Animals of science: the brain of crows never ceases to amaze

Plumage black as ebony. A stern and piercing gaze. A sinister croak. A clear tendency to necrophagy. In our imagination, the crow is often associated with bad omens. Doesn’t he sign, moreover, with his pen, anonymous letters intended to hurt the people to whom they are addressed? Thus, over the centuries, the bird of misfortune has often been persecuted. Nailed even on the doors hoping to ward off the bad eye.

Yet in Native American mythology, the Common Raven — a majestic bird that can reach a wingspan of up to 160 centimeters — appears as the protector of mankind. A benevolent creator to whom we owe not only water and fire. But also the starsthe moon and the sun.

For scientists, the crow is above all the symbol of a extraordinary intelligence. Studies have, for example, shown that he is able to use tools. To use tools and even to make them. By choosing twigs of the correct length. Or the right diameter. Or by fashioning hooks from bendable materials.

To their amazement, the researchers also discovered that the crow is able to recognize a human being by his face alone. A surprising capacity for a wild animal and not domesticated. Especially since the crow can remember a human’s face for years. And pass on this memory to teach his fellow human beings how to behave in the presence of the human in question.

Interneurons to galvanize intelligence

The crow also knows how to show some self-control. A capacity that we see as likely to help us make the right choices, to plan for the future. In fact, present it, on a turntable, with a treat that is immediately accessible, but small in size, and a larger treat, but accessible only later, and the crow will prefer to be patient to access the latter.

If that still hasn’t convinced you of the level ofintelligence of the crow, know that it is one of those animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror. To protect his food, he can resort to trickery, pretending, for example, to be dead or to deposit his loot in one place to really hide it somewhere else afterwards. The crow is also playful and capable ofempathy for his fellows. And while the majority of birds only communicate vocally, he knows how to exchange information by signs. For example, it happens to point at something with its beak.

Recently, researchers have, in a way, put an icing on the raven’s intelligence cake. According to them, the crow knows… that it knows! He is able to reflect on the contents of his own mind. He has sensory awareness. A form of higher intelligence that has long been considered reserved for humans and some monkeys.

This level of intelligence could be due to the presence, in the brain of the crow, an unusually high number of cells involved in information processing. From interneurons, say the scientists. They are at the heart of the decision-making process: from risk assessment to task planning. The crow, therefore, would enjoy nearly 300 million of these interneurons. For comparison, know that the chicken has only 40 million. And humans, about 1.3 billion.

Other work had already shown that a region of the crow’s brain, the pallium, was organized much like our cortex. And the cortex, in humans, is the area of ​​the brain dedicated to tasks that could be described as superior. language or memory. Thus, evolution seems to have found a way to optimize the very small volume available in the brain cavity of a crow to maximize its cognitive abilities. And make him a bird… not so stupid!