Black crows understand probability
Shutterstock/Rudmer Wanderer
Crows can make decisions based on the likelihood of getting a reward — a cognitive feat known to mathematicians as statistical inference, and rarely found outside of primates.
“‘Bird brain’ is often used as an insult, but that’s not really the case,” says Melissa Johnson at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Her team trained two carrion crows (Corvus corona) to peck at nine different colored symbols to receive a reward: a small food grain or worms. Each symbol was associated with a different opportunity to receive…