RESEARCH REVEALS CROWS COMPREHEND FUNDAMENTAL GEOMETRY, A CAPABILITY BELIEVED TO BE EXCLUSIVE TO HUMANS UNTIL RECENT STUDY

Crows are regarded as one of the smartest animals in the world, along with chimps, dolphins, and dogs. Indeed, previous studies have demonstrated that these birds can vocally count to four, differentiate between human faces and voices, make and use tools, and even understand the notion of water displacement more clearly than the typical youngster aged five to seven. Another feather in the cap has been found by a recent study: these intelligent birds might be able to comprehend basic geometry, a talent previously believed to be exclusive to humans.

The study, which was published last week in Science Advances, claims that carrion crows can identify "geometric regularity," or characteristics like symmetry, parallel lines, and right angles. Researchers used a digital screen in a lab to show the birds different forms, such as squares, stars, and crescents, to ascertain this. The birds were urged to peck at the material with their beaks as they came across shapes of various complexity, arranged into modules of six, as if they were playing a computer game. For instance, the bird would be rewarded with a mealworm or bird seed pellet if it could spot the one star among five squares.

“Initially we presented some very obviously different figures, like five moons and one flower,” Andreas Nieder, a neurophysiologist and co-author of the study, told NPR. But even as the game grew more familiar and the shapes more complex, crows could still discern the outliers.

In an interview with Scientific American, Nieder said, "They could tell us, for example, if they observed a figure that was just not a square, slightly deformed among all the other squares." Without our further training, they could actually do this on their own and distinguish the outlier shapes based on geometric distinctions.