Crows Could be the Smartest Animals Other than Primates

American Crow 

Blogging has been a bit slow lately, in part because I've been busy with a lot of life things. I hope to catch up on reviews in the new month or so. Yes, I've made that promise before. In the meantime I wanted to share a really cool article from BBC. It ties in nicely with a review from 2016 of Crow Smarts by Pamela S. Turner.

Since we moved back to Central Texas I've been seeing a lot more crows. The American Crow is the "default" crow for most of North America and is closely related to Ravens (which are moving into new territories including Central Texas). There are about 40 species of crows and they are found all around the world.

One of the most interesting things in this article is the explanation of crow intelligence and how it differs from primate intelligence. New Caledonian crows, described in Turner's book, actually seek out specific plants to use as tools. Be sure to click on the video clip to see a crow working to accomplish a series of tasks. You can almost see the crow thinking through the process. Amazing! Click the link below for the BBC article.

Pied Crow, Tanzania

Crows Could be the Smartest Animals Other than Primates

Crow Smarts

If someone calls you a bird brain they usually are not complimenting you. But they should be. Traditionally birds have been thought of as inferior intellectually. In fact their brains are large in proportion to the size of their bodies, generally considered to be a factor in intelligence. Experiments with birds like Alex, an African grey parrot, have shown that many birds do understand words they hear and to act on them. Some birds even understand abstract concepts. So it's no surprise to me to learn that crows are the world's brightest birds.

Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

In CROW SMARTS: Inside the Brain of the World's Brightest Birds, Pamela S. Turner follows New Caledonian crows and proves them to be geniuses. These birds understand the world around them and have to come up with ingenious solutions to problems. Clear and detailed photographs show the birds as they learn survival skills, use tools, and plan out their actions. Turner also discusses other tool-using and intelligent animals like the chimpanzees in Tanzania, ants, and dolphins. Tool use is especially critical to observe as anthropologists have long thought that it was the use of tools that differentiated humans from other animals. We now know that is not the determining factor. A chart outlines tool use by the numbers: out of 1,371,500 known animal species only New Caledonian crows and humans make hooked tools, for example.

Turner discusses evolution and its effect on brain size. We learn that a large brain is not necessary for survival and that brain size is limited in many animals by other factors. Brain tissue, for example, takes more energy than other body tissues.

Part of the "Scientists in the Field" series, another interesting feature of CROW SMARTS is that the scientist studying crows in New Caledonia actually wasn't there to study them. He was originally studying another bird species but became fascinated by the crows. Often our interests find us rather than the other way around! Turner ends the book with an "Ask the Author" section that answers questions about other crows and crow research.

This is an engaging look at a fascinating bird. Many of us see other species of crows regularly and can attest to their intelligence. And we've been fascinated by crow intelligence for thousands of years. Just look at Aesop's fable, "The Crow and the Pitcher" where the crow must solve a problem. And read CROW SMARTS. While written for children in middle grades, it provides a lot for any reader. And visit Turner's website to view video of crows using tools, funny crow video, a discussion guide, and more.