Study finds crows can distinguish between symbols denoting quantities

[xchrom]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111007f1.html

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. — Researchers recently found that crows can recognize symbols representing different quantities, successfully selecting containers holding hidden food items when given a choice based only on symbols.

The research by Shoei Sugita, a professor of animal morphology at Utsunomiya University in Tochigi Prefecture, and others confirmed for the first time that crows can distinguish quantities of items, suggesting they have the same numerical cognition ability as humans.

The outcome of the tests involving eight jungle crows was published in the October issue of Animal Behavior, an international journal.

In their experiments, the researchers prepared two containers in a cage, showing the eight crows two sets of quantity symbols on their lids.

[razorman]

1. Sounds like they are qualified to work for the Treasure Department.

[xchrom]

2. i, for one, welcome our new Avian Overlords. nt

[tama]

3. Made me think

of the Hitchcock movie. And dinosaurs evolved into birds.

And the vivid image of swallows giving the poor miserable house cat hard time by stuka diving at it until it went away.

[Confusious]

13. They can't do much worse. nt

[razorman]

6. Sorry...Treasury

[LiberalEsto]

4. counting crows! nt

[Raschel]

5. Crows are so smart. Too bad they're not cute.

[razorman]

7. And they do NOT taste like chicken.

[formercia]

9. The ones I feed are pretty cute, and smart.

They let me get very close as well, within a few Meters. It took years to gain their trust. They also have individual personalities.

[TheMadMonk]

15. Try BBQ savoury biscuits. With those, and a seat in the grass...

...I can generally have a bird taking them from my hand in less than 1/2 hour.

[girl gone mad]

8. They can also use tools to complete a task.

Clever birds.

[FiveGoodMen]

11. In some cases, they custom-build the tools before using them!

[Posteritatis]

17. There's a few cases of one making a tool to build another tool, too. (nt)

[FiveGoodMen]

18. Even better!

There isn't a youtube of that, is there?

[thereismore]

10. The last line ruined it for me. What does it say exactly?

"The eight crows had a 70 to 90 percent success rate choosing the container holding food for 19 of the 20 choices with which they were presented."

Does it mean that given 20 containers, 19 of them containing food, they go to food 70% of the time? Or what?

[Bosonic]

12. Smarter than European Magpies ?

European Magpies pass the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test">Mirror test.

Maybe this and abstract symbol manipulations (and tool use) are all separate, complementary aspects of the general term intelligence. Interesting.

[sakabatou]

16. At least you don't have to salute to crows

[eppur_se_muova]

14. And crows spell better than TPer's. nt

[bananas]

19. But can they distinguish between connotations?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connotation

A connotation is a commonly understood subjective cultural and/or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in addition to the word's or phrase's explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denotation

Denotation
Not to be confused with detonation.