Researchers Are Discovering Intelligence in Crows That Was Once Thought Impossible

Crows are already considered among the smartest birds, and are known for their problem-solving, tool use, and face recognition. Recently, however, scientists are taking this to a whole new level: these birds are not only intelligent performers, but they may actually be able to think about their own thoughts and know when they are confused. For a long time, this type of cognitive ability has been considered specific to humans and some primates. However, some recent experiments are suggesting that these birds are able to understand how much they know and adjust accordingly.

Crows can understand time, as shown in a study published in Nature Communications: scientists tried to record and understand brain activity in trained carrion crows as they learned to differentiate between time intervals. The researchers focused on a brain region involved in higher cognitive functions called the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), and found neurons that responded to specific durations of time, which possibly suggests that rather than simply reacting to external cues, crows can actually mentally track elapsed time. This trait is important for making decisions. The ability to judge time accurately lets an animal wait for the right moment to evaluate situations with uncertainty.


Crows might also be able to control their attention and working memory. Birds were trained to remember visual information in experiments reported in Scientific Reports. The researchers provided cues telling the birds what information was important, and the crows performed better on memory tasks. This tells us that they can focus their attention and, in turn, manage which information remains active in memory. Crows are also clever with tool use, as reported in Studies in Current Biology. They show that crows do not use tools simply by instinct; they slowly improve their technique over time. The birds gradually became more precise and efficient by practicing with sticks used to extract food. This may indicate that they keep checking their own performance and adjust their actions based on previous results.

However, comparisons with primates are helping scientists refine our understanding of such behaviors. As reviews from Primates attest, metacognition is well established in certain primates, such as macaques; nonetheless, a massive amount of evidence is slowly revealing that birds are developing similar capabilities, albeit with very different brain structures. Complex thinking may not be the sole prerogative of large-brained mammals; it may be a function of a very broad array of biological systems. Crows, in specific, are known as sharp, clever, and intelligent birds, and that it is all just scratching the surface of their capabilities. Researchers continue to study their behavior and brain structures, and continue to show that complex thinking is not exclusive to humans and primates.