It’s often said that crows show a remarkably high level of intelligence—they can remember faces, use tools and communicate in sophisticated ways. But, a new study has found they are even smarter than first thought as they can solve complex tasks previously thought possible only for humans, apes and monkeys. And, most impressively, they performed the tasks spontaneously, without any prior training. The research, published in Current Biology, was carried out by psychology professor Dr Ed Wasserman from the University of Iowa and three researchers from Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia.
Western culture has never been kind to corvids, from Poe’s raven to Rossini’s thieving magpie. And, lately, neither has South Africa, which has been using poison to eradicate crows that are considered a threat to other species. But, Arjun Amar, an ornithologist in Cape Town, has now proved that crows were not quite so dangerous. They found that in 81 per cent of cases, corvids had no negative influence on the abundance or productivity of other birds. If crows have had a bad press, it is because in appearance and voice, they are a far cry from virtually all other birds which are attractive to look at and have a melodious voice. In contrast, the cawing of crows and the croaking of ravens are not only unpleasant but even seem to convey an ominous message. Hence, the line in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “the croaking raven doth bellow for revenge”. The twitting, chirping and trilling of other birds, meanwhile, are associated, like flowers, with moonlight and lovers.
Crows have been so excoriated that the claims about their intelligence may not markedly diminish their unpopularity if only because they are not kept as pets like other clever animals such as elephants, monkeys and dolphins. It is possible, however, that the crows do not care what the rest of the world thinks.