New Caledonian Crows Succeed at Trap-tube Experiment

Alex Taylor discusses a the findings of a recent study which suggest that New Caledonian crows have the capacity for analogical reasoning. Alex Taylor is a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland.

For an introduction to the NC crow research and a discussion about a previous metatool experiment please follow the links

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNaZ3EoWnZg

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwsNvCkhrk

The Auckland University research website on the NC crows can be found here
http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/crows/

The reference for this paper is
Taylor, A.H., Hunt, G.R., Medina, F.S. and Gray, R.D. 2008. Do New Caledonian crows solve physical problems through causal reasoning? Proceedings of the Royal Society B, doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1107

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• animal
• cognition
• corvus
• moneduloides
• new
• caledonian
• crows
• evolutionary
• psychology
• trap
• tube
• experiment

[BigJude06]

Great work Mark, I think this is your way of saving the world...

[StrangerThenRedz]

well crows do have the higest brain to body ratio after humens

[fasanarom]

nice!

(alex, if u see this please contact me.. - asaf moran, india 2005)

[happinesson]

so smart! Crow you got a highest score!

[hillzagold]

I know a lot of humans who would be slow to make the food fall out the bottom hole too, if they were too used to pulling it out the side hole.

[Dannnneh]

Crows are the fifth smartest animals on the planet, humans not included on the countdown

[yancur]

Amazing! This has just blown my mind!

[epicureanmaster]

This video is so helpful, I am actually very interested in corvid intelligance, so for me this was truly fascinating, thanks!

[ScopedOUT2]

Crows and Mice are very clever, which is what makes them so menacing at the same time..

[MakeMeASandwichBitch]

KILL ALL CROWS

[urahonky]

Yeah so this video was awesome. Thanks for posting it!