemarsh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe a group of crows is called a "murder". :)
I too enjoy watching these birds interact with their surroundings. On more than one occasion I've seen a crow take a piece of crusty old bread over to the bird bath, dip it in, then proceed to eat it. They obviously prefer soft moist bread to hard crunchy bread. They're problem solvers I tell ya. - antdude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2caw caw!
- aoeu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2May I suggest Real Alternative? ;)
- mckinnej, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I lived in the PI for a few years and I was suprised by how many crows were there. They used to knock the lids off the trash cans and have a feast. Back when I was a young hunter in NC, my adult cousin told me that crows can count, but not very high. He said that if a crow sees 2 people and 1 of them leaves, the crow understands that, but if there are 3 people and 1 of them leaves, the crow sees no difference. That's still pretty smart for a wild bird. Someone here mentioned that they can recognize guns. This is definitely true, but they can't tell a toy gun from a real one. I tried that. They squawked just as loud no matter which gun I had. They ignored me if I didn't have a gun though.
- carve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ants?
I've heard of the intelligence of crows in the past. That'd make one cool pet! I wonder if they could be box trained?
There's a crow whose just fallen in love with my front yard over the past month. It practically lives there. Maybe I should try to befriend it. - Sell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Have you ever seen how crows get "emotional" when one of them dies? I shot and killed a crow with a pellet gun (a couple different times) and each time tons of crows almost of out now where come and cirle the dead crow crying and carrying on. I seen this go on for a good 20 minutes with them walking and flying around the fallen crow then they leave. It's much easier to kill an animal that doesnt show obvious signs of understanding the situation.
- neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what i find really interesting about crows is how unafraid they are with vehicles... they know that a vehicle can only travel on a paved surface (usually) so they really don't care if a car zips by only less than a foot away from them.... on the other hand they also seem to understand that many people walk on sidewalks.... i walk alot... there are lots of crows in my area... i notice this cool behavior.
- kurtu5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Some one posted way back an article about prarie dogs. The researchers determined that the dogs would bark distinct warnings like, "the guy with the red shirt and the gun is back"
- male73, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I hear that they're more than that. They are actually links to the netherworld, the land of the dead, where Eric Draven came from. Seriously, I think in our own folklore (Philippines), the crow is a sign of impending death. There are those whom I've actually talked to who swear that these birds do appear near someone at their deathbeds. Usually outside the house, perched on branches of nearby trees in our rural areas. Okay, not tech related but it gives me the heebie jeebies.
- BeauKemp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought caw."
-Jack Handy - redshoesjeff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0The Crows are coming for us...
- datastorageguy, on 10/12/2007, -21/+20When Crows start driving around in cars and doing algebra with their beaks, I will go along with the "Human-like intelligence" bit. Until then, they can continue to attack my bird feeder and scare away all the other little birds.
- debt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore! -
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