{"id":38729,"date":"2013-11-30T00:20:21","date_gmt":"2013-11-30T05:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=38729"},"modified":"2013-11-30T00:20:21","modified_gmt":"2013-11-30T05:20:21","slug":"crow-intelligence-unraveled-new-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/crow-intelligence-unraveled-new-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Crow Intelligence Unraveled By New Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Corvids &#8212; the family of birds that includes ravens, crows and magpies &#8212; are highly intelligent animals that are known for sharing many behavioral characteristics with primates, despite being only very distantly related.<\/p>\n<p>Tool use, planning, great variability\/adaptability of behavior, the ability to remember great numbers of different feeding sites, and the planning of social behavior according to what other members of their group do, are just some of the qualities that corvids share in common with primates. But given their vastly different anatomy, how do these animals produce such a recognizable &#8220;intelligence&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/planetsave.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/image20.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/files\/2013\/11\/image20-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Crow\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-38730\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>New research from the Universitaet T\u00fcbingen may finally be providing something of an answer with regard to that question &#8212; T\u00fcbingen neurobiologists Lena Veit und Professor Andreas Nieder have demonstrated how the brains of crows produce intelligent behavior when the birds have to make strategic decisions.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-6260354429531949\";\n\/* Nathan PS *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"2067312064\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uni-tuebingen.de\/en\/landingpage\/newsfullview-landingpage\/article\/von-wegen-spatzenhirn-wie-nervenzellen-schlaues-verhalten-bei-rabenvoegeln-ermoeglichen.html\" title=\"Universitaet T\u00fcbingen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Universitaet T\u00fcbingen<\/a> provides more:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Crows are no bird-brains. Their high level of intelligence might seem surprising because birds&#8217; brains are constructed in a fundamentally different way from those of mammals, including primates &#8212; which are usually used to investigate these behaviors.<\/p>\n<p>The T\u00fcbingen researchers are the first to investigate the brain physiology of crows&#8217; intelligent behavior. They trained crows to carry out memory tests on a computer. The crows were shown an image and had to remember it. Shortly afterwards, they had to select one of two test images on a touchscreen with their beaks based on a switching behavioral rules. One of the test images was identical to the first image, the other different. Sometimes the rule of the game was to select the same image, and sometimes it was to select the different one. The crows were able to carry out both tasks and to switch between them as appropriate. That demonstrates a high level of concentration and mental flexibility which few animal species can manage &#8212; and which is an effort even for humans.<\/p>\n<p>The crows were quickly able to carry out these tasks even when given new sets of images. The researchers observed neuronal activity in the nidopallium caudolaterale, a brain region associated with the highest levels of cognition in birds. One group of nerve cells responded exclusively when the crows had to choose the same image &#8212; while another group of cells always responded when they were operating on the &#8220;different image&#8221; rule. By observing this cell activity, the researchers were often able to predict which rule the crow was following even before it made its choice. The study provides valuable insights into the parallel evolution of intelligent behavior. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Many functions are realized differently in birds because a long evolutionary history separates us from these direct descendants of the dinosaurs,&#8221; states Lena Veit. &#8220;This means that bird brains can show us an alternative solution out of how intelligent behavior is produced with a different anatomy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Crows and primates have different brains, but the cells regulating decision-making are very similar. They represent a general principle which has re-emerged throughout the history of evolution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just as we can draw valid conclusions on aerodynamics from a comparison of the very differently constructed wings of birds and bats, here we are able to draw conclusions about how the brain works by investigating the functional similarities and differences of the relevant brain areas in avian and mammalian brains,&#8221; states Professor Andreas Nieder.<\/p>\n<p>The new findings were just published in the journal <em>Nature Communications<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Image Credit: Felix Moll, Institute for Neurobiology, University of T\u00fcbingen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Corvids &#8212; the family of birds that includes ravens, crows and magpies &#8212; are highly intelligent animals that are known for sharing many behavioral characteristics with primates, despite being only very distantly related. Tool use, planning, great variability\/adaptability of behavior, the ability to remember great numbers of different feeding sites, and the planning of social [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,27,38],"tags":[36405],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_rpuplugin_enabled":["yes"],"_wpas_done_all":["1"],"pinterest_url":[""],"omc_review_enable":["0"],"omc_user_ratings_visibility":["0"],"omc_review_type":["stars"],"omc_criteria_display":["n"],"omc_featured_post":["0"],"omc_comment_type":["wp"],"dsq_thread_id":["2011630929"],"dpsp_networks_shares":["a:4:{s:8:\"facebook\";i:0;s:11:\"google-plus\";i:0;s:9:\"pinterest\";i:0;s:8:\"linkedin\";i:0;}"],"dpsp_networks_shares_total":["0"],"dpsp_networks_shares_last_updated":["1567125773"],"penci_post_views_count":["1056"],"penci_post_week_views_count":["4"],"penci_post_month_views_count":["23"],"rank_math_news_sitemap_robots":["index"],"rank_math_robots":["a:1:{i:0;s:5:\"index\";}"],"rank_math_og_content_image":["a:2:{s:5:\"check\";s:32:\"980533219c00277db20467bf7dc7882e\";s:6:\"images\";a:1:{i:0;s:55:\"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/files\/2013\/11\/image20-600x400.jpg\";}}"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:263:\".uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-desktop) !important}@media (max-width: 976px){.uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-tablet) !important}}@media (max-width: 767px){.uag-blocks-common-selector{z-index:var(--z-index-mobile) !important}}\n\";s:2:\"js\";s:0:\"\";s:18:\"current_block_list\";a:4:{i:0;s:10:\"core\/image\";i:1;s:14:\"core\/paragraph\";i:2;s:12:\"core\/heading\";i:3;s:17:\"core\/latest-posts\";}s:8:\"uag_flag\";b:0;s:11:\"uag_version\";i:1714435252;s:6:\"gfonts\";a:0:{}s:10:\"gfonts_url\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"gfonts_files\";a:0:{}s:14:\"uag_faq_layout\";b:0;}"],"_uag_css_file_name":["uag-css-38729.css"]},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"James Ayre","author_link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/author\/nathan\/"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"Corvids &#8212; the family of birds that includes ravens, crows and magpies &#8212; are highly intelligent animals that are known for sharing many behavioral characteristics with primates, despite being only very distantly related. Tool use, planning, great variability\/adaptability of behavior, the ability to remember great numbers of different feeding sites, and the planning of social&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}