intelligent bird

oblongomaculatus
oblongomaculatus Posts: 616
edited May 2014 in The cake stop
Cruising along on Sunday I spotted a crow in the road ahead, walking slowly from right to left. As I got closer it seemed it hadn't noticed me, so I made a noise with my mouth, expecting it to fly off. Instead, it stopped, walked back the way it had come, waited there while I went past, then resumed its stroll. Used to being startled into near terminal wobble by panicking pheasants, I thought it made a nice change. Then yesterday, trying to get through the centre of Cambridge without colliding with a tourist, it occurred to me the crow had a lot more road sense than a lot of pedestrians...

Comments

  • crescent
    crescent Posts: 1,201
    I thought this was going to be a post about Rachel Riley :(
    Bianchi ImpulsoBMC Teammachine SLR02 01Trek Domane AL3“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. “ ~H.G. Wells Edit - "Unless it's a BMX"
  • ai_1
    ai_1 Posts: 3,060
    Crows are extremely intelligent. Not just compared to other birds but to all animals.
    Their reasoning ability in some scenarios has been compared to human children of 6 or 7 if I remember correctly.
  • capt_slog
    capt_slog Posts: 3,951
    I remembered this bit.....

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5_DuZ8WuMM&feature=kp


    The older I get, the better I was.

  • oblongomaculatus
    oblongomaculatus Posts: 616
    I remember that too.

    And there's this one:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huVKP8-D0hw

    Only parrots are brighter. I was genuinely impressed by the way the crow reacted to my warning noise, but then while you see all sorts of squashed animals and birds on the roads, very rarely crows. They seem to have sussed traffic rather well.
  • southdownswolf
    southdownswolf Posts: 1,525
    Ai_1 wrote:
    Crows are extremely intelligent. Not just compared to other birds but to all animals.
    Their reasoning ability in some scenarios has been compared to human children of 6 or 7 if I remember correctly.

    ...and significantly better than most 16 year olds.
    http://www.stuartmole.co.uk/
  • slowmart
    slowmart Posts: 4,485
    Animal is more intelligent than some people shocker. :wink:
    “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”

    Desmond Tutu
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    Crescent wrote:
    I thought this was going to be a post about Rachel Riley :(


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7rioP4Le88
  • crescent
    crescent Posts: 1,201
    :shock: 8)
    Bianchi ImpulsoBMC Teammachine SLR02 01Trek Domane AL3“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. “ ~H.G. Wells Edit - "Unless it's a BMX"

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