![]() ![]() In this case, the birds were successful nearly 90 percent of the time, according to the study, published this week in the journal Science. The team repeated the same experiment with a 17-hour delay in returning the box to the ravens. (" Watch: A Clever Raven Outsmarts a Trash Can.")Ībout 80 percent of the time, the ravens selected the correct tool and performed the task to get their treat. Fifteen minutes later, the ravens got the box back. Then, the scientists took the box and the tool away.Īn hour later, the team offered the ravens a choice of objects-one being that special tool. The basic experiment is as follows: The researchers taught the ravens that if the birds place a special tool in a tube sticking out of a box, it will release their favorite piece of food-one whole piece of dog kibble. Kabadayi and Osvath designed a series of experiments with five captive birds to see if ravens can plan for an unseen future. "I’m a little bit surprised they were that good," remarks Osvath, who has studied raven cognition for nearly a decade. Now, a new study may challenge that long-held notion: Ravens are just as good as us at pre-planning tasks, according to animal cognition researchers Can Kabadayi and Mathias Osvath at Sweden's Lund University. Scientists previously believed these behaviors were unique to hominids-humans and great apes-because no other animals, including monkeys, were thought to have such abstract thinking skills. (Read how ravens hold grudges against cheaters.)įor instance, a trademark of being human is the flexibility to plan for future events, such as saving for retirement or figuring out a meal for the next morning. In more recent times, experiments testing the problem-solving capabilities of ravens and their corvid kin, the jays and magpies, have shown these birds have cognition on par with people and some other great apes. We've long known ravens aren’t your typical bird brain: Myths featuring the wily black bird extend from Aesop’s fables to Native American folklore.
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