Are Crows the Smartest Birds in the World?

When you consider the true brainiacs of the animal kingdom it’s usually dolphins, chimpanzees and great apes that come to mind; with the exception of parrots, birds aren’t likely to make most people’s lists. However, research over the past decade is beginning to indicate that crows may not only be the smartest birds, but possibly more intelligent than even chimpanzees.

American crow - Photo by Walter Siegmund

The term “crow” is used to refer to any bird of the 40 or so members of the Corvus genus. Some members of the genus may also be called ravens or jackdaws. Crows can be found throughout most of the world, even introducing themselves to areas where they are not native. Most members of the genus are fairly large birds that are black in color.

Certain species of crows have shown remarkable intelligence not seen elsewhere in birds. New Caledonian crows are known for their tool making. In one test a crow was observed bending a piece of straight wire into a hook to lift a bucket of food from a vertical pipe; it had never been exposed to wire before. These crows also make tools out of grass and sticks to probe for insects in trees, and have even been seen dropping nuts on to busy streets so the heavy cars would crack them. Even more amazing, the crows would then fly down to intersections and only cross into the street with pedestrians to retrieve the nuts safely.

Crows also exhibit complex social behaviors, particularly seen in the common raven. Young ravens tend to make a large fuss when feeding on a carcass in order to attract other juveniles so they can feed in the safety of a group. Adults on the other hand stay whisper quiet when feeding so as not to attract uninvited guests. Like parrots, ravens are capable of mimicking almost any sound they hear, including human speech. They use this ability both to mock and confuse other animals, even mimicking the call of a coyote or wolf to attract them to a carcass that is too thick for the raven to open itself.

A Salute to Space Animals

As you’re probably aware, the Space Shuttle Atlantis made its final launch today, marking an end to the shuttle program and the start of an open-ended hiatus for manned American space flight. As commonplace as shuttle missions now seem, it’s important to remember how many animals blasted off into the unknown and in many cases gave their lives to help advance space programs throughout the world.


Baker, the first monkey to survive space flight.

 The first animals launched into space were fruit flies aboard a United States V2 rocket in 1947 to explore high-altitude radiation exposure, followed just a few years later by a rhesus monkey named Albert II in 1949.



Laika, the first dog to enter orbit.

In 1957, a Russian dog named Laika became the first animal to enter orbit aboard Sputnik 2. Unfortunately, at the time the technology to reenter the atmosphere from orbit did not yet exist, and Laika was unable to survive the mission. She is memorialized by a statue and plaque at the Russian Star City cosmonaut training facility and her likeness has appeared on postage stamps. In 1960, two other Russian dogs named Belka and Strelka became the first animals to enter orbit and return alive on Sputnik 5.

Ham the chimp upon recovery from his mission in 1961.

In 1961, chimpanzees entered the space program when Ham the chimp was launched into space as part of the U.S. Mercury-Redstone 2 mission. Ham was trained to pull levers in flight to receive food, proving that it was possible to perform tasks in space. Later that same year another chimp named Enos became the first chimpanzee to enter orbit.

With manned spaceflight becoming possible in the 1960s, animals became less common on missions. However in the decades since, hundreds of animals from tortoises to mice have taken part in missions as part of scientific studies. Even as recently as May, 2011 spiders were taken into orbit on the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavor to study the effects of zero gravity on their behavior.




Space Shuttle Endeavour

 Although the future of space exploration is uncertain, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the brave animals that have helped advance technology and our understanding of the universe.

Bonobos vs. Chimps

Bonobos look very similar to chimpanzees; however, even though they too are part of the great ape family, they have a lot of differences from chimps. Bonobos tend to be slimmer and have smaller heads. They are omnivores (like chimps), but they don't eat other mammals or monkeys. They stick with small fish, insects and various plants. When it comes to their territory, bonobos are less aggressive and don't seem to have established territories that they need to protect. Bonobos are unique to one country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they don't live anywhere else.

The Difference Between Apes and Monkeys

There are over 300 species of primates in the world, but there are a couple of distinctive differences that separate apes from monkeys. Apes don't have tails and are generally a lot larger. They also depend more on their vision than their smell because their noses aren't snout-shaped like monkeys' noses are. Great Apes consist of gorillas, chimpanzees, oragutans and bonobos, while the Lesser Apes consist of gibbons and siamongs.

Bonus Fact: The amount of identical DNA in chimpanzees and humans range from 94.6% to 99.4%.

All in the Family

The chimpanzee is our closest relative with a less-than-one-percent difference in DNA. They also were the first animal to disprove the fact that only humans had the ability to make and use tools. The chimpanzee’s use of branches to scoop up termites from their nest proved that they too could make use of other objects.