Of course, they had to show us this through a tweet.
Boffins show sleight-of-hand tricks to Corvids, find they are smarter than people
Psychology boffins at the University of Cambridge have been pushing back the barriers of understanding via the unlikely-sounding practice of trying to fool birds with magic tricks. The team of scientists from one of Britain's most august seats of learning decided to embark on this project in order to test whether the birds – …
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Tuesday 15th June 2021 11:05 GMT mark l 2
I saw a video narrated by Chris Packham where a corvid was up against a dog (a beagle as I recall) to solve a puzzle where they had to pull on ropes to get some food to drop. And the corvids beat the dog hands down on several attempts.
I suspect if corvids could communicate with humans they would be better conversationalists than most reality TV show stars.
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Tuesday 15th June 2021 14:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Bird brain ?
The neurons in a bird's brain are more tightly packed together, so their brain capacity by volume is far greater than ours.
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Tuesday 15th June 2021 14:05 GMT Anonymous Coward
> "The team of scientists from one of Britain's most august seats of learning decided to embark on this project in order to test whether the birds – six Eurasian Jays, formally known as Garrulus glandarius, which are chatty, strikingly coloured birds of the Corvid family – perceived the tricks in the same way that humans do,"
Haven't scientists learnt their lesson regarding messing with corvids? We don't want another Wuhan.
/coat
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Wednesday 16th June 2021 16:22 GMT Claptrap314
This is science?
Okay, so they found that amateur slight-of-and works better on humans than Corvids. Now, bring in a real magician & see what happens.
I have no idea, but it is entirely likely that there is some sort of significant tell that the birds were using. The statement that they ignored the motions is highly speculative at best.
Come on folks, state your hypothesis before you design the test. Surprising results are great, but leave the explanations to later experimentation.
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Thursday 17th June 2021 09:15 GMT Aussie Doc
Optional sensible title here
Ah, yes - ravens. Not unlike Aussie crows.
Researchers at the UNSW (University of New South Wales) found over 200 dead crows near the greater Sydney area recently.
They was concerned that they may have died from Avian Flu, quite scary given the current situation with COVID-19.
A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu nor COVID.
The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts, specifically trucks (lorries).
During the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colours of paints appeared on the bird's beaks and claws.
By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car.
UNSW hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills.
The Ornithological Behaviorist concluded the cause:
When crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger.
The scientific conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say "Cah", none could say "Truck."
Thank you and good night - I'm available for weekends via Teams, Zoom or Moodle.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
