Intelligent Bird Solves 8 Step Puzzle
A friend just sent me a video clip of a Crow revealing their amazing abilities to problem solve.
Back in 2009 Reasons to Believe posted a Todays New Reasons to Believe article on the intelligence of Corvids. The Corvid family comprises Ravens and Crews. You can read the original post here: Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
Now a series from the BBC has captured the astonishing capabilities of the Crovids. You can see a short excerpt from the series on YouTube here:
Are crows the ultimate problem solvers? - Inside the Animal Mind: Episode 2 - BBC Two
Corvids: The Birds Who Think Like Humans article from io9 may also help to show the amazing cognitive capabilities of the Corvids.
These are truly remarkable metal capabilities for an animal. Moreover, Chimpanzees are not able to accomplish this feat without significant teaching and training from humans first. Corvids are capable of problem solving like this directly from the wild.
As the TNRB article shows... Caledonian crows [though not quite matching ravens in intellectual prowess] outperform monkeys in their ability to retrieve food from a trap tube–from which food can be accessed only at one end.” They also refer to an experiment demonstrating that “crows can also work out how to use one tool to obtain a second with which they can retrieve food, a skill that monkeys and apes struggle to master.” Evidently, certain bird species exhibit greater powers of the mind than do apes. (See crows’ cognitive powers in action here.).
When it comes to which animal, between the Corvids or Apes, shows the closest metal capabilities to humanity, Corvids win hands (or wings) down.
Now that's a disconnect between Darwinian Theory and reality. Food for thought there!
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