Birders
Related: About this forumCrows can recognize geometric regularity
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-crows-geometric-regularity.htmlCrows can recognize geometric regularity
Bob Yirka , Phys.org
April 14, 2025
Recognizing regularity in geometric shapes means being able to pick out one shape that is different from others in a grouppicking out a plastic star, for example, when it is placed among several plastic moons. Testing for the ability to recognize geometric regularity has been done with many animals, including chimps and bonobos. Until now, this ability has never been observed in any creature except for humans.
Because of that, the team started with a bit of skepticism when they began testing carrion crows. In their work, the testing was done using computer screensthe birds were asked to peck the outlier in a group; if they chose correctly, they got a food treat. The team chose to test carrion crows because prior experiments have shown them to have exceptional intelligence and mathematical capabilities.
All the birds tested caught on right away. Each could pick out a star if it was placed within a group of rectangles, for example. To determine their level of skill, the researchers started showing them objects that were only slightly different: one box that was tilted slightly, for example, among others that were not. Their accuracy went down, but it was still much higher than chance.
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Irish_Dem
(82,399 posts)At the same time we keep learning humans are more stupid than we knew.
stopdiggin
(15,646 posts)obviously the ancient aliens need to come back ... splice a few more genes in ... the 'experiment' is moving toward entropy.
Irish_Dem
(82,399 posts)And steal most of the world's money and resources.
Humans are then not smart enough to fight back, and demoralized by living paycheck to paycheck.
stopdiggin
(15,646 posts)darn it ! And here I was hoping for a 'fix' !
Irish_Dem
(82,399 posts)Landed here on Earth a long time ago.
Been a pain in the ass ever since.
Walleye
(45,524 posts)cbabe
(6,827 posts)Walleye
(45,524 posts)Judi Lynn
(164,173 posts)My respect for these little fellas has taken a huge step forward!
Wonderful.
Thank you.
Got so fired up, had to go looking for images of "crows playing in snow" and found this video!
Would never have known to look for it without having seen your post:
Good grief!
Thank you, again.
cbabe
(6,827 posts)
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