Scientists claim that humans are not the only ones who enjoy puzzles and assign value to tools they use in foraging food. Crows know how to use tools to get their food through clever strategies, and they do better than most animals.
A study led by researchers from the University of St. Andrews suggests that New Caledonian crows carefully use twig tools to get their food and make sure it would not fall to the ground by choosing those with hooks. This showed their smart way of using tools that fascinated many scientists.
Smartest Animal in the Planet? Clever Crows Can Assign Value to Tools They Use Just Like Humans
Crows Evolved to Make Hooked Tools for Foraging
According to Science Alert, New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) are known for being smart. Scientists have used them as a model species to study the evolution of tool use and its associated behavior. For many years, scientists have observed that these clever birds use twig tools and even shape or build them to suit their needs.
These species build tools from multiple twigs that are otherwise useless when alone. The behavior is something that was only observed in primates before. But in the wild, crows carefully place these twigs in their beaks to annoy grubs in the tree crevices.
As a defense mechanism, grubs would bite on these twigs, and then the crows would quickly withdraw the twigs to eat them. The hook on the twigs will prevent it from falling to the ground; that is why crows chose them as tools when researchers offered them two tool types.
In 2002, researchers from Oxford University watched in wonder as a crow named Betty casually picked up a wire in her cage and used another object to bend one end to transform it into a hooked tool to allow Betty to hoist it to a small container of meat. Betty successfully took some of the meat and ate it for their lunch.
Back then, it was seen as a unique feat, but scientists found out that New Caledonian crows in the wild also use this technique. It demonstrates that crows have evolved to make hooked tools from twigs integral to their foraging activity.
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Could Crows Be Smarter Than Primates?
Primates, such as humans, have brain structures that are responsible for their intelligence to help them make advanced cognition. This brain structure is called the neocortex and it is not found in crows. Instead, they have developed densely packed neurons that give them similar abilities.
However, according to scientists, the brain structure of crows does not matter. Crows and primates share the same basic capabilities in problem-solving and the ability to adapt to changes when new information and experiences are available, BBC Future reported. Experts noted that this is an example of convergent evolution in which completely different evolutionary histories of species end up having the same features.
Previous experiments on crows choosing a hooked tool showed that they were selecting just the right kind of material they could use to do the job similar to humans. But ranking which animal is smarter seems pointless when considering how well they adapt to their niche. After all, intelligence is a means towards specialization.
Although humans rely heavily on their intelligence at every mental task, non-human primates have also shown better short-term memories than humans.
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