I would be surprised if you haven't because it's gone viral in the past couple of weeks since it was aired on national television. It's pretty amazing isn't it? I think the best part is when he picks up the cap and goes back up to sled down again! Keeping that in mind, what if I told you the complete list of things this animal can do? Would you be as amazed and shocked as when you saw the video? Probably. Let's give it a try:
- Uses tools
- Short, broken dialect that has the potential to become a language
- Self-awareness
- Associative/ Observational learning
- Counting numbers
- Social behavior towards one another
- Theory of mind
All of this may sound like I'm taking about an earlier version of the intelligent Homo sapiens we are today (or Homo Heidelbergensis which had a nice full brain size of about 6-8 pounds), but alas I'm referring to your modern day Corvus brachyrhynchos. The animal in the video is better known as the American crow which, if I may add, has a brain size that is more accurately described only in mere ounces. It may be hard to believe, but this annoying feathered foe ranks very high when it comes to animal intelligence and brain capacity. After border collies, monkeys, octopi, parrots, and rats; crows rank number eight on the most recent list of animal who, no matter their brain size, continue to astound scientists with their intelligence. Some people are stuck thinking that only human brains are cut out for complex thinking. But with that new list: they find themselves floundering for an explanation to support their old theory.
With this new study (which is only a few years old), it is suggested that crows as well as the other animals mentioned before, have more brain capacity than that of a a six year old human! How can they prove that, you might ask? Through a long series of tests, scientists can determine many things about the animals personality or behavior when the animal is stimulated or presented with a certain situation. For example, self-awareness is a big break through in animals besides humans... For a long while there, we thought Homo sapiens were the only ones that could look in the mirror and say, "that is me- I'm conscious of the fact that I'm thinking about seeing myself in the mirror". That process of thought may seem simple to us, but to other animals it is usually impossible to achieve. Of course, that was again proven wrong when they put a chimpanzee in front of mirror, and it acted as though it either recognized the figure in the mirror, or recognized that that was itself in the mirror. After the break through with the chimps, scientists tested hundreds of other animals to see if the experiment would work as well it did with the chimps... Most of the time, the animals weren't as good as the chimps at recognizing themselves, but it was still shocking to scientists to see self-awareness in so many other animals besides humans.
With tests like these, animal behavior specialists were able to create a list like the one I mentioned above, that continues to bewilder and impress people with their overwhelming evidence. Apparently, some people are having a hard time understanding this concept (that they aren't the only smart ones out there) because when they see videos like the one I showed you- they freak out. If you are one of the many that is freaking out thinking about the possibility that Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds will become a reality, then I think I know just the thing to soothe you. Take a look at the second bullet on the list... it mentions that these animals have only achieved, after thousands of years being on this earth- short, broken dialect that has the potential to become a language (but clearly never has). Although this study may open your eyes to some pretty impressive aspects, it is language that has set humans apart from all the other intelligent animals out there. The discovery of language will probably keep us far ahead on the evolutionary trail- we shouldn't worry about being surpassed by crows any time soon.
Thanks to:
Shine from Yahoo!
If you want to learn more about animal intelligence:
http://animal.discovery.com/tv/a-list/creature-countdowns/smartest/smartest.html
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