Crows smarter than monkeys: Experiment tests cognitive abilities
Created: 12/14/2022, 11:00 am
By: Sina Lück
In an experiment, scientists found that crows can recognize complex patterns.
They did better than monkeys.
For many people, crows are just annoying creatures.
However, if you take a closer look, the black birds have fascinating properties.
For example, they can use tools, plan ahead and understand the principle of zero.
Even children need a few years to develop an understanding of numerical values.
Scientists have now found that crows are also able to grasp complex cognitive principles - and are therefore clearly superior to monkeys.
Crows smarter than monkeys: Experiment tests cognitive abilities
Crows are smarter than monkeys.
This is proven by a study that examined the cognitive abilities of birds.
(Iconic image) © Michael Schöne/Imago
In the study, Diana Liao, a postdoc at the University of Tübingen, and her research team are testing a specific cognitive ability in crows: so-called recursion.
This means the integration of structures into similar structures.
An example of recursion in linguistics is the embedding or repeating of elements of language.
As in this sentence: The cat chasing the mouse meowed.
Recursion is considered the basis of symbolic competence and is often viewed as a uniquely human ability.
Some people also have a lot of compassion for other living beings: like a family saving the life of a baby crow.
However, the new research suggests that crows can do the same.
"One of the most distinctive features of human communicative cognition might turn out to be not so human-specific," lead author Diana Liao told
Live Science
.
In Sweden, on the other hand, the birds have a completely different ability: There, crows are supposed to dispose of cigarette butts as garbage collectors.
Crows smarter than monkeys: Birds learn sequences of different symbols
In the experiment, two animals should learn to distinguish paired elements, such as open and closed brackets, integrated into larger sequences.
To do this, the scientists first familiarized the birds with various symbols: { }, [ ] and < >.
After learning the symbols, the crows should peck at the center of an embedded recursive sequence, such as { ( ) } or ( { } ).
For each correct answer, the crows were rewarded with food.
After about a week, they understood the principle and were given another task: the researchers showed them sequences of similar symbols that they had never seen before, e.g.
e.g. { } [ ].
When confronted with similar tests, humans, infants and monkeys can usually transfer the principle correctly.
For example, if { ( ) } is correct, they understand that { [ ] } or [ { } ] is also correct.
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Crows smarter than monkeys: Birds are right 40 percent of the time
The results of the experiment, published in the journal
Science Advances
, are startling: Compared to preschoolers, the crows performed similarly well on the tests.
About 40 percent of the time, the birds chose the centrally embedded elements.
The interesting thing is that their hit rate is significantly higher than that of rhesus monkeys at only 26 percent.
This was shown by a study from 2020. In contrast, adults opted for a structure embedded in the center in 60 to 90 percent of cases.
Children chose this 43 percent of the time.
Based on the results, Diana Liao suspects that recursive logic is a key component of communication - even for crows.
"If raven songbirds can understand and produce recursive structures, they can also use them for vocal communication and to manage their complicated social relationships," says the scientist.