Ravens Once Again Demonstrate a New Intelligence
July 13, 2017 3:28 PM   Subscribe

 
These are always so neat to read. This particularly caught my eye:
This study suggests that ravens make decisions for futures outside their current sensory contexts, and that they are domain-general planners on par with apes. In the tool conditions, including self-control, the ravens were at least as proficient as tool-using apes (1, 2, 15). In the bartering conditions, the ravens outperformed orangutans, bonobos, and particularly chimpanzees (3, 4, 15). [Detailed comparisons are available in (14).] The first trial performances show that the ravens’ behaviors were not a result of habit formation, and that they perform better than 4-year-old children in a comparable set-up (16).
Thanks for sharing!
posted by mordax at 3:35 PM on July 13, 2017 [6 favorites]


I have a group of crows that like to hang out on my roof. Lately they've been announcing their presence by rolling something -- chestnuts, maybe? or small rocks? something roundish and lightish -- down the angle of the roof. Depending on whether or not they hit the metal frame around the skylight, the noise is either
RRURRURRurrurrurrurrurrurrurrurrurrurrrrrr [falls off roof]
or
RRURRURRurrurrurrurrurrurrurrurrurr-plonk
I haven't determined yet exactly what they're up to. It's possible that they're just bringing chestnuts up onto the roof to eat and occasionally dropping them. Or maybe they're intentionally rolling them off the roof or plonking them against the skylight, maybe to break them open or loosen them up?

I dunno. They could be bowling for all I know. They're a pretty smart bunch, if not necessarily great neighbors, the kinds of crows that like to harass folks and will sometimes follow them for a block or two, complaining loudly, when they have on a particularly threatening hat (the folks, not the crows) or otherwise seem notably worthy of harassment.

Haven't seen any behavior that looks like bartering yet, but I'll make a note of that possibility, maybe I can trade them something to quit bowling up there when I'm trying to concentrate.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 3:53 PM on July 13, 2017 [15 favorites]


Oh my gosh I love corvids! though honestly one of my biggest existential fears is the inevitable rise of other intelligent life on earth, and how humans will exploit/treat them :/ . I've always said it's going to be birds as opposed to apes.
posted by FirstMateKate at 3:54 PM on July 13, 2017 [6 favorites]


I've always said it's going to be birds as opposed to apes.

They've got the pedigree, coming from dinosaurs and all.
posted by mordax at 3:56 PM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


I haven't determined yet exactly what they're up to.

Beer pong.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:01 PM on July 13, 2017 [7 favorites]


Let's take the corvids bowling, take them bowling.
posted by idiopath at 4:08 PM on July 13, 2017 [12 favorites]


I always say hi to the crows around my neighborhood in the hopes they remember me and we can be buddies 😴
posted by gucci mane at 4:10 PM on July 13, 2017 [18 favorites]


Ravens are our best hope when the zombies come.
posted by kerf at 4:40 PM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


They're evolving into that most dangerous of animals, a clever dinosaur.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:48 PM on July 13, 2017 [4 favorites]


I love crows and ravens. I always say hi to them. I'm slowly befriending the ones that hang out around my patio.

A few months ago, a crow attacked my head while I was walking in San Francisco. I assumed it thought my shiny bald head was some kind of treasure. I'm ok with that.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:38 PM on July 13, 2017 [4 favorites]


I wish crows weren't such bastards though. Back in June, a few ganged up to kill a fledgling that was stranded high in a bush out front. Some kind of turf war.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:07 PM on July 13, 2017


Out in Maine, the crows like to stand in the middle of the road, facing perpendicular to traffic, so they can see oncoming cars from both directions. Most of the time when I see them like that, they're just standing, not picking at anything. When they see a car coming, they seem to wait for a while and then fly off as it gets close.

It seems to me like they might be practicing their roadkill retrieval skills. They need to know when to drop the loot and take off, and their little game of chicken could help prepare them for that.

One time, though, I noticed another crow perching in a tree, watching the crow in the road. When the road crow flew off, the other one started up with a triumphant "caw caw caw". I swear they were challenging each other to see who was willing to stand in the road longest.
posted by tobascodagama at 6:17 PM on July 13, 2017 [9 favorites]


Sounds like they were playing chicken.
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:50 PM on July 13, 2017 [9 favorites]


I just told my wife that our kid is dumber than a bird. I don't think she appreciated the factoid.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:16 PM on July 13, 2017 [8 favorites]


Obligatory crows playing in snow.

My partner really wants to own a corvid. I am on board with this because I want to be able to describe us as "two queers with a bird kid."
posted by brook horse at 7:43 PM on July 13, 2017 [7 favorites]


A few months ago, a crow attacked my head while I was walking in San Francisco. I assumed it thought my shiny bald head was some kind of treasure. I'm ok with that.

... is the tortoise ok?
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:00 PM on July 13, 2017 [2 favorites]


In trial 9, one female invented a way to open the apparatus without the tool (and was therefore excluded from subsequent tool conditions in the rest of the study). When excluding her novel solution, the mean success rate was 86% for all subjects.

Opening screen quote, Trial 9 (2019 Miramax).
posted by user92371 at 10:51 PM on July 13, 2017 [9 favorites]


A furcon I was at recently had 7 or 8 crows moving around the con space as a flock. It was magical.
posted by hippybear at 11:19 PM on July 13, 2017 [4 favorites]


When the crows steal sausages from me they work as a team.

They have lookouts stationed on the bridge and a retrieval team doing the work.
Then they all go and share the stolen sausages.

And I have none :(
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 4:06 AM on July 14, 2017 [3 favorites]


I've seen them gang up to drive off an owl.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:29 AM on July 14, 2017


A furcon I was at recently had 7 or 8 crows moving around the con space as a flock. It was magical.

"HELO FELLO AMINAL CAN U DIRECKT US 2 THE NACHO STAND?"
posted by JHarris at 1:31 PM on July 14, 2017


If you've not seen it already, check out "Penguin Bloom" Instagram feed, the subject is a magpie and its adopted family.

There's a book out there about the family and apparently a movie in the works.
posted by joz at 8:16 PM on July 16, 2017


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