Nature & Environment
Crows Can Count Like Primates: Crafty Corvid Intelligence Revealed in New Study
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jun 09, 2015 10:00 AM EDT
Scientists have found that crows can be taught to discriminate between groups of different numbers of dots. Not only that, but they found the neuronal basis of this numerical ability.
In this latest study, the researchers trained crows to discriminate between groups of dots. Then, they recorded the responses of individual neurons in an integrative area of the crow endbrain. This region also received input from the visual system; the neurons ignore the dots' size, shape and arrangement and only extract their number.
"When a crow looks at three dots, grains or hunters, single neurons recognize the groups' 'threeness,'" said Helen Ditz, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This discovery shows that the ability to deal with abstract numerical concepts can be traced back to individual nerve cells in corvids."
What makes this finding especially interesting is the fact that birds are separated from humans through a long stretch of evolutionary history. Because of this, the brains of crows and humans are designed very differently. However, it appears as if they both possess some similar abilities.
"Surprisingly, we find the very same representation for numbers as we have previously discovered in the primate cortex," said Andreas Nieder, one of the researchers. "It seems as if corvids and primates with independently and distinctively developed endbrains have found the same solution to process numbers."
The findings reveal that these birds can process numbers like primates. This tells researchers a bit more about the intelligence of corvids in general.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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First Posted: Jun 09, 2015 10:00 AM EDT
In this latest study, the researchers trained crows to discriminate between groups of dots. Then, they recorded the responses of individual neurons in an integrative area of the crow endbrain. This region also received input from the visual system; the neurons ignore the dots' size, shape and arrangement and only extract their number.
"When a crow looks at three dots, grains or hunters, single neurons recognize the groups' 'threeness,'" said Helen Ditz, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This discovery shows that the ability to deal with abstract numerical concepts can be traced back to individual nerve cells in corvids."
What makes this finding especially interesting is the fact that birds are separated from humans through a long stretch of evolutionary history. Because of this, the brains of crows and humans are designed very differently. However, it appears as if they both possess some similar abilities.
"Surprisingly, we find the very same representation for numbers as we have previously discovered in the primate cortex," said Andreas Nieder, one of the researchers. "It seems as if corvids and primates with independently and distinctively developed endbrains have found the same solution to process numbers."
The findings reveal that these birds can process numbers like primates. This tells researchers a bit more about the intelligence of corvids in general.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Related Stories
This Machine Teaches Wild Crows to Bring You Coins for Peanuts
Smarter Than a First-Grader: crows are More Intelligent Than Your Average Bird
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone