New research has proven that crows are much smarter than we ever thought they were, and that they can even recognize geometry.
Crows have long been known for their clever tricks, but new research shows they may be even smarter than we thought. Scientists have discovered that crows can recognize geometric patterns—a skill once believed to be unique to humans.
A study led by Andreas Nieder at the University of Tübingen in Germany tested two carrion crows to see if they could spot shapes that didn’t fit in. Using a computer game, the birds were shown six shapes at a time and had to peck the one that looked different.
At first, they practiced with obvious differences—like a flower among moons. But soon, the test became much harder, challenging the crows to pick out subtle variations in squares, parallelograms, and irregular quadrilaterals.
