These highly intelligent birds can use tools, recognize human faces, and even devise clever strategies to access food. For example, crows have been known to drop nuts onto roads so that passing cars will crack them open. At a train station, a pair of crows was observed working together to drink water from a fountain, with one pressing the button while the other sipped the flowing water.
These behaviors demonstrate the birds' ability to actively assess and solve problems they encounter, suggesting that they possess conscious thought. In humans, conscious problem-solving is linked to the cerebral cortex. However, birds lack this brain structure. Instead, researchers have discovered that crows process information in the pallium, the layers of gray and white matter that cover the upper surface of vertebrate brains.
Further studies have reinforced the notion that bird brains can support the development of advanced intelligence. Although previously dismissed due to their small size, recent research has revealed that bird neurons are smaller and more densely packed, which is beneficial for reducing weight and facilitating flight. Crows possess approximately 1.5 billion neurons, a number comparable to certain monkey species. However, due to their increased density, communication between neurons seems to be more efficient, making the overall intelligence of crows potentially akin to that of great apes like gorillas.
Source: Smithsonian
Image: A gray crow
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